2 5 May 2004

News:

The US Anti-Doping Agency is continuing its drive to root out athletes who have been using designer drugs. The US Agency’s push to persuade athletes to accept a ban even if they have not tested positive, if there is evidence to link them to having been supplied with designer drugs, has won support from international doping specialists.

The battle between the leading bookmakers and the betting exchanges has gone dramatically public with Ladbrokes’ Chief Executive Chris Bell claiming that a ‘race a day is fixed’ in a BBC2 Money Programme special on betting exchanges.

The BBC documentary ‘Fergie & Son’, which focused on the relationship between Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and his son Jason Ferguson’s Elite Sports agency, has fuelled media pressure on the Football Association to regulate agents more stringently.

Features:

Witnessing at first hand on a regular basis, the joy of London travel, the IOC clearly have a point when they raise transport as a factor that may arguably undermine the 2012 bid to bring the Olympics to England. Whatever the outcome of the final vote it appears likely that Europe will welcome the Olympic movement in 2012. For Paris, Madrid, Moscow, New York and London it is also the chance to use sport as a prime mover of enhancing and benefiting their community and nation. Irrespective of the venue chosen, the bid process itself is a catalyst for change.

The Inland Revenue’s first challenge to the operation of the Football Creditor Rule has been dismissed by the High Court. This article analyses the reasoning and significance of the judgment.

With the Olympic Games only a matter of months away now, it was inevitable that disputes over names relating to the Games and the city in which they are being held would not be far behind. Sure enough, a dispute over the domain name athens2004.org has, in the past few weeks, been submitted to WIPO’s Arbitration and Mediation Centre under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP).

Arbitration clauses do not always present the insurmountable barrier to taking a legal challenge to the Courts as might be considered. This article looks at the circumstances in which such a legal challenge can be mounted.

Significant changes are about to be made to the planning system which all those involved in the development of sports facilities will need to take into account in their proposals. This article looks at the changes and their significance for sports projects.

Online poker is an ever-growing phenomenon and represents one of the largest growth areas for interactive gaming. It is relatively easy for players to go online, learn various games of poker, play against other players and even take part in tournaments with higher stakes. This article looks at the background to the growth in poker and the regulatory structure within which it operates.

On 8 March 2004, the Court of Appeal handed down judgment in a long running dispute between HM Customs and Excise and United Utilities plc. The problem illuminates one area of the law of VAT, but also has wider reaching consequences in understanding when a third party service provider may or may not have become involved in providing betting, lottery or other forms of gambling services.

This article analyses the main aspects of Brazilian sports law (called the ‘Pelé Law’, because this famous football player was Minister of Sports in Brazil when the law was passed) and shows that Brazilian sports legislation has promoted transparency and stimulated investment in sports, mainly in football, through a controversial rule that compels clubs to become companies and abide by regular business regulations.