Sport: Caborn Calls for Code to Beat Betting Cheats

Britain's leading sports organisations will sign up next week to a new code designed to eradicate betting cheats and protect the integrity of their events.

The crackdown - which is being supported by the governing bodies of football, cricket, tennis, speedway, snooker and darts - will be debated at an anti-cheating summit called by Richard Caborn, the sports minister.

The 10-point code will mean each sports body including provisions in its rules that govern the behaviour of their participants in relation to betting. The code will say: "In the context of betting, sports authorities will expect their participants to avoid any situation that may involve a conflict of interest with the sport. Participants will not misuse privileged information." It also puts the onus on the sports bodies to "not avoid taking necessary action when they suspect or are aware of betting activity which threatens the integrity of sport and objectives of this code of practice".

Caborn said: "Sports betting has changed dramatically in recent years. A huge boom has seen the amounts wagered on sports events go through the roof. With the World Cup coming up bookies are expecting hundreds of millions to be gambled on football and other sports are growing markets too. But with this boom has come fresh fears that a few unscrupulous individuals are throwing events for their own financial benefit. This summit is about getting sport to work together with betting operators and the authorities to tackle the cheats head on."

Caborn will use the conference to call on sports regulators and betting companies to join forces against cheats. He wants all the major sports to join the Jockey Club - whose director of security Paul Scotney will chair the conference - to sign the code of practice to provide unprecedented levels of cooperation between the authorities and the betting industry.