The National Gaming Authority (ANJ) and Paris 2024 took advantage of the holding of International Badminton Championships last week to raise awareness among referees. Since March 1, a new list of sports competitions on which betting is authorized has been published by the ANJ, with the withdrawal of certain competitions sensitive to manipulation.
The Olympic Games are certainly less popular with punters than a football World Cup, but they will still arouse interest in the four corners of the globe, pushing the French regulator of online games to be extra vigilant. North of Paris, in the brand new Porte de la Chapelle Arena which will host badminton and rhythmic gymnastics competitions this summer, the National Gaming Authority (ANJ) and Paris 2024 took advantage of the holding of International badminton last week to raise awareness among referees. Reminder of the betting rules in France, with the ban on betting on any Olympic discipline when you are involved (athletes, referees, volunteers, service providers, etc.), sanctions incurred (up to five years in prison for manipulation offenses, or even 10 years if it is in an organized group)… The intervention is intended to be educational.
“The Olympics are not the competition which generates the most sports bets in the world, we are far from the Football World Cup, but it is an event with dozens of disciplines on which normally, in France, we cannot bet . So we are ready in the event of a problem,” explains Corentin Segalen of the ANJ, coordinator of the national platform to combat the manipulation of sports competitions.
“The objective is to intervene as early as possible, even before the criminals can place suspicious bets,” he continues.
To do this, the ANJ and Paris 2024 work with referees, coaches, athletes, etc. to tell them what to do if they are approached by someone who wants to fix a match, often via social networks.
“We have been working for almost a year to raise awareness among all those who will participate in the Games. The risk exists, they must have it in mind,” says Blandine Sorbe, director of compliance for Paris 2024.
To badminton referees, a sport which generates a lot of betting, particularly in Asia, the trainers recall an episode of the 2012 Olympics where players were disqualified by the Federation for having deliberately lost, even if no link with betting was appeared. But for Gilles Cavert, international referee of this sport, the manipulation of competitions presents “no risk for the Olympics. At a very high level it is very, very rare. It exists at a small level,” he believes.
This year, the federations’ files will be crossed with those of the bettors to ensure that the rules are respected. The ANJ also has tools to analyze odds and detect suspicious behavior, with access to each player’s profile.
“In France, the system is quite unique: the president of the ANJ can make a decision to suspend betting. The idea is that criminals do not make money from French bets and that good faith bettors are reimbursed,” explains Corentin Segalen.
The stakes are high: the online sports betting market is estimated at more than 63 billion dollars (57 billion euros) worldwide in 2023, according to figures presented to the arbitrators. In France, last year, online sports betting reached 2.3 billion euros, according to the ANJ.
For the Olympics, “these are not necessarily the type of events on which our customers bet, because the athletes are less known but we will of course offer bets on all possible events,” Nicolas Béraud told AFP. , boss of the Betclic betting site.
Since March 1, a new list of sports competitions on which betting is authorized has been published by the ANJ, with the withdrawal of certain competitions sensitive to manipulation. Many Olympic disciplines appear there, with the exception of new sports (breaking, climbing, skateboarding and surfing), 3×3 basketball, diving, artistic swimming, gymnastics, shooting, dressage and eventing competition. The ANJ indicates that it has not received any requests from online gaming operators to include them in the list.
Sami Nemli With Agency / ECO Inspirations
2024-03-12 21:48:04
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