SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) has announced a landmark three-year partnership with integrity specialist Sportradar. Under the partnership, Sportradar will monitor a total of three flagship tournaments per year from 2015 to 2017 and will deliver a total of 12 educational workshops, which will be targeted at participating players, officials, administrators and coaches.
In a similar way that it is employed by other sports, Sportradar’s Fraud Detection System will monitor the world’s betting markets on the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, IIHF World Junior Championship and IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship each year, ensuring that any suspicious odds movements or patterns are flagged, analysed and promptly forwarded to the IIHF.
As part of the deal Sportradar will also send experts to the host cities and provide all relevant participants with insight and understanding of the global markets on ice hockey and the dangers posed by fixers.
IIHF President René Fasel said: “Very few sports excite and engage fans like ice hockey does. And we want to keep it that way. The integrity of our World Championships and our sport are central to that.
“What this partnership does is send a powerful message. It sends a powerful message to our fans that we will not compromise when it comes to protecting the honesty of the game we all love. By including the U20 and U18 competitions, we send a message that we are doing all we can to safeguard our sport for today and tomorrow. By partnering with a professional organisation like Sportradar, we send a message to the fixers that we are watching them. Zero compromise; zero tolerance.”
Sportradar Managing Director Andreas Krannich added: “Hearing President Fasel’s words is reassuring to me and should be reassuring to all those that love ice hockey. By asking us to monitor 126 ice hockey games and deliver 12 workshops over three years, the IIHF has shown a keen awareness of this vitally important issue. We have worked hard to develop the ice hockey Fraud Detection System and we have honed it to the needs and sensitivities of the sport. This partnership is a powerful show of trust and confidence in our system, but also in our educational programme, which has been reworked and tailored and is now ready to be delivered to the best players in the world.”
