SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Six Nations Rugby Limited signed a three year service agreement with Sportradar under which the next three editions of the senior Men’s, Women’s and U20s Six Nations Championships will be monitored by Sportradar’s Fraud Detection System.
Sportradar, which already works with the Rugby Football Union and the Australian Rugby Union, will employ its FDS to monitor the global betting patterns and movements across regulated and unregulated markets for all matches of the Six Nations competitions – a total of 135 matches during the three year deal. Six Nations Rugby Limited has also asked Sportradar to deliver a number of Fraud Prevention Service workshops to representatives from each participating nation.
Speaking about the new arrangements, Six Nations Rugby Tournament & Operations Director Jon Davis said: “To date, rugby, particularly international rugby, has thankfully stayed clear of match-fixing and match manipulation. But we would be naïve to discount the risk altogether, so, in order to head off the possibility, The Six Nations in consultation with the six Unions decided that the Sportradar service would send a clear message. We are vigilant and remain vigilant across our competitions: men’s, women’s and U20s. We hope to hear very little, if at all, from Sportradar in the coming years; but if we do, supporters and stakeholders of the RBS 6 Nations can rest assured that we will act quickly and with conviction”.
Andreas Krannich, the Managing Director for Integrity at Sportradar, added this: “The Six Nations have decided to double-down their defences by pairing our FDS, which monitors 450 betting operators worldwide, with our educational workshops, which have been delivered to football and rugby rights holders across Europe and beyond. Education is such a key component of this service and we are excited to arm key participants with the awareness and understanding of the issue and how it can affect them. This year is a big year for international rugby and it all starts with this year’s RBS 6 Nations. We are proud to play our part in keeping that competition honest, as well as intense and exhilarating!”
