Betting industry release updated sports betting report

The ABB, EGBA, ESSA and RGA have published an updated version of the “Sports Betting: Commercial and Integrity Issues” report originally released in 2010 by Jason Foley-Train.

The report is described as a comprehensive and evidence-based resource and analysis that provides an insight into the important symbiotic commercial and integrity relationship between the sporting and betting sectors.

“Unfortunately the sports betting integrity debate is too often driven by either the ill informed or those looking to gain a commercial advantage,” commented Clive Hawkswood, RGA Chief Executive. “I very much hope that this report will go a long way towards educating opinion formers of the facts of the situation, strengthening their knowledge base and ultimately providing a foundation for progress.”

Khalid Ali, ESSA Secretary General, added: “The report corroborates much of what the regulated betting sector has been advancing for over a decade; attacks on the integrity of sport are principally directed by organized criminal groups seeking to exploit the vulnerabilities of sports’ own participants, often from poor governance.

“Regulated betting operates are actually the potential victims of such fraud, immediately questioning the rationale behind the “sports right” approach, which has been widely criticised in a recent report for the European Commission as being inefficient and having numerous practical and operational flaws, along with a number of legal obstacles within the EU.”

The full report can be accessed at:
http://www.egba.eu/facts-and-figures/studies/6-sports-betting-report/
or
http://www.rga.eu.com/data/files/2015_PR/Sports_Betting_Report_FINAL.pdf