The Follow-up Committee to the Macolin Convention held its 12th meeting on 4 June 2026 at the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne. The meeting brought together States Parties and observers from the worlds of sport and sports betting, and resulted in a significant milestone: the approval of three sets of guidelines that will equip States and regulators with concrete tools to better protect the integrity of sport.
Three guidelines, one common goal
The three documents adopted by the Committee address the betting offer, illegal betting, and money laundering, which are interconnected threats to sport and provide a practical, risk-based framework for action.
1. Guidelines on Reasonable Betting
The first set of guidelines offer regulators a risk-based framework to determine which sporting events should be open to betting and under what conditions. Instead of imposing a single standard for every country, they propose five objective criteria that regulators can adapt to their own national context:
- Level of competition: assessing the tier, media coverage, and degree of professionalization of players.
- Level of betting activity: evaluating the volume and relevance of the betting market on a given event.
- Level of competition integrity: considering the event's track record, including past suspicious betting alerts and manipulation cases.
- Level of global integrity: taking into account the broader governance and corruption environment in which the competition takes place.
- Level of engagement in preventing manipulation: measuring the commitment of sports organisers to integrity standards, transparency, and cooperation with authorities.
The aim is to ensure that the betting offer remains proportionate to the risks involved.
2. Guidelines on the Fight Against Illegal Betting and the Typology of Betting Operators
The second set of guidelines introduces a five-category classification system to help regulators distinguish reliable betting operators from those that pose a risk. The typology ranges from "trusted" operators (fully licensed, transparent, and active members of alert systems), to operators "to be excluded," which operate without a licence and outside any integrity framework. This classification gives regulators and sports organisations a practical tool to close the enforcement gaps that criminal networks continue to exploit across borders.
3. Guidelines on Combating Money Laundering Through Sports Betting
The third set of guidelines addresses the growing vulnerability of the sports betting sector to money laundering. They recommend strengthening identity verification, improving transaction monitoring, fostering closer cooperation between gambling regulators and financial intelligence units, and working toward harmonised international standards. These are measures that are critical to cutting off the financial flows that fuel both illegal betting and competition manipulation.
Why this matters
The Macolin Convention remains the only international legally binding instrument specifically dedicated to the fight against the manipulation of sports competitions. As an observer to the T-MC Committee, ULIS welcomes these guidelines as a meaningful step forward as they translate the Convention's principles into actionable tools that States, regulators, and the sports betting operators can use to address the most pressing integrity challenges.
It is important to recall that the Macolin Convention is not limited to Council of Europe member States. It is a treaty open for signature to all countries worldwide, making it a truly global instrument in the fight against the manipulation of sports competitions. ULIS encourages all countries that have not yet done so to sign and ratify the Convention, thereby joining a growing coalition committed to protecting the integrity of sport.
For more details: Link to Council of Europe’s website article and guidelines to download
Photo: Council of Europe
