Napoleon Sports & Casino joins IBIA
Operator is first Belgian firm to become a member of integrity association
Napoleon Sports & Casino has become the first native Belgian operator sign up to the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA), the organisation has confirmed.
As a part of its membership, Napoleon Sports & Casino will share sports betting data with the association’s monitoring and alert platform.
The system is designed to collate information on betting patterns, highlighting suspicious activity before passing collected data to the relevant sporting association for investigation.
Six betting operators joined the IBIA as new members in 2019 following a high-profile rebrand of Sports Betting Integrity (ESSA) to its current internationally focused incarnation.
The IBIA’s 2019 inductees included ATG, LeoVegas, Kambi, Bethard, Bet On Alfa and newly launched sports betting brand Virgin Bet.
IBIA CEO Khalid Ali welcomed Napoleon Sports & Casino’s decision to join the IBIA, highlighting the increasing imposition of robust betting integrity measures from regulators as proof of the organisation’s impact.
Francesco Postiglione, CEO of Napoleon Sports & Casino, said membership of the IBIA was part of the firm’s commitment to ensure its players were protected and its products met the “highest standards” of fairness and integrity.
“We look forward to working closely with the association and to continuing to strengthen our internal customer and business protection protocols to identify and punish sports betting corruption,” Postiglione added.
The role of Belgian sports betting companies recently came under fire when a Belgian Gaming Commission (BGC) report claimed players were being exposed to “omnipresent” gambling advertising.
The practice of gambling advertising during live sport has been banned in the country since May 2019. However, the report, which looked at betting ads during the Belgian football league play-offs, suggested supporters were “confronted on a large scale” by gambling ads, leaving left fans in some cases “one click” away from gambling online.
As such, the BGC has called for a blanket ban on all sports betting advertising.