IBIA welcomes ITF decision regarding betting
The betting association IBIA is in favour of the ITF’s decision to allow live scoring data for US$25k matches.
Belgium.- The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) has issued a statement in favour of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) decision to allow official live scoring data for US$25k matches to continue to be sold to betting operators.
The association said that such measure reflects discussions with the Independent Review Panel (IRP) which saw the latter’s initial proposal to discontinue live data for all of the ITF World Tennis Tour, comprising US$15k and US$25k events, limited to US$15k. The sport has agreed to implement that proposal thereby preserving US$25k data sales used to create in-play betting products that are popular with many consumers, IBIA said.
Khalid Ali, CEO of IBIA, said: “In-play betting makes up 80% of IBIA members’ tennis markets and over 95% at ITF level. Retaining live data for $25k matches and setting out an expansion of that tour is an overwhelmingly beneficial move by tennis both from an integrity and commercial standpoint. Removing all ITF World Tennis Tour data from regulated operators would have led to the undesirable situation of consumers seeking that product through unregulated channels, with the corresponding loss of market oversight and the ability to detect and punish corruption.
“Protecting the sport and operators against match-fixing is an ongoing challenge. However, IBIA is encouraged by the impact of recent criminal investigations and the allocation of additional resources to the TIU. That has seen a significant downturn in suspicious betting alerts, particularly at ITF level. It is the responsibility of all stakeholders to continue to work together to maintain that positive trend. IBIA and its members remain committed to protecting the integrity of tennis at all levels and will continue to work closely with the sport to meet that challenge.”
50 alerts reported by IBIA in Q3
IBIA reported 50 cases of suspicious betting to the relevant authorities during the third quarter (Q3) of 2019, bringing the annual total so far to 138 cases. Tennis (30) and football (15) constituted 90% of all alerts reported during Q3, with Europe (42%) and Asia (36%) maintaining their positions as the primary location of sporting events on which alerts were generated during that period.
