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Betfair on the front foot over sport betting cheats
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21 August 2011

The leader of the international Olympic movement, Jacques Rogge, has 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 events, like last year's furore surrounding three Pakistan cricketers - consequently offered bans - and the bowling of "no balls" versus England at Lords, were connected to illegal gambling rings.

But for genuine wagering companies, whether traditional High Street outlets or more current online wagering organisations, these occasions all tend to be lumped together in the general public's mind under the one heading of "betting".

"Much of what we have seen has actually been from the prohibited Asian markets - there is a huge distinction in between them and ourselves," says a senior detective at online gaming firm Betfair.

"But it is all about perceptions, and individuals simply see the headlines about betting without looking much deeper."

It is to prevent such tarnished associations with misaligned betting rings that companies such as Betfair go to terrific lengths to monitor the wagering patterns on its site.

'Prevent, spot, examine'
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The company is the world's significant betting exchange - a set-up that enables gamblers to wager on sporting events at odds set by other bettors.

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

The firm's headquarters ignores the River Thames at Hammersmith, west London, and homes Betfair's business, technical, marketing, and user-experience teams.

But probably the most important is the integrity group of 8 individuals, which utilizes computer system and analytical tools to prevent criminal activity being out in connection with sport and betting, and to keep lawbreakers off the Betfair website.

"Our job is to prevent, spot, and investigate," states the Betfair investigator, or "stability expert", who asks not to be named since of his work in handling criminal activity.

"We work closely with the yohaig code police and other law-enforcement firms, gambling regulators, sports bodies, and organisations which promote accountable gambling."

The challenges facing Betfair range from prospective match-fixing driven by illegal gambling rings, to money-laundering, to people utilizing stolen or cloned charge card to wager with, to sportspeople using details.

Betfair hosts odds on more than 40 sports and at any time there can be as lots of as 11,600 betting markets on the site.

Customers sign conditions which permits Betfair to check closely their background and, in specific suspicious situations, to pass their details on to the relevant sporting or legal authorities.

In addition it has actually likewise established an early-warning computer program called BetMon, which governing bodies can utilize to see betting patterns (however not client details) on the Betfair site for their sports.

And Betfair prides itself on its audit path to help the police or sports authorities in any investigation.

"Records are kept of each login and bet, occasion, choice, stake, chances, profit - if any - and approach of bet, along with the IP address of the computer system used to make the bet," states the Betfair analyst.

"Telephone call are also taped, too, for possible future recommendation."
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Indeed, Betfair takes pride in its ability to spot suspicious wagering patterns - in among the most high-profile cases it notoriously refused to settle wagers on a tennis match including Russian player Nikolay Davydenko in 2007.
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The Russian retired from a video game in the Poland Open, and this promotion code followed "irregular" wagering patterns on his match.

The business, which has agreements with a variety of sporting bodies, consisting of the ATP and other tennis authorities - to whom it reported it worries in the Davydenko case.

The player was consequently cleared of match-fixing by the ATP.

Sporting suggestions
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Often criminal betting rings target gamers or match authorities in an attempt to manufacture the desired result of a sporting fixture.

Which is where individuals such as Simon Taylor, who has actually been the General Secretary of the Professional Players Federation (PPF) in the UK considering that 2006, can be found in.

He is likewise is head of policy at EU Athletes, the European federation of gamer associations.
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In 2010, the PPF signed an arrangement with the Remote Gambling Association and its members, including Betfair, to establish and provide education programs to players on sports betting and the prospective mistakes.

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

"Our research revealed that 40% of footballers did not know the guidelines about not betting on competitions they were associated with," he states, pointing out the value of player details.

Mr Taylor stated that often those captured up in illegal gaming pressures were young professional athletes, especially footballers, who might come under pressure from bad guys who befriend them.

Those at the other end of their professions are likewise a potential risk.

"You might have a veteran trying to find one last pay day, however we mention that you will never get a job later on as a coach or in sporting PR. That is not going to happen if your name is ruined," says Mr Taylor.

His organisation also provides guidance and support for sportsmen and females who might experience problem gambling.

'Memorandums of comprehending'

Eyebrows were raised among many commentators and industry figures in March when Betfair said it would be partially heading offshore.

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

However, Betfair says that not just is it controlled by the Gibraltar authorities, it also has memorandums of understanding (MU) with various sporting bodies to inform them of suspicious activity.

this promotion code includes Mr Rogge's International Olympic Committee (IOC), which signed up before the Beijing 2008 Games and can request the identities of account holders who bet suspiciously.

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

"Technically we do not have to that anymore, but we will continue to do this promotion code. That will continue forever.

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

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Professional Players Federation

Gibraltar Remote Gaming