Sports betting and corruption: How to preserve the - SportAccord

Sports betting and corruption: How to preserve the integrity of sport
advantage of the globalisation of the offering to perform advantageous arbitrage operations. 75% of
the GGR (gross gambling revenue) of the majority of operators in the market derives from 5% of the
gamblers, who bet as part of a process that is quasi-professional (or in some cases, addictive) 124 . The
remaining 95% of gamblers are members of the general public, betting recreationally.
In order to preserve the amateur or popular character of sport, several measures would appear
necessary. Besides limiting the rate of return to players, which could limit the interest of criminal
gangs or organisations, it would also seems important to set the possibilities for bets at reasonable
levels, both to limit the associated risks of dependency and excessive debt, and to avoid the sports
betting market becoming a mere tool for the purposes of professional speculation.
2. Controlling fraud
The regulator must play a central role in fraud detection, taken in this context as the detection of
irregular bets . To do this, the regulator must be cognizant of developments in the market, the bets
placed and the concentration of bets in relation to competitions. In the light of the very substantial
growth in live betting, this overview must be facilitated in real time. The detection of irregularities will
then enable warning levels to be set, and the necessary measures to be taken in the event of fraud. The
regulator must serve as an interface and centralisation point for data on fraud, to which end the
existing monitoring systems of some betting operators may be used.
Monitoring systems
Sports betting monitoring systems are effective in both surveillance and tracking, and can serve as an
early warning or - when used after the event - help to understand a fraud.
The sports betting market watch uses a number of criteria to detect abnormal and suspicious
movements: changes in the odds, volumes being bet, their geographic provenance etc. This is a strong
focus area, developed in recent years on the initiative of stakeholders in the market. Monitoring
systems have thus improved and become more widespread, and are now even shared by operators.
Apart from their usefulness in managing business and observing the competition, these systems are
also in demand to detect corruption in sport. A good monitoring system enables an operator to increase
their margin on bets, particularly as a result of savings generated through altering certain odds
following the placement of suspicious bets. While not decisive or sufficient in itself to establish
instances of corruption as would an anti-doping test, a monitoring system nevertheless constitutes a
useful resource in the prevention of fraud.
The systems can be used to monitor both pre-match and live betting. Nowadays it is live betting that
crystallises the most risks, because match-fixers know that the speed of the system prevents vigilance
from being as effective for live as for pre-match betting. In fact, the instantaneous nature of live
betting coupled with the large quantity of traffic makes control much more complex. Most operators in
the market now concentrate on live betting, because it enables them to expand their offering and
thereby substantially increase betting volumes. The margins realised by the operators on pre-match
bets are also becoming increasingly small, because of the competition between operators on rates of
return to players, and also because many gamblers are professionals who are at least as expert as the
124 Interview with CK Consulting, March 2011
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