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The Copenhagen Post newspaper in Denmark reports that the state gambling monopoly Danske Spil is to head a new organisation aimed at curbing corruption in European football. The newly-created monitoring body will seek to prevent match fixing by referees and players.
Titled the European Lotteries Monitoring System (ELMS), the new organisation is a co-operation with European football’s governing body UEFA and will officially begin operations in August. Among the tournaments to be monitored by ELMS are the Champions League, the European Cup and all European national team matches.
Jens Nielsen, head of Danske Spil’s sports betting division, said the agency won the contract to head the body because it has been the leading organisation assisting a UEFA-European Lotteries co-operation on fighting corruption since 2005.
Nielsen said the number of referee bribes and instances of players being paid to help their team lose has been increasing since 2000, with match fixing reportedly occurring most often in a tournament’s early rounds.
‘It usually occurs when there are a lot of teams from smaller countries, and in games where teams from Eastern Europe or the Balkans are involved,’ said Nielsen.
A special group within Danske Spil will be assigned solely to monitor signs of corruption, gathering and reviewing reports from European gaming organisations that detail unusual betting patterns.
It is not known whether Danske Spil will inspan the information and assistance which advanced technology betting exchange Betfair could provide.
