Betting integrity body ESSA has relaunched as the International Betting Integrity Association with immediate effect. The move highlights the association’s desire to better reflect the global debate around betting and integrity issues and their leading role in that discussion. The association will continue to represent many of the largest regulated sports betting operators in the world with almost 50 brands feeding into its monitoring and alert platform.

Khalid Ali, Secretary General of the International Betting Integrity Association, said: “The new name communicates who we are, what we do and where we want to be. The association has been active across six continents in recent years, with almost half of our alerts coming from outside of Europe. This activity will only increase as gambling markets around the world continue to open up to regulation.” He added: “The debate is global and our strategic focus must evolve in line with that.”

Jon Russell, non-executive Chair of the association’s Board and Head of Global Trading at Betway, explained: “Our members represent a sizeable part of the worldwide regulated betting market and their business strategies reflect global ambitions. Integrity has become a key regulatory issue in that market debate, with membership of a monitoring body a licensing requirement in some cases.” Russell added: “Betting and integrity are now inseparable and I encourage all responsible operators to join us and take advantage of the multifaceted business benefits membership brings.”

The International Betting Integrity Association is the leading global voice on integrity for the licensed betting industry. It is run by operators for operators, protecting its members from corruption through collective action. Its Monitoring & Alert Platform is a highly effective anti-corruption tool that detects and reports suspicious activity on its members’ betting markets. The association has longstanding information sharing partnerships with leading sports and gambling regulators to utilise its data and prosecute corruption. It represents the sector at high-level policy discussion forums.

About the International Betting Integrity Association: 

The International Betting Integrity Association is the leading global voice on integrity for the licensed betting industry. Our members share a common goal of combating betting corruption to protect the integrity of sport and their businesses. Established in 2005 and formerly known as ESSA, we are a not for profit association whose members include many of the world’s largest regulated betting operators, active across six continents. Members undergo a rigorous due diligence process and must adhere to our code of conduct committing them to responsible betting practices.

The International Betting Integrity Association’s Monitoring & Alert Platform is a highly effective anti-corruption tool that detects and reports suspicious activity on its members’ betting markets. The bespoke system tracks transactional activity linked to individual consumer accounts, clearly distinguishing it from commercial monitoring systems focused on simple odds movements. The association has longstanding information sharing partnerships with leading sports bodies including FIFA, UEFA, the TIU and the IOC and many gambling regulators to utilise this data and prosecute corruption. The association maintains a policy of transparency and publishes quarterly integrity reports analysing activity reported on the Platform.

The Council of Europe has yesterday announced that the Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions will enter into force on 1 September 2019 following Switzerland’s ratification. Switzerland became the fifth Council of Europe member state to ratify the Convention – following Norway, Portugal, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine – triggering its entry into force. The Council of Europe’s press release can be accessed here.

Khalid Ali, Secretary General of international betting integrity body ESSA, which engaged in the drafting of the Convention on behalf of the sector, stated: “The Convention sets out a range of practical measures to address match-fixing internationally and it has been broadly supported by ESSA and the wider betting sector. Ratification of the Convention is therefore a predominately positive move. However, there remain hurdles to overcome. The definition of illegal sports betting, in particular, continues to present challenges to universal acceptance of the Convention text.”

Last year, the Council of Europe requested that ESSA coordinate and deliver a thematic report on sports betting integrity issues on behalf of the regulated private betting sector as part of the preparations for ratification of the Convention. That document sets out the betting sector’s view of the main challenges to the adoption of the Convention and the fight against match-fixing, including the Convention’s definition of illegal sports betting, restrictions on betting markets and integrity payments, amongst others. The document can be accessed here http://www.eu-ssa.org/wp-content/uploads/Thematic-Report-ESSA-Betting-Integrity-Research-Project-FINAL-2018.pdf

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.

International betting integrity body ESSA (Sports Betting Integrity) reported 83 cases of suspicious betting to the relevant authorities during the fourth quarter of 2018, bringing the annual total to 267 cases. Tennis (178) and football (52) constituted 86% of all alerts during the year. Geographically, Europe maintained its position as the primary location of sporting events on which alerts have been generated, totalling 148 (55%) in 2018, with Asia continuing to fill second spot with 48 alerts (18%).

Khalid Ali, ESSA Secretary General, stated that: “ESSA’s alerts remain an important barometer for gauging betting related corruption globally. Outside of tennis and football, we are beginning to see new threats emerging such as the increased number of alerts on eSports.” He added: “Given the multi-jurisdictional nature of match-fixing, regulators around the world are now beginning to make it a requirement for operators to be part of an international monitoring system, which we fully support.”

It was also announced that Jon Russell, Global Head of Trading at Betway, would take over as ESSA’s new Chair. He said: “I would like to thank the previous Chair, Heike Mayer, for her valuable contribution to ESSA and its members over the last couple of years. The association took on a new focus and direction during Heike’s tenure and I will be seeking to work with my board colleagues and the wider membership to build upon on the success of that approach and the positive impact that it has had.”

He added “The year ahead is expected to pose new challenges and opportunities for the sector and ESSA is setting out a clear plan of action to ensure that its members are best placed to meet those. Indeed, being part of a collective global monitoring network has never been of greater importance from both a business and integrity perspective, and I call upon all responsible operators to join us in ESSA.”

ESSA holds positions on high-level betting policy forums at the European Commission, Council of Europe and the IOC. It is driving a number of important initiatives aimed at addressing match-fixing.

A copy of ESSA’s 2018 annual integrity report is attached and can also be accessed here, along with previous reports.

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, Betfred, Betsson, BetStars, BetVictor, Betway, bet365, bwin, Cashpoint, Expekt, Fonbet, Gamesys, Interwetten, Ladbrokes Coral, Paddy Power Betfair, Perform (Affiliate) Sky Bet, Sportingbet, Sporting Index, Sportium, Stanleybet, Stoiximan, Unibet and William Hill.

For more information see ESSA’s website at http://www.eu-ssa.org/