Turkish football has been told by European governing body UEFA to deal with the country’s match fixing scandal as quickly as possible. UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino spoke ahead of the body’s Congress and said bosses need to take action now and was critical of the way they’ve handled it so far.
“In Italy, where there is a special law, in Germany or in Greece the length of time it takes to deal with such affairs is different,” he said. “Here, we see that it goes on and on but we have to separate the disciplinary part of the affair from the criminal part.”
Infantino wants any charges brought ASAP so that the country can decide on its European entrants. The scandal originally broke last summer and it ended with champions Fenerbahce being stripped of the title and their place in the UEFA Champions League. Since then 93 people, including the club’s president, have been charged.
Bookies have been asked to monitor unusually high bets placed on minor sports in the Olympic Games in London this summer. Olympic organizers held a meeting with bookies yesterday and Mike O’Kane of Ladbrokes, who chaired the discussion, reported: “If I see a bet of more than 50 pounds I’ll be looking at who it is, because I’m not expecting 50 pounds on weightlifting or badminton.”
He also confirmed that no novelty bets will be offered, stating: “We will not offer bets that are likely to threaten the integrity of the Games so we’re not going to offer, for instance, bets on how many failed drugs tests there will be or markets that clearly are likely to lead to integrity problems.”
Most in the industry are surprised at the incredibly strict approach being taken to combat betting corruption on something that sees a lot less customer participation than another event taking place– the European Football Championship.
“The average person on the street loves the Olympics, it’s a great spectacle but it’s not really a betting medium. It’s something to enjoy on the television with the family or go to the Games.” O’Kane said.
