http://www.london2012-tours.com/
http://www.london-olympiad.com/
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| Psst...need tickets? Spyns London 2012 trip packages (with tickets) go on sale in two weeks. |
I fail to see how sport is under threat from gaming. You can't swing a dead cat in London without hitting a (legal) casino or betting hall so demonising a system so widely accepted in the UK will be difficult. Methinks Herr Rogge is simply making grand announcements to divert attention from the Iranian threats to boycott the games (or worse) if London 2012 organisers don't change the logo. When Canada makes a threat, you can brush it off. When Iran starts making threats, it's a little different.
Although Rogge outlined several options, it is believed that the idea of creating a global body with statutory powers in the style of the World Anti-Doping Agency has been largely discounted. Instead, the working group will attempt to come up with a new model for an organisation where sports bodies, law enforcement agencies and government representatives can come together to share information and co-ordinate global action. "Sport is in danger," Rogge said. "We had a clear signal from governments, Interpol and international federations that there is illegal betting that threatens the credibility of sport. It is a big problem in the entire world. There is no safe haven." Ho-hum. I think the IOC and London 2012 should focus on a more pressing issue, getting all of those IOC and sponsor fatcats to stay somewhere else so real people can also book London hotel rooms.
Interpol's secretary general, Ronald Noble, said the tools for international co-operation already existed, pointing to a recent operation that led to 5,000 arrests and the prevention of $155m in illegal bets, but appealed for them to become "a cornerstone of our common strategy. We must act now, and we must act fast. The stakes are high, and they are getting higher," he said, warning that "pressure to violate sports integrity will increase, diversify and come from anywhere in the world." Rogge said the problem was not specifically one for the Olympics but for sport as a whole. The issue has come to the fore in recent years amid a series of high-profile cases, including allegations of fixed football matches across Europe and the spot-fixing scandal that gripped cricket last summer.
The pace of technological change, allowing bets to be offered on all manner of sporting events across the world via the internet and mobile phones, and the proliferation of illegal markets has intensified the threat. The sports minister, Hugh Robertson, told the meeting it was important to separate the debate about establishing a "betting right" that would effectively impose a levy on bookmakers to fund the fight against corruption from the need to establish a co-ordinated approach to tackling the problem. He is believed to have said that Britain would play a leading role in co-ordinating an international response.
In two weeks we're about to witness one of the largest black markets ever: secondary sales of London 2012 tickets...the IOC be damned.
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