SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Sports integrity non-profit organisation the CSCF Foundation has launched its ‘IntegriSport Next ERASMUS+’, an EU-level project representing a joint commitment between six member-state countries in raising awareness of sports manipulation threats and compromises.
The EU-funded initiative is a continuation of the IntegriSport Erasmus+ project, which was launched in 2019, consolidating itself as an important platform for raising awareness amongst law enforcement agencies and judiciaries about the damages of sports manipulations in Europe.
The six participating countries include Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Malta and Sweden, bringing together the efforts of individual member states governing bodies, law enforcement units and partner authorities in combating sports manipulations.
IntegriSport partners organisations include the Cyprus Police, Estonian Police, Finnish Center for Integrity in Sports, The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia, Malta Police Force, and the Swedish Sports Confederation.
The EU project is further supported by the Global Lottery Monitoring System (GLMS) as a global sports betting monitoring platform and will be assisted by the academic oversight of Belgium university, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven).
Meanwhile, FIFPRO, the worldwide representative network for 65,000 registered football professionals has confirmed that it will assist IntegriSport developments.
IntegriSport will establish a comprehensive awareness-raising programme to achieve its cooperation objectives, with operational support provided by member states law enforcement agencies (LEA) and judicial authorities (JA), facing new threats from sports corruption.
According to the CSCF, IntegriSport Next (2021-2022) ‘generates an ideal space for LEA and JA to debate in transnational meetings and training programmes led by recognised experts’.
Meanwhile, Matthew Holt who is President of US Integrity, a sports betting analytics company that monitors unethical or illegal betting-related activity said that integrity & data sharing were critical elements to safeguarding regulated sports betting markets against present and future threats”
The project will utilise appropriate investigative techniques, legal instruments, sports policy, sport betting and virtual currencies in sport at national and international level to tackle the matter of match-fixing and other sports integrity issues.
