Betfair on the front foot over sport gaming cheats

21 August 2011

The leader of the worldwide Olympic movement, Jacques Rogge, has called match-fixing and corruption as big a danger to sporting stability as doping.

Unfortunately, sporting scandal and attempted misaligned betting coups have all frequently fit, as current football match-fixing occasions in Finland and South Korea have revealed.

Those events, like in 2015's furore surrounding three Pakistan cricketers - subsequently given bans - and the bowling of "no balls" versus England at Lords, were connected to illegal gaming rings.

But for legitimate betting companies, whether High Street outlets or more recent online wagering organisations, these events all tend to be lumped together in the general public's mind under the one heading of "gambling".

"Much of what we have actually seen has been from the illegal Asian markets - there is a huge difference between them and ourselves," states a senior investigator at online betting company Betfair.

"But it is all about perceptions, and individuals just see the headlines about gambling without looking deeper."

It is to avoid such tarnished associations with misaligned gaming rings that firms such as Betfair go to excellent lengths to keep an eye on the betting patterns on its website.
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'Prevent, identify, investigate'

The company is the world's major betting exchange - a set-up that enables bettors to bank on sporting occasions at chances set by other gamblers.

Betfair makes its money by taking a commission from winning bets.

The firm's head office overlooks the River Thames at Hammersmith, west London, and houses Betfair's business, technical, marketing, and user-experience groups.

But arguably the most important is the integrity team of 8 individuals, which uses computer system and analytical tools to prevent criminal activity being conducted in connection with sport and betting, and to keep crooks off the yohaig code Betfair website.
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"Our task is to prevent, identify, and investigate," states the Betfair detective, or "integrity analyst", who asks not to be called due to the fact that of his operate in handling criminal activity.
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"We work carefully with the police and other law-enforcement companies, gambling regulators, sports bodies, and organisations which promote responsible betting."
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The difficulties facing Betfair variety from potential match-fixing driven by prohibited betting rings, to money-laundering, to individuals utilizing taken or cloned credit cards to bet with, to sportspeople utilizing details.

Betfair hosts chances on more than 40 sports and at any time there can be as many as 11,600 betting markets on the website.
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Customers sign terms and conditions which permits Betfair to examine carefully their background and, in specific suspicious circumstances, to pass their details on to the relevant sporting or legal authorities.

In addition it has actually likewise established an early-warning computer program called BetMon, which governing bodies can utilize to view wagering patterns (but not consumer details) on the Betfair website for their sports.
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And Betfair prides itself on its audit trail to assist the authorities or sports authorities in any investigation.

"Records are kept of each login and bet, occasion, choice, stake, chances, profit - if any - and approach of bet, in addition to the IP address of the computer system used to make the bet," says the yohaig code Betfair expert.

"Telephone call are also taped, too, for possible future recommendation."

Indeed, Betfair is proud of its ability to spot suspicious wagering patterns - in among the most prominent cases it famously refused to settle wagers on a tennis match featuring Russian gamer Nikolay Davydenko in 2007.

The Russian retired from a game in the Poland Open, and this followed "irregular" wagering patterns on his match.

The business, which has agreements with a variety of sporting bodies, including the ATP and other tennis authorities - to whom it reported it concerns in the Davydenko case.

The gamer was consequently cleared of match-fixing by the ATP.

Sporting suggestions

Often criminal gambling rings target gamers or match officials in an attempt to produce the preferred result of a sporting fixture.

Which is where people such as Simon Taylor, who has been the General Secretary of the Professional Players Federation (PPF) in the UK given that 2006, been available in.
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He is likewise is head of policy at EU Athletes, the European federation of player associations.

In 2010, the PPF signed an agreement with the Remote Gambling Association and its members, including Betfair, to develop and deliver education programs to gamers on sports betting and the yohaig code prospective mistakes.

This year the program will be delivered face to face to 5,500 sportsmen and ladies in the UK.

"Our research revealed that 40% of footballers did not understand the rules about not banking on competitions they were associated with," he says, pointing out the value of gamer details.

Mr Taylor stated that typically those captured up in prohibited betting pressures were young athletes, especially footballers, who might come under pressure from crooks who befriend them.

Those at the other end of their professions are also a prospective threat.

"You may have a veteran looking for one last pay day, however we explain that you will never ever get a task later as a coach or in sporting PR. That is not going to take place if your name is messed up," says Mr Taylor.

His organisation likewise uses advice and support for sportspersons and females who may struggle with issue betting.
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'Memorandums of understanding'

Eyebrows were raised amongst many commentators and market figures in March when Betfair said it would be partially heading offshore.

By moving its betting licence from the UK to Gibraltar the firm was no longer bound by any statutory responsibility to inform Britain's Gambling Commission of any suspicious betting.

However, Betfair says that not only is it controlled by the Gibraltar authorities, it likewise has memorandums of understanding (MU) with various sporting bodies to inform them of suspicious activity.

This includes Mr Rogge's International Olympic Committee (IOC), which registered before the Beijing 2008 Games and can ask for the identities of account holders who bet suspiciously.

"Our UK licence needed us to notify any suspicious info to the Gambling Commission," says Betfair's Susannah Gill.
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"Technically we do not have to that any more, however we will continue to do this. That will continue indefinitely.

"We realised back in the early days that details sharing is main to sports integrity."

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