Diving into Games-time operations: how to detect and handle rule violations
With the education of all key stakeholders being one of the best ways to prevent competition manipulation, a big focus for the OM Unit PMC is naturally on awareness-raising activities. But come Games time, the most important thing is to have processes in place and experts on hand should there be any suspected or obvious cases of rule violations.
Bets can be placed on all Olympic events, and that is not negative per se. It is a way to engage sports fans across the globe. The problem occurs when it triggers competition manipulation. How can you detect suspicious irregular betting patterns, and who handles such cases? Here are some exclusive insights ahead of the Olympic Games Paris 2024, which kick off in less than a month’s time.
Monitoring and intelligence processes
First, thorough monitoring of all Olympic events is essential and has been in place since London 2012. This experience has helped to continuously improve the processes in place and identify breaches more easily. Today, a combination of sophisticated algorithms, smart IT platforms, human intelligence and cooperation with key partners enables the IOC to detect competition manipulation, or other breaches of the rules, related to sports betting on Olympic events.
“Betting can happen offline but also online without any borders. We are operating in a global environment which is evolving constantly, and so do the monitoring systems,” explained Friedrich Martens, Head of the OM Unit PMC. “Prior to Paris 2024 and over the past year, we have monitored all continental games (often Olympic qualifiers), which has helped us to better understand new betting trends in Olympic sports. Once again, and with the support of Sportradar, we have also conducted in-depth risk assessments for each sport on the Olympic programme. These important insights have been shared with all Olympic Summer IFs.”
Collaboration as a key success factor
During the Olympic Games Paris 2024, the OM Unit PMC, via its Integrity Betting Intelligence System (IBIS), will monitor sports betting on all Olympic competitions 24/7. In this endeavour, the Unit will be supported by its long-standing partners, the United Lotteries for Integrity in Sports (ULIS) and the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA), which will both share intelligence and information on potential breaches, as well as covering some monitoring shifts.
“We would like to sincerely thank IBIA and ULIS for their continued significant support. Without their efforts and availability, the 24/7 coverage of the Games would not be possible,” said Martens. “Key stakeholders such as the Council of Europe, the UNODC and INTERPOL are also ready to support us with relevant intelligence.”
In addition, the Unit will be assisted by a joint monitoring taskforce, which will bring together additional cooperation partners, such as major betting regulatory authorities and a large number of private sports betting entities from around the world.
“In the fight against competition manipulation, collaboration is key,” highlights Martens. “These stakeholders exchange with us any relevant information about irregular betting patterns or suspicious betting activities detected that might imply competition manipulation and breach the rules. They would also share with us information on any accredited person who has placed a bet on an Olympic event, which is strictly prohibited. All the information we receive is centralised in our IBIS platform.”
In addition to these strategic partnerships, anyone can report suspicions or incidents via the IOC Integrity Hotline, which is constantly checked. Any disclosure can be the initial trigger for further investigations.
IOC President Thomas Bach attends the l’Hotel de Ville illumination.
Coordinating sports disciplinary and law enforcement action
Second, if a case of a potential sports disciplinary breach is identified, the OM Unit PMC will swiftly pass on the information to the IOC Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, and, in line with the relevant procedural rules in the IOC’s Code of Ethics, a disciplinary process will be started, with the possible creation of a Disciplinary Commission. Should there be a criminal dimension, the French authorities would initiate a criminal investigation in parallel. To optimise the coordination efforts between the sports disciplinary side and the law enforcement authorities, the IOC, together with the French authorities (including the French betting regulatory authority, “ANJ”), has set up a Joint Integrity Intelligence Unit (JIIU) – a model that has been in place successfully since London 2012. This enables the quick exchange of relevant information and intelligence between both sides.
Successful tests
This most constructive cooperation model between the IOC and the French authorities for Paris 2024 was presented at the Follow-Up Committee meeting of the Council of Europe Convention on 22 May in Macolin. Testing exercises – attended by the IOC – were organised successfully by the French authorities on 27 May.