Outgoing Liverpool Football Coach to Chair Betting Integrity Panel

A new panel is being put together to ensure current rules are sufficient when it comes to sporting event and they will be put in charge of identifying suspicious betting patterns.

The panel will comprise of representatives from the industry, police, players, fans, governing bodies, the legal profession and the Gambling Commission, according to a BBC report.

Outgoing Liverpool football coach, Rick Parry, will also sit on the panel.

"I am delighted that Rick Parry has agreed to lead this vitally important work," said sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe.

"His expertise in the nation's most high profile sport, along with that of the other panel members, will give this project the impetus it needs to tackle sports betting corruption head-on.

"We cannot be complacent and need to act now to prevent this becoming a real threat to the integrity of sport.

"There are some complex issues involved and this is by no means an easy task, but I have great confidence in the panel and I look forward to hearing the recommendations."

Parry, who is leaving Anfield this summer after 12 years at Liverpool, said: "Integrity and sport must go hand-in-hand and anything that threatens that bond of trust has to be stamped out.

"I am confident that we can build on the work already done to ensure we have the toughest possible approach to corruption - protecting and preserving the reputation of sport."

News of the new "integrity panel" comes on the heels of a stunning report Wednesday that a sting operation has been set up during the 2009 Wimbledon tournament.

Bookmakers suspended the market on Jürgen Melzer's straight-sets defeat of Wayne Odesnik on Court 14.

The Tennis Integrity Unit, set up last year to investigate allegations of match fixing, was alerted by several betting operators who had witnessed suspicious activity around the match, according to a report in the Guardian newspaper out of London. 

Alistair Prescott, Gambling911.com