Sports integrity Archives

March 8, 2023

New Brazil integrity body forms in wake of scandals

A consortium of organisations with a stake in Brazilian sports betting have announced the formation of a new non-profit Brazilian sports integrity body, the Associação Brasileira de Defesa da Integridade do Esporte (ABRADIE).

The establishment of the new body follows a number of recent match-fixing scandals in the Portuguese-speaking country, which have led to a national conversation regarding its betting laws.

Involved in the creation of the association are Genius Sports, Entain, daily fantasy sports operator Rei Do Pitaco, as well as law firms Bichara e Motta and Maia Yoshiyasu Advogados, who released a joint statement following the group’s formation.

Luiz Felipe Maia from the Maia Yoshiyasu firm argued that the association was being formed at a “critical time,” due to the pressures of the growing Brazilian market and the ongoing question of regulation.

ABRADIE

ABRADIE states that it will operate as a collaborative group that will partner with regulators, federal and state la..

February 1, 2023

IBIA reports 268 suspicious betting alerts in 2022

The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) announced that it reported 268 suspicious sports betting alerts in 2022 – a 14% year-on-year increase.

This compares with an average of 230 alerts announced between 2019 and 2021.

The association stated this increase can be largely put down to a widening of its monitoring network due to membership growth.

During the year, the IBIA added 16 new members to its ranks, meaning that 45 businesses representing 125 betting brands now count themselves as members.

“The addition of 16 new members in 2022 has undoubtedly strengthened our monitoring and alert network and our ambition is to see all responsible regulated sports betting operators collaborating through IBIA,” said Khalid Ali, CEO of the IBIA. “Proactive and collaborative action by our sector is an essential component in the fight against match-fixing, and to enhancing the overall reputation of the sector in general.”

Divided by quarter, there were 48 alerts in Q1, rising to ..

January 11, 2023

Elys Game Technology joins US Integrity

Global interactive gaming and sports betting technology company Elys Game Technology has partnered up with US Integrity (USI) as it expands in North America.

USI will provide event monitoring, market intelligence and fraud prevention for all of Elys’ growing US facing operations, including Nevada-based USBookmaking, which it acquired in 2021.

In the US, Elys’ focus is to provide end-to-end sportsbook services to business operators across the regulated market. The news of this partnership follows the recent announcement that Elys secured a licence in Ohio’s newly legal sports betting market.

USI’s integrity monitoring services from its proprietary dashboard to Elys Game Technology conducts analysis across dozens of data sets to identify any possible irregular sports wagering-related patterns.

Michele Ciavarella, executive chairman of Elys, said the partnership will help the business detect suspicious betting.

“We are very pleased to be engaged with US Integrity as we prepare to ..

December 21, 2022

Brentford star Toney faces further FA charges over betting rule breaches

The English Football Association (FA) has issued more charges against Brentford striker Ivan Toney after uncovering further breaches of its betting rules.

Last month, Toney was charged with a breach of FA Rule E8, which states any player, match official or coach must not bet, either directly or indirectly, on any matters related to football anywhere in the world.

Toney was initially found to have breached this rule 232 times between 25 February 2017 and 23 January 2021 – a period in which he was playing in leagues outside of the top tier Premier League in England.

Ahead of being issued with charges, Toney confirmed that he had been helping the FA with its investigation.

Following further investigation by the FA, the body now alleges that Toney breached this rule an additional 30 times between 14 March 2017 and 18 February 2019.

The striker is yet to publicly respond to the latest charge, but has until 4 January 2023 to provide a formal response.

Brentford FC acknowledged the char..

November 29, 2022

IBIA signs up Bet99 as latest member

Canadian online sports betting and casino platform Bet99 has become the latest gambling business to join the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA).

Bet99 will now feed into the IBIA’s global betting integrity monitoring and alert network, working alongside a host of licensed operators from around the world.

Ontario approval

The announcement comes shortly after Bet99 secured approval from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario and iGaming Ontario to offer online gambling services in the Canadian province.

Membership of an integrity body such as IBIA is a requirement for Ontario licence-holders.

“Joining IBIA, the world’s leading independent integrity monitor, is critical to our sportsbook strategy, in which trust, integrity and protection are prioritised for our Canadian customers,” Bet99’s head of sportsbook André Bewerungen said.

“We are delighted to combine forces with IBIA to combat foul play in sports, as well as betting-related corruption and manipulation..

November 17, 2022

English FA charges Brentford star Toney over 232 betting breaches

The English Football Association (FA) has charged Ivan Toney, who plays for English Premier League football club Brentford, with misconduct after ruling that he breached its strict betting regulations.

Toney last week admitted he was assisting the FA with an investigation amid newspaper reports he bet on football matches earlier in his career.

The Daily Mail said the FA has been investigating Toney for seven months over allegations he was betting on games during his time playing in the lower leagues. It is not thought Toney ever placed bets on the team he was playing for at the time to lose.

The FA has now confirmed Toney was charged after its investigation uncovered that he had breached betting rules 232 times between 25 February 2017 and 23 January 2021.

The specific breach was in relation to FA Betting Rule E8, which states any player, match official or coach must not bet, either directly or indirectly, on any matters related to football anywhere in the world.

Though the FA did..

November 16, 2022

Sportradar raises guidance after US segment turns Q3 profit

Sportradar raised its full-year guidance after it reported a 30.7% revenue increase to €178.8m and said its US segment turned a profit in Q3.

Sportradar reported that revenue from the United States was up by 61.2% to €31.6m.

“This growth was driven by a strong increase of US betting services, driven by cross-selling non-data products to betting operators as well as benefiting from our customers’ growth as a result of a development in the underlying market and new states legalising betting,” the group said.

Rest-of-world betting services was the largest segment of the business, with revenue up 28.4% from Q3 of 2021.

This, Sportradar said, was mostly due to clients using more products in which Sportradar receives a higher revenue share, such as as managed betting services.

“This growth was driven primarily by increased sales of our higher value-add offerings including managed betting services, which increased 84% to €38.2 million, and live odds services, which increased 12% to €27..

November 14, 2022

DSWV partners IBIA to protect sporting integrity

The German Sports Betting Association (DSWV) and the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in an effort to protect sports integrity.

Under the arrangement, the DSWV and IBIA will work in partnership and coordinate their activities on betting and related integrity issues in Germany.

The two associations will bring together their expertise on activities aimed at promoting a viable regulated sports betting market in the country that has high consumer channelling and related consumer, sports and operator integrity protection measures.

“The partnership between the DSWV and IBIA is another welcome step forward for the German sports betting industry,” DSWV president Mathias Dahms said. “With its many years of international experience and expertise in the field of sports integrity, the IBIA will support us in strengthening the regulated market and protecting it from manipulation.

“We therefore look forward to many joint projects..

October 21, 2022

UFC bans fighters from betting on matches

Mixed martial arts (MMA) series the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has amended its rules and regulations to ban fighters from betting on UFC fights.

Fighters will be prohibited from placing bets on any UFC match, including those in which they are competing. This applies to athletes wagering directly or through a third party.

The UFC noted that most states in the US already have a ban in place on UFC fighters betting on official UFC matches, with any breaches of this rule being deemed illegal and may result in some form of criminal sanction.

In the majority of states, this ban extends to some or all relatives living in the same household as an athlete, as well as an athlete’s coaches, managers, handlers, athletic trainers, medical professionals and staff, or any other person with access to non-public information regarding the UFC.

In addition, the UFC’s rules and regulations now read that any athlete who becomes aware or has knowledge of any breach of its rules should reportin..

October 19, 2022

Genius Sports scores integrity partnership with Australian Professional Leagues

Genius Sports has agreed a deal with the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) to become the official data provider for the A-League Men and A-League Women club football competitions.

The agreement will cover the 2022-23 seasons of both leagues, with Genius Sports securing the exclusive rights to capture, manage and distribute official data from all matches and also distribute this to its global network of sportsbook partners.

Both A-Leagues have also committed to deploying Genius Sports’ optical tracking systems in select venues.

Genius Sports’ monitoring system cross-references real-time betting odds movements with predictive algorithms to automatically flag potentially suspicious activity.

“Genius are global leaders in data and integrity services and we are delighted to be building this partnership with them,” APL director of strategy and digital Michael Tange said. “Data underpins the Australian Professional Leagues’ strategy to make football Australia’s most entertaining sport..

October 10, 2022

Sportradar granted sublicence, will stop scouting in Genius-FDC settlement

Sportradar’s legal dispute against Genius Sports and the Football DataCo (FDC) has reached a resolution, with the parties agreeing out of court that Sportradar will receive a sublicence for English football data, but that it must stop unofficial scouting.

Under the terms of the settlement, Sportradar will be granted a sublicence that will grant access to a delayed secondary feed until 2024. At the same time, Sportradar will cease its unauthorised in-stadium data collection activities.

The case, which dates back to February 2020, challenged the English and Scottish football data licensing regime. The framework was established in May 2019 when Genius signed a landmark agreement with FDC that granted the data business exclusive rights to collect, license and distribute live data from the Premier League, the Football League and the Scottish Professional Football League. The case was heard by the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

Sportradar claimed that the system that had been built through..

July 27, 2022

Pinnacle makes integrity push by joining IBIA

The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) has announced online sports betting brand Pinnacle as its latest member.

Pinnacle, previously known as Pinnacle Sports, will now feed into IBIA’s global betting integrity monitoring and alert platform.

The operator joins a group of other sports betting operators that have joined the IBIA, with the association’s members accounting for more than $137bn (£114bn/€135bn) in global betting turnover per annum and almost 50% of all regulated commercial operator online betting activity.

“Our focus on integrity not only applies to our clients but also the governing bodies themselves, an area which is increasingly important for responsible gaming operators,” Pinnacle chief executive Paris Smith said. “We are delighted to become members of the IBIA and look forward to working closely with the organisation to combat betting-related corruption and manipulation.”

IBIA chief executive Khalid Ali added: “The size and scope of Pinnacle’s sports ..

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Tag: Sports integrity