IOC’s new betting intelligence system, “IBIS”, hailed by International Federations

International Federations currently convening at the SportAccord Convention in Belek, Turkey, have welcomed the IOC’s recent initiative of setting up a new intelligence system linking all stakeholders involved in the fight against corruption and related manipulation through betting on sports.

The so-called “Integrity Betting Intelligence System” (IBIS) collates alerts and information on manipulation through betting on sport. A very large number of betting operators and national regulators have already signed MoUs with the IOC. They will be responsible for monitoring betting activity during the Games and major sports events and alerting IBIS directly when suspicious activity is detected.

The system went operational for the first time for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, where no suspicious patterns were detected. IBIS remains operational between editions of the Olympic Games for the benefit of International Federations (IFs) to use at their major international events and other multisport events. In the event that an IF suspects one of its events has been jeopardised, the IF may ask IBIS for information on the betting market.

The IOC, which runs the platform and covers the technological costs, presented IBIS to several IFs in Belek. They all showed an interest in using the centralised system. All seven International Olympic Winter Federations are already using IBIS and the objective is to have all International Olympic Summer Federations linked to the system by the end of 2015.

The IOC is strongly committed to protecting the integrity of sport and clean athletes. The creation of IBIS, the signature of a cooperation agreement with Interpol as well as the creation of a USD 10 million fund to protect clean athletes from any manipulated competition are among the IOC’s latest initiatives in this endeavour.