Olympic bets under scrutiny via new ESSA-IOC deal
Betting linked to the Olympics will be monitored under by a new agreement between the European Sports Security Agency (ESSA) and International Sport Monitoring (ISM), a company established by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to watch Olympic bets.
BETTING LINKED TO THE OLYMPICS will be monitored under by a new agreement between the European Sports Security Agency (ESSA) and International Sport Monitoring (ISM), a company established by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to watch Olympic bets.
ESSA and the ISM will jointly monitor betting on Olympic events and report suspicious betting behaviour that may reflect untoward influences on Olympic competitions.
ESSA secretary general Khalid Ali said: “The Olympics are the most prestigious sports competition in the world, therefore it is vitally important that the betting industry works hand in hand with the IOC to keep its competitions clean and free from potential event manipulation.”
The agreement with the IOC follows memorandums of understanding signed by ESSA with Major League Soccer (MLS) and the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA).
ISM chief executive Detlev Zenglein said: “ESSA’s early warning system has an excellent reputation. Their evidence-based approach to irregular betting patterns helps us in our analysis to find out if something is definitely wrong with an event. This is important so as not to set off any false alarms and thereby safeguard the reputation of both the event and the players involved.”