SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Industry integrity organisation ESSA has launched its 2015 Q1 Integrity Report. This is the first quarterly report to be issued, replacing the previous annual report.
ESSA Chairman Mike O’Kane stated: “I am delighted to welcome our readers to ESSA’s new quarterly integrity report. We have long promoted an open, transparent and evidence-based approach and we hope that this report, and the information it contains, will positively enhance that discussion. Effective policymaking requires informed debate and proper stakeholder engagement.”
The report highlights that during the first quarter of 2015, ESSA members identified 49 unusual betting patterns. Of these 49 alerts, 24 alerts were found to be suspicious and were reported to the relevant sport bodies for further investigation. The report also includes articles from experts playing a significant role in advancing the integrity debate; this first issue features interviews with two key stakeholders: the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Asser Institute.
ESSA is a key player in the fight against betting related match-fixing. It 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. ESSA’s members work together using risk assessment and security protocols to identify suspicious betting patterns and have access to an unrivalled body of data. That includes essential transactional data on who is betting on what, where and when.
ESSA and its members are committed to engaging with other responsible stakeholders to address this criminal activity. ESSA works closely with organisations such as the IOC, European Commission and Council of Europe to develop processes that detect and deter corruption.
