Paddy Power Betfair has "won a contract to run gambling operations for the government of New Zealand as a crackdown on the UK betting industry forces British bookmakers to search for new business overseas." Britain's "biggest gambling company is understood to have beaten competition" from rival Ladbrokes Coral to run a fixed-odds betting service for the state-owned New Zealand Racing Board. OpenBet, a technology company, will work with Paddy Power Betfair (LONDON TIMES, 12/25).
World Rugby wants "more information" from the Rugby Football Union about Premiership side Northampton's "apparent non-compliance" with concussion protocols relating to George North's latest head injury. An RFU concussion review panel said the Northampton Saints wing "should not have returned to the field of play after a mid-air tackle" on Dec. 3. But the panel determined Saints will face no sanctions over the incident (BBC, 12/23).
The former coach of Russian whistleblower Yuliya Stepanova has "been banned for 10 years for doping-related" offenses. Vladimir Mokhnev was found to have violated rules "relating to possession, trafficking and administration of banned substances." Athlete Anastasiya Bazdyreva has also been suspended for two years (BBC, 12/23).
