UK Gambling Commission Against Corruption Claims

The Gambling Commission compiled some statistics regarding complaints and claims that Internet sites undermined the integrity of sports games and concluded these to be unfounded and with no basis. As a brief backgrounder, some national sports leagues expressed concerns that on-line gambling somehow is conducive to rigging games that results in corruption.

The Commission generally gets about fifty citizens’ complaints in a year about some suspicious or less than honest betting activities but around half of these (or about 25 of the complaints) were generally unsubstantiated and based on mere allegations. Only a few complaints were judged credible enough to justify continued inquiries. But there was no significant change in the number of complaints before and after legal sports betting was introduced.

What is more important is that powerful computers and sophisticated tracking systems like the one at Betfair.com can easily identify and warn of highly suspicious betting patterns in their early stages. Most governing and regulatory bodies have recognized the important benefits of these recording software to unmask betting scams in some major sports .

Chairman Brian Pomeroy asserts there is limited evidence about these concerns but still admits that the Commission is giving top priority to combating these real risks to betting integrity. In a surprise twist, the highly-respected USA Today printed an article about the growing dependence of some sports bodies on advertising revenues that could also affect their integrity and increases the potential for corruption. These college sports bodies are quite vocal regarding their opposition to on-line gambling on the same grounds by which they are being examined right now.