Nigel Willerton, Director of Integrity at the Tennis Integrity Unit last week made a statement to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee on match fixing in tennis.
This is a joint response from both the TIU itself and Pinnacle Sports to clarify the following statement which was made by Willerton on Wednesday 24th February 2016: “They [Pinnacle Sports] won’t at this present time sign an MOU with us so that we can exchange information.”
As a follow up to his initial statement Willerton explained: “My answer to the Chair of the Select Committee was based on the understanding that Pinnacle’s reluctance to agree a MoU was in respect of the Terms and Conditions of their Privacy Policy with customers, which I interpreted as being a commercial consideration. I am happy to accept confirmation from Pinnacle Sports that this is not the case and customer privacy policy is the issue we need to resolve in reaching a co-operative working relationship in the near future.”
Marco Blume, Head of Trading at Pinnacle Sports had this to say: “Pinnacle Sports is absolutely open to working actively with the TIU. When it comes to disclosing a customers’ personal data, however, we require a legitimate request from the police or another competent authority.”
He added: “As clarified by Mr. Willerton, the reluctance of Pinnacle Sports to supply customer data to the TIU was not for the benefit of our commercial interests but due to our data privacy regulations as reflected in our Privacy Policy, the adherence to which we take very seriously. We look forward to cooperating with the TIU whenever possible moving forward.”