LONDON - The UK Gambling Commission has plans to start sharing information with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on suspicious betting activities and match fixing, the Department for Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS) has announced. The legislative changes needed are ‘to come in ahead of the 2012 Olympic’, the DCMS said in a statement on 17 August.
Under the current regime, the Gambling Commission (GC) can only share information if the governing body is specifically listed in the Gambling Act 2005. The DCMS’ statement read that ‘it is planning to amend [the Gambling Act] in order to add the IOC [to the list] and we are also consulting on whether any additional sports bodies should also be included’.
John Cloke, an Associate at DLA Piper, remarks that “the existing list has a domestic focus but DCMS has recognised that it would also be appropriate to include international bodies, in particular the IOC, given the 2012 Olympics in London”.
John Cloke, an Associate at DLA Piper, remarks that “the existing list has a domestic focus but DCMS has recognised that it would also be appropriate to include international bodies, in particular the IOC, given the 2012 Olympics in London”.
However, Andrew Danson, Senior Associate at K&L Gates in London, said that “it is curious that the consultation presents the proposed changes as updating an outdated list. I don’t think that explanation stacks up - the governing bodies originally in the Act are all UK-based whereas the proposals to extend the list all relate to international governing bodies based overseas. It’s not an update, it’s a change of approach”. Danson also stressed that “data protection law is an obvious issue, particularly as the GC may now pass personal data overseas”.
The DCMS consultation closes on 9 November.
The DCMS consultation closes on 9 November.
Published previously in the August issue of World Online Gambling Law Report, CPP, copyrights apply at all times, London 2011. Picture: liberalfair.com
