Betfair on the front foot over sport gaming cheats

21 August 2011

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

Unfortunately, sporting scandal and tried crooked betting coups have all frequently gone together, as recent football match-fixing occasions in Finland and South Korea have shown.

Those occasions, like in 2015's furore surrounding three Pakistan cricketers - subsequently given bans - and the bowling of "no balls" versus England at Lords, were linked to prohibited gambling rings.

But for genuine betting firms, whether traditional High Street outlets or more current 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 seen has been from the prohibited Asian markets - there is a huge difference between them and ourselves," says a senior detective at online gaming firm Betfair.

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

It is to avoid such ruined associations with crooked betting rings that companies such as Betfair go to fantastic lengths to monitor the wagering patterns on its site.

'Prevent, discover, investigate'

The company is the world's significant betting exchange - a set-up that permits bettors to wager on sporting occasions at chances set by other bettors.

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

The firm's headquarters neglects the yohaig code 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 group of 8 people, which uses computer system and analytical tools to prevent criminal activity being performed in connection with sport and gambling, and to keep lawbreakers off the Betfair website.

"Our task is to avoid, identify, and investigate," states the Betfair investigator, or "stability expert", who asks not to be named because of his work in dealing with criminal activity.

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

The obstacles facing Betfair variety from possible match-fixing driven by prohibited gambling rings, to money-laundering, to people utilizing taken or cloned charge card to bet with, to sportspeople using inside info.

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

Customers sign terms which allows Betfair to examine carefully their background and, in particular suspicious circumstances, to pass their details on to the relevant sporting or legal authorities.

In addition it has likewise developed an early-warning computer program called BetMon, which governing bodies can utilize to watch wagering patterns (but not consumer details) on the Betfair site for their sports.

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

"Records are kept of each login and bet, event, selection, stake, chances, earnings - if any - and technique of bet, in addition to the yohaig code IP address of the computer used to make the bet," says the Betfair expert.

"Phone calls are likewise recorded, too, for possible future recommendation."

Indeed, Betfair takes pride in its ability to identify suspicious betting patterns - in one of the most high-profile cases it notoriously refused to settle wagers on a tennis match featuring Russian gamer Nikolay Davydenko in 2007.

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

The company, which has arrangements 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 guidance

Often criminal gambling rings target players or match authorities in an effort to manufacture the desired result of a sporting fixture.

Which is where people such as Simon Taylor, who has actually been the General Secretary of the Professional Players Federation (PPF) in the UK given that 2006, been available in.

He is likewise 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, consisting of Betfair, to establish and provide education programmes to players on sports wagering and the potential pitfalls.

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

"Our research study revealed that 40% of footballers did not know the rules about not betting on competitions they were included in," he states, pointing out the value of gamer details.

Mr Taylor said that typically those caught up in prohibited gambling pressures were young athletes, especially footballers, who might come under pressure from wrongdoers who befriend them.

Those at the other end of their careers are also a prospective danger.

"You might have a veteran searching for one last pay day, but we point out that you will never get a job later as a coach or in sporting PR. That is not going to take place if your name is destroyed," says Mr Taylor.

His organisation also uses advice and assistance for sportspersons and ladies who may struggle with issue gambling.

'Memorandums of understanding'

Eyebrows were raised among lots of commentators and industry figures in March when Betfair stated it would be partially heading offshore.

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

However, Betfair states that not just is it regulated by the Gibraltar authorities, it also 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 registered before the Beijing 2008 Games and can request the identities of account holders who wager suspiciously.

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

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

"We understood back in the early days that info sharing is main to sports integrity."

Betfair Corporate

Professional Players Federation

Gibraltar Remote Gaming