Betfair on the front foot over sport gambling cheats

21 August 2011

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

Unfortunately, sporting scandal and attempted crooked wagering coups have all too often gone together, as current football match-fixing events in Finland and South Korea have revealed.

Those occasions, like last year's furore surrounding three Pakistan cricketers - consequently offered restrictions - and the bowling of "no balls" against England at Lords, were linked to prohibited betting rings.

But for legitimate betting companies, whether traditional High Street outlets or more recent online betting 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 seen has been from the illegal Asian markets - there is a big difference between them and ourselves," says a senior detective at online betting firm Betfair.

"But it is everything about perceptions, and people simply see the headlines about betting without looking deeper."

It is to avoid such tarnished associations with crooked gambling rings that firms such as Betfair go to fantastic lengths to monitor the wagering patterns on its site.

'Prevent, discover, investigate'

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

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

The firm's head office ignores the River Thames at Hammersmith, west London, and houses Betfair's corporate, technical, marketing, and user-experience teams.

But probably the most important is the integrity team of 8 people, which uses computer system and analytical tools to prevent criminal activity being conducted in connection with sport and betting, and to keep lawbreakers off the Betfair website.

"Our task is to avoid, detect, and examine," says the Betfair private investigator, or "integrity expert", who asks not to be named because of his operate in dealing with criminal activity.

"We work carefully with the cops and other law-enforcement companies, betting regulators, sports bodies, and organisations which promote responsible gambling."

The difficulties dealing with Betfair range from prospective match-fixing driven by prohibited gambling rings, to money-laundering, to people using stolen or cloned credit cards to wager with, to sportspeople using details.

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

Customers sign terms and conditions which permits Betfair to inspect closely their background and, in particular suspicious situations, to pass their details on to the appropriate sporting or legal authorities.

In addition it has also developed an early-warning computer programme called BetMon, which governing bodies can use to see wagering patterns (however not consumer information) on the Betfair site for their sports.

And Betfair prides itself on its audit path to assist the police or sports authorities in any examination.

"Records are kept of each login and bet, occasion, choice, stake, chances, revenue - if any - and method of bet, as well as the IP address of the computer system utilized to make the bet," states the Betfair analyst.

"Call are likewise recorded, too, for possible future recommendation."

Indeed, Betfair is happy of its ability to identify suspicious betting patterns - in among the most prominent cases it famously declined to settle wagers on a tennis match featuring Russian player Nikolay Davydenko in 2007.

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

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

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

Sporting advice

Often criminal betting rings target players or match authorities in an effort to make the preferred 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 considering that 2006, can be found in.

He is likewise is head of policy at EU Athletes, the European federation of player associations.

In 2010, the PPF signed an arrangement with the Remote Gambling Association and its members, consisting of Betfair, to establish and provide education programmes to gamers on sports betting and the potential risks.

this promotion code year the programme will be provided in individual to 5,500 sportsmen and ladies in the UK.

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

Mr Taylor said that often those captured up in illegal gaming pressures were young professional athletes, especially footballers, who could come under pressure from lawbreakers who befriend them.

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

"You might have a veteran looking for one last pay day, however we mention that you will never get a task later as a coach or in sporting PR. That is not going to happen if your name is ruined," states Mr Taylor.

His organisation also provides guidance and assistance for sportsmen and women who may struggle with issue betting.

'Memorandums of understanding'

Eyebrows were raised amongst lots of analysts and market figures in March when Betfair stated it would be partly heading offshore.

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

However, Betfair says that not just is it regulated by the Gibraltar authorities, it also has memorandums of understanding (MU) with many sporting bodies to notify 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 wager suspiciously.

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

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

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

Betfair Corporate

Professional Players Federation

Gibraltar Remote Gaming