Tennis tops ESSA’s list for suspicious gambling

According to the European Sports Security Association, tennis accounted for the majority of suspicious betting activity.

Belgium.- The European Sports Security Association (ESSA) announced that tennis tops its list for suspicious betting activity with 34 incidents reported during 2016’s second quarter. More than half of the alerts were originated in Europe, stated ESSA, which shares information with betting firms and sports governing bodies to detect possible corruption.

The sport, which faced match-fixing allegations before the Australian Open and is currently undergoing an Independent Review of its anti-corruption procedures, made up for 83 percent of total suspicious activity reported by ESSA.

Mike O’Kane, ESSA chairman, said he welcomed the steps tennis’s governing bodies were taking to guard against possible match-fixing. “It is quite right that the tennis authorities seek to conduct a thorough investigation of its integrity procedures,” said O’Kane in a statement. “We must, quite reasonably, give the sport some breathing space to identify and implement any necessary changes, but changes are clearly needed and the sooner the better for us all. In the meantime, ESSA will continue to support the sport in this important endeavour, which will hopefully soon result in the delivery of a best practice model that others will follow.”

The Tennis Integrity Unit’s (TIU) figures for the same period were higher as the body gathers data from more sources. According to a recent, TIU received aa total of 73 match alerts, including the 34 from ESSA, from April to June, two from ATP Tour matches but none at the French Open or on the WTA Tour. “The TIU figures are the most comprehensive for the sport and represent the widest coverage of the betting market,” a TIU spokesman said.