SOURCE: guardian.co.uk

Major governing bodies will today demand that bookmakers automatically inform them about the betting habits of sports stars when they meet to discuss the potentially divisive issue of information sharing with the Gambling Commission.

The commission is consulting on various issues affecting sports and the betting industry, and governing bodies intend to use a seminar today to call for compulsory information sharing. They want to see accounts held by participants in sports automatically flagged up if bets are placed in contravention of their rules and regulations.

The governing bodies are also campaigning to extract a share of bookmakers' revenue in exchange for the right to make markets on sporting events, some of which will be used to police the sports.

Currently information is shared on an ad hoc basis but sports believe gambling poses a major threat to their integrity. The Football Association has investigated the Betfair market on Harry Redknapp's appointment at Portsmouth - although no charges were brought - and last year Victor Chandler was granted an injunction preventing a whistleblower from revealing details of three Premiership managers' accounts he claimed contravened rules.

The bookmakers, led by the industry body the Association of British Bookmakers, feel the measures go too far and that the new offence of cheating, included in the new Gambling Act, is sufficient to protect sport.

One compromise would see the ABB act as a clearing house for collecting information about potentially dodgy transactions. "With goodwill I'm sure we can reach a solution," said the ABB chair, Tom Kelly.