Brussels, 09/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - At their recent General Assembly in Amsterdam on 4 May, Europe's state lotteries and state-licensed operators adopted a landmark Sport Charter to fight the phenomenon of fixing sporting competitions and corruption in sport.
The development of the internet has facilitated an explosion of illegal websites offering online gambling services, and presenting the risk of fixing football matches and other sports competitions. Many of these sites are run by criminal organisations. These practices are undermining the essential values of ethics, integrity and solidarity promoted by sport. In their adoption of a new Sport Charter, the national lotteries are undertaking to rise to the challenge and to defend these fundamental values by promoting healthy practices. “We stand united to defend the values of sport. It is our clear will to do this together with the sport movement”, said the European Lotteries President, Friedrich Stickler, who said that illegal online gambling has become the most serious threat to sport today.
The charter aims to go further in the commitments and resolutions so far taken by the partners of the European lotteries (see EUROPE 10395). Amongst other things, it calls for gaming services to be regulated and for their function to be transparent and calls for specific conditions to be observed before authorising bets made during a live sport match. The charter also calls for a ban on certain particularly fraudulent forms of gambling, anti-money-laundering measures to prevent the funds collected from being used for criminal purposes, more security measures and specific criminal sanctions to punish offenders. The European Lotteries also proposed the creation of a European agency or observatory, to be funded by income from sports betting, to ensure that the measures are complied with. (IL/transl.fl)