Betfair on the front foot over sport betting cheats

21 August 2011

The leader of the international Olympic motion, Jacques Rogge, has called match-fixing and corruption as huge a hazard to sporting integrity as doping.

Unfortunately, sporting scandal and attempted jagged wagering coups have all too typically gone together, as recent football match-fixing occasions in Finland and South Korea have revealed.

Those occasions, like in 2015's furore surrounding three Pakistan cricketers - consequently offered restrictions - and the bowling of "no balls" versus England at Lords, were connected to unlawful gambling rings.

But for genuine betting companies, whether conventional High Street outlets or more recent online betting organisations, these occasions 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 prohibited Asian markets - there is a big distinction in between them and ourselves," states a senior private investigator at online betting company Betfair.

"But it is all about perceptions, and individuals simply see the headings about betting without looking much deeper."

It is to avoid such damaged associations with crooked gaming rings that companies such as Betfair go to terrific lengths to monitor the betting patterns on its site.

'Prevent, discover, examine'

The firm is the world's major wagering exchange - a set-up that permits gamblers to bet on sporting occasions at odds set by other gamblers.

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

The firm's headquarters neglects the River Thames at Hammersmith, west London, and homes Betfair's business, technical, marketing, and user-experience groups.

But arguably the most essential is the integrity team of eight people, which utilizes computer system and analytical tools to prevent criminal activity being performed in connection with sport and betting, and to keep crooks off the Betfair website.

"Our job is to prevent, identify, and investigate," says the Betfair detective, or "stability analyst", who asks not to be named since of his operate in dealing with criminal activity.

"We work carefully with the yohaig code police and other law-enforcement companies, gambling regulators, sports bodies, and organisations which promote accountable gaming."

The obstacles dealing with Betfair variety from prospective match-fixing driven by prohibited gambling rings, to money-laundering, to individuals using taken or cloned charge card to wager with, to sportspeople using inside information.

Betfair hosts odds on more than 40 sports and at any time there can be as numerous as 11,600 wagering markets on the site.

Customers sign conditions which enables Betfair to examine closely their background and, in specific suspicious circumstances, to pass their information on to the pertinent sporting or legal authorities.

In addition it has likewise established an early-warning computer system programme called BetMon, which governing bodies can use to see wagering patterns (however not customer details) on the Betfair website for their sports.

And Betfair prides itself on its audit trail to help the police or sports authorities in any investigation.

"Records are kept of each login and bet, occasion, choice, stake, odds, earnings - if any - and approach of bet, along with the IP address of the computer used to make the bet," says the Betfair expert.

"Phone calls are also tape-recorded, too, for possible future reference."

Indeed, Betfair is happy of its ability to find suspicious wagering patterns - in one of the most prominent cases it famously declined to settle wagers on a tennis match including 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 yohaig code business, which has contracts with a number of sporting bodies, consisting of the ATP and other tennis authorities - to whom it reported it worries in the Davydenko case.

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

Sporting recommendations

Often criminal betting rings target gamers or match officials in an attempt to produce the wanted outcome of a sporting component.

Which is where individuals such as Simon Taylor, who has actually been the General Secretary of the Professional Players Federation (PPF) in the UK because 2006, come in.

He is also is head of policy at EU Athletes, the European federation of gamer associations.

In 2010, the PPF signed an arrangement with the Remote Gambling Association and its members, including Betfair, to establish and deliver education programmes to gamers on sports betting and the prospective mistakes.

This year the programme will be delivered face to face to 5,500 sportspersons and females in the UK.

"Our research showed that 40% of footballers did not understand the guidelines about not banking on competitors they were associated with," he says, mentioning the value of player details.

Mr Taylor said that often those captured up in prohibited gambling pressures were young professional athletes, particularly footballers, who could come under pressure from crooks who befriend them.

Those at the other end of their professions are likewise a prospective risk.

"You may have a veteran looking for one last pay day, however we mention that you will never get a job later on as a coach or in sporting PR. That is not going to occur if your name is messed up," states Mr Taylor.

His organisation likewise provides recommendations and assistance for sportsmen and women who might struggle with problem gambling.

'Memorandums of understanding'

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

By moving its betting licence from the yohaig code UK to Gibraltar the company was no longer bound by any statutory commitment to notify Britain's Gambling Commission of any suspicious wagering.

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

This consists of Mr Rogge's International Olympic Committee (IOC), which signed up before the Beijing 2008 Games and can request the identities of account holders who bet suspiciously.

"Our UK licence needed us to inform any suspicious info to the Gambling Commission," states Betfair's Susannah Gill.

"Technically we do not need to that anymore, but we will continue to do this promotion code. That will continue indefinitely.

"We understood back in the early days that information sharing is main to sports stability."

Betfair Corporate

Professional Players Federation

Gibraltar Remote Gaming