FIFA participated in a seminar about betting regulation

EWS is a non-profit organization that FIFA created with the aim to control the bets in all its competitions and matches and protect the integrity of football.

The round table, headed by Damien Abad, representative of the European Parliament and  alternative speaker for the resolution of the European Parliament on Internet betting for the  domestic market, started with a speech of Michaela Ragg, VP of Interpol for the sports integrity. The table also counted with the participation of representatives of the European Commission, COI and FIFPRO, together with representatives of the sportsbook sector.

As part of the agenda, the consequences of the lack of a common European legislation against illegal sportsbooks have been debated, as well as the cross-border police cooperation. In the first round table, it was analyzed the new action plan of the UE, while on the second table they focused on the protection of European consumers.

Zenglein commented: “Sports integrity has been threatened by the facts produced in the modern betting sector and the opportunities it offers to manipulation. So it is precise that national, European and worldwide public authorities, the entities in charge of the compliance of the law, the sporting movement, games of chance companies and gaming regulators do everything possible in order to protect the sports integrity in all the facts related to the betting market”.

“It includes the adoption of a possible international legal instrument against the size of the matches, with the aim to guarantee that national legal and administrative systems receive the legal tools, the expertise and the necessary resources to combat this phenomenon. The diverse national approaches on the sportsbooks legislation have to be coordinated, at least with regard to the normalization of the integrity of sports”.

“The main objective must be that sports federations, public authorities, bet runners and national legislators agree on a key dialogue, which also includes the deal on the types of bets offered and those that, somehow, are against sports integrity. So a legal binding standardization must be reached, which forces bet runners to collaborate with the sports associations and federations as well as other national and international organizations, and with entities of control of their respective sports”.

Abad also commented that the future legislation of the EU should seek for the “perfect balance” between more consumer protection and the promotion of Internet betting. Regarding the principle of subsidiarity, he assured: "I am convinced that EU, including its Parliament, has to perform a key role on the matter”, The plan of action, he affirmed, should also consider other related issues, such as the fight against fraud, money laundering and sports integrity.

Comissioner Michel Barnier, who closed the congress, highlighted the need of sports integrity: "The protection of the integrity of competitions deserves special attention. Social values that sports represent are in danger. There is not any other type of fraud that Members have difficulty in solving alone. So we have to reach an efficient cooperation among national legislatiors, Internet bet runners and the sports federations. We have to consider some minimum rules regarding the conflict of interests, possibly with the prohibition of certain types of bets or the creation of stricter systems of control.”