Author: Anton Johan
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The global betting industry is one that has always and will always have
more than its fair share of detractors and critics. This is why many key figures
and operators in the industry are eager to keep its 'nose as clean' as possible
by doing what they can to stamp out corruption and fraud associated with land
and online betting, in terms of unusual betting activities, match-fixing and
even insider information.
This is particularly true of betting operators in Europe, who have a vested
interest in keeping betting in Europe on the up and up especially when it comes
to highly-backed sports such as football, which boasts a multitude of
country-specific football leagues, tournaments and competitions, not to mention
a host of pan-European football tournaments, such as Euro 2012 which kicks off
on Friday, June 8.
ESSA is a European Sports Betting Watchdog
Enter the European Sports Security Association (ESSA), a sports betting
'watchdog' organisation founded in 2005, which is funded by some of Europe's
leading online sportsbooks with the aim of recognising and monitoring irregular
betting patterns as well as potential insider betting across all sports. This is
achieved through an 'early warning system' implemented with ESSA's member
operators, which is designed to pick up on unusual or suspicious betting
patterns.
Once the early warning system has been triggered, ESSA liaises immediately with
the legal and disciplinary departments of the respective sports governing bodies
and regulators such as FIFA, UEFA and the IOC, as well as gambling jurisdictions
like the UK, Malta, Gibraltar and Alderney, so that they can investigate the
respective game, race or event in question and stop potential corruption,
manipulation or fraud. This system has proved to be successful, with eight
referrals of unusual betting patterns flagged in 2011.
69 Betting Anomalies Were Discovered in 2011
Last year ESSA identified a total of 69 potential betting anomalies, of which
only eight warranted further investigation. What this proves is that while not
every betting irregularity is necessarily a sign of corruption or fraud, at
least ESSA's earl warning system is picking up on them. This is obviously very
positive when it comes to keeping European sports betting free of corruption.
And this is no mean feat considering that collectively, ESSA's many members
operate thousands of sports books, with tens of millions of sports bets
processed each and every week. It bears testimony to the success of ESSA that
many seasoned criminals are staying clear of these sports betting sites, thus
narrowing their opportunities to bring their targeted sport or event into
disrepute.
ESSA Alerts by Sports in 2011
Volleyball - 4.3%
Badminton- 1.4%
Horse racing- 1.4%
Tennis- 32%
Boxing- 4.3%
Basketball- 1.4%
Table tennis- 5.8%
Snooker- 2.9%
Darts- 1.4%
Doping- 1998 cases
Match fixing (betting-related) - 33 cases
Match fixing (non betting-related) - 24 cases
Inside information - 34 cases
This obviously bodes well for the European sports betting industry - both for
the operators and the punters - because it means that ESSA is 'on the case' in
terms of trying to keep the industry clean and free of unsavoury individuals and
betting syndicates. It also sends a clear message to sportsmen and women to
'play an honest game,' and in so doing, play their part to ensure the integrity
of sports and the inevitable betting that will always accompany it.
Posted by Anton Johan at 14:17 on 6 June 2012
