IOC's Rogge: Sport should share gambling revenues

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge has called for sports bodies to receive a cut of betting revenues and also insisted that governments should impose tighter controls on gambling in sport.

Speaking to reporters ahead of a meeting in Lausanne with government ministers, Interpol, betting operators and United Nations representatives on illegal and irregular betting practices, Rogge said the IOC favoured a licensing system controlled by national political administrations.

Rogge stated "we are in favour of a system where betting operators have to be licensed by the government.

"Sports organisers, national federations and international federations would have a fair return for all their efforts for organising the sport. They should be recognised with a return from financial income."

Rogge urged governments to monitor betting companies to "control if there is any money laundering" and added "I think you have to assume like in doping, all sports are affected and none is totally free, but those sports with the biggest audiences will be affected (by illegal and irregular betting). That goes without saying."

Federal Sports Minister Mark Arbib, along with ministerial counterparts from France, Switzerland and the UK are attending the meeting.

In late 2009, France, which had long protected its state monopoly on gambling through Francaise des Jeux and Pari Mutuel Urbain, finally introduced its own licensing system for betting on sport, with bookmakers forced to pay a portion of their revenues to sport.

France made the change after coming under pressure from the European Commission, which is gradually forcing through legislation to relax national laws that safeguard state monopolies against competition from other companies in a number of countries on the continent.