Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Bill

Lord Moynihan Excerpts

Tuesday 14th January 2014 Grand Committee

The easiest way to guarantee a level regulatory playing field between traditional betting companies and spread-betting companies would be to transfer responsibility for sports spread betting from the FCA to the GC, which is what the amendment does. It is carefully drafted—that sounds rather immodest, but it is—so that only sports spread betting is transferred and not the wider spread-betting industry, which would create many administrative difficulties. I therefore encourage my colleagues who believe in integrity in sport, and indeed integrity in life, to support this amendment for the reasons that I have set out. I beg to move.

[Lord Moynihan (Con)]

My Lords, I support my noble friend’s amendment. The amendment is important, because it goes right to the heart of integrity in sport, and the fight against irregular and illegal betting is critical if we are to maintain the integrity of sport, on which all international sport and indeed all sport depends. I declare an interest as a member of the working group of the International Olympic Committee, which has sought to define a common approach in the fight against irregular and illegal betting. The work we have done was touched upon in a number of speeches made in Grand Committee this afternoon, and fell into three distinct areas.

First, there is the importance of education, which is critical. In the context of sport that means the education of the athletes and the entourage around them, ensuring that they understand the impact of betting and in some cases what they can and cannot bet on. Secondly, it is vital to maintain the integrity of sport. We need to monitor and have first-rate intelligence and analysis. The global monitoring system that was introduced for the first time in London 2012 went a long way in the right direction, but we need to build on the work that was done in London. The third area is legislation and regulation. This legislation before us is important in that context. It is important because, as my noble friend has pointed out, there is a loophole here, which applies to sports and spread betting and which needs to be closed through her amendment either now or subsequently, in later consideration of the Bill.

In the run-up to the Olympic Games in London 2012 it was interesting that the president of the International Olympic Committee, at that time Jacques Rogge, opined that the greatest threat to the Games in London was illegal gaming. I take issue with that view, as I think the threat of doping in sport is currently a greater threat. Nevertheless, he was right that we need to be serious in our approach to suspicious betting patterns. If that does not happen then we challenge the integrity of sport, and that challenge will grow exponentially.

It is not just a matter of a small bet. I shall give the Committee an example. If you are a young athlete in Africa and someone comes along and says, “I’ll give you $10,000 if you come second or third in the race”, and you know that in that heat you will still manage to qualify for the final, then that $10,000 is a vast amount of money. That sum can then be multiplied in bets that can be made in the irregular markets and indeed in the legal markets, and they require very close monitoring. It is that type of example that can undermine sport and lead to widespread international movements of illegal gaming, the kind of gaming that can corrupt young people and, as in the amendment that we have just discussed, goes to the very heart of the integrity of, in this case, my noble friend’s subject: sport.

Compliance with the Gambling Commission’s licence condition 15.1 on information sharing is a really important step forward and I hope it is welcomed by all sides of the House, but it should be all-embracing within the industry and we should not leave a loophole here when it comes to sports spread betting. In this context, I strongly urge the Government to continue to work with all members of the sports movement to update their internal rules, to use legislation such as the Bill before us to remove any loopholes that exist and, in the case of government legislation, to ensure that we combat irregular and illegal sports betting.

We need effective regulations, we need sanctions and we need to combat all forms of cheating linked to sports betting, including spread betting. We co-operated well for the first time in London and I think that all those involved in that work, particularly within the IOC, can be proud of the fact that there was greater co-operation than we have ever seen at a sporting event. It was not just the UK experts who were brought together; it was the industry, working with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the UNODC, and of course Interpol was critically important. This cannot be seen in the domestic or European context; it has to be seen in a completely international one.

I hope that my noble friend gets a fair hearing on this. If that requires further consultation and discussion between now and the latter stages of the Bill, I for one would welcome that.

[Baroness Golding]

My Lords, a number of years ago the All-Party Betting and Gaming Committee did a very short inquiry into suspicious betting in sports. We took evidence from a number of sporting organisations, which was very freely given. We published the results of it and there was quite a bit of talk about it at the time, but nothing has happened. I should say to the noble Baroness that the area of most concern was cricket, and this was before any big scandal arose. The report was put on the shelf and left there. I hope that with the noble Baroness’s help we will bring this to a greater audience. It is a real problem, and something needs to be done. I hope that the Minister will help give the amendment a favourable reply.