Stop betting on the Olympics.
Our letter to the International Olympic Committee, co-signed by our international allies, urging the IOC to ban advertising, sponsorship and all forms of marketing for sports betting within the Olympic Movement.
January 22, 2026
President Kirsty Coventry
Director General Christophe De Kepper
International Olympic Committee
Dear President Coventry and Director General De Kepper:
Stop betting on the Olympics
We write on behalf of an international coalition of NGOs to urge the IOC to ban advertising, sponsorship and all forms of marketing for sports betting within the Olympic Movement and to endorse the universal, public health approach to gambling recommended by the IOC's partner, the World Health Organization; see Gambling.
While we were encouraged to see the IOC promote 'health, inclusion and daily physical activity as lasting habits' from the forthcoming 2026 Olympic Winter Games and Paralympic Winter Games in Milano Cortina, we fear that your goal of enhancing healthy physical activity is undermined by your silence on the spread of sports betting.
As countless studies show, and as WHO documents:
- Gambling can threaten health, leading to increased incidence of mental illness and suicide. It can drive poverty by diverting household spending from essential goods and services.
- Gambling harms also include relationship breakdown, family violence, financial distress, stigma, income-generating crimes (theft, fraud), neglect of children, and erosion of civil institutions via corruption and corporate political activity. Gambling is also a common way to launder money obtained through illegal activities.
Sports betting increases the risk of unsafe sports, as disappointed bettors abuse the athletes who do not 'make' the intended bets.
We acknowledge that the IOC is a leading voice against match-fixing and competition manipulation, and commend the policies you have initiated, such as the Macolin Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions. They provide important safeguards. But the basic problem is the unrestricted spread of sports betting.
IOC officials have told us that 'betting adds to the enjoyment of sports and that advertising for sports betting grows the interest in sports.' That view is mistaken. Betting may draw people to sports, but that interest is entirely disembodied and sedentary, and for many of those, harmful to the point of addiction.
There is absolutely no evidence that sports betting increases the realization of Olympic values, including healthy active participation in sports.
Advertising for sports betting is now illegal in Italy, which supports the policy statements issued by WHO. Those policy statements are based on the rapidly growing body of peer-reviewed population health science research, and are supported by a coalition of Italian sports organizations, under the slogan: The Olympic spirit cannot and must not in any way be associated with gambling.
We worry that advertising promoting sport betting will be prevalent in many other countries during the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympic Winter Games and Paralympic Winter Games, thus further normalizing the harms from sports betting.
We therefore call upon the IOC to aggressively protect the Olympic brand and all its related trademarks, by not permitting advertising, sponsorship or any other form of marketing related to sports betting within the Olympic Movement, the Olympic Games, the Olympic Winter Games, and the Olympic Youth Games.
We also urge the IOC to reflect that position in future host city agreements, and on all Olympic broadcasts.
Further we call on the IOC to publicly endorse the WHO's public health recommendations on gambling.
Sincerely,
Campaign to Ban Ads for Gambling (Canada)
Bruce Kidd (OLY), Director & President
Joel Finlay (OLY), Director & Treasurer
Stop Predatory Gambling (USA)
Les Bernal, National Director
Coalition to End Gambling Ads (UK)
Will Prochaska, Director
Gambling with Lives (UK)
Charles Ritchie MBE, Co-Founder & Chair
Liz Ritchie MBE, Co-Founder & Trustee
Alliance for Gambling Reform (Australia)
Martin Thomas, Chief Executive Officer
Humans of Sport (Worldwide)
Payoshni Mitra, Founder
Society Concerned about Gambling Addiction (Japan)
Noriko Tanaka, Representative Director
NPO National Association of Family of Gambling Addiction (Japan)
Taeko Osawa, Chairperson of the Board
Copies to: IPC President Andrew Parsons · WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus · UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres