ESSA statement on the Independent Review Panel’s interim report into corruption in tennis

Brussels, 25 April: ESSA welcomes the publication of the Review Panel’s interim report and the extensive recommendations contained within it. These relate to multiple areas including the availability of betting on tennis events, betting sponsorship of those events and the sale of event data to betting operators.

ESSA will now begin to consider the detail of the interim report and to consult with our members, which represent many of the largest regulated betting operators, to determine how best to respond to the report’s initial findings and recommendations. It is important to highlight that this is an interim report, which opens a further period of discussion and consultation.

ESSA and its members have been working closely with the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) to address potential betting related match-fixing throughout this process and are committed to working with them to tackle corruption. This has delivered a number of positive investigative actions and sanctions and we will continue to work in partnership with the tennis authorities.

About ESSA:

ESSA represents many of the world’s biggest regulated sports betting operators, serving over 40 million consumers in the EU alone. Concerned regulated bookmakers created ESSA in 2005 to monitor betting markets and alert sporting bodies and national regulators to suspicious betting patterns. The goal was and is to protect consumers from potential fraud caused by manipulating sporting events. ESSA helps to combat this with evidence-based intelligence it provides to sporting bodies and regulators.

Every year, our members invest over €50m in compliance and internal security systems in order to help combat fraud. They also give back to sport and society by spending €400m on sponsorship around the world – €250m of that in Europe alone. This increases substantially when advertising and photo and video-streaming rights are taken into consideration. ESSA and its members also co-fund an education programme on gambling with EU Athletes that reaches out to 15,000 athletes/players across at least ten different sports in 13 EU countries.

ESSA continues to play a key role as the regulated betting sector’s representative body at national and international match-fixing policy forums and holds positions on working groups at the European Commission, Council of Europe and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The organisation is continually reassessing and improving its alert and reporting systems and has established information sharing arrangements with a range of sports bodies and regulatory authorities.

ESSA members include: 888sport, ABB, Bet-at-Home, Betclic, Betdaq, Betsson, BetStars, BetVictor, Betway, bet365, bwin, Cashpoint, Expekt, Fonbet, Gamesys, Interwetten, Ladbrokes Coral, Paddy Power Betfair, Sky Bet, Sportingbet, Sporting Index, Sportium, Stanleybet, Stoiximan, Unibet and William Hill. For more information see ESSA’s website at https://www.eu-ssa.org/or visit us on twitter: @ESSA_Betting