As the 2012 London Olympics draws closer the Metropolitan Police have launched a dedicated task force responsible for dealing with event-fixing and illegal betting scams.

The Olympic Minister, Hugh Robertson, has suggested that game fixing is a bigger problem than doping and therefore a major threat to one of the world's biggest sporting events with more than 200 nations taking part.

"You cannot underestimate the threat this poses because the moment that spectators start to feel that what they are seeing is not a true contest, that is when spectators stop turning up and the whole thing falls to pieces," Robertson commented.

The new police unit will work with the Serious Organised Crime Agency and Interpol to track suspicious gambling activity abroad. The International Olympic Committee has its own special unit which will also be looking out for unusual wagers.

Robertson has suggested that Western authorities have worked to ensure that illegal betting is stamped out, however progress by authorities in the Far East and India is somewhat lacking.