Sportradar rails against tennis data ban
Operator responds to Independent Review of Integrity in Tennis report on “tsunami of fixing”
Plans to end betting on lower-level tennis would harm rather the protect integrity, Sportradar has claimed.
The data provider today published its response to the Tennis Integrity Unit’s (TIU) recommendations for a total data black-out on low-level tennis after the unit uncovered a “tsunami” of fixed matches at the lower levels of the game
Sportradar said the policy would not only fail in practice but cause further risk to the integrity of the game, with potentially irreversible consequences.
Sportradar managing director of group operations, David Lampitt, said: “Attempting a total data black-out on a sport has never been done, or even trialed or tested before. Counter evidence and expert analysis indicate that such an approach is likely to have a harmful effect on integrity, which would be hard to reverse if unsuccessful.
“So, the Panel is staking its reputation, and that of the sport, on an uncertain ‘guess’, when there is good evidence that a different approach and an incremental process of implementing enhanced and targeted measures would be more likely to deliver successful outcomes and integrity benefits.”
As part of its response, Sportradar recommends the implementation of a “tennis-wide” approach to restricting distribution of data, targeting specific matches which are more at risk of corruption.
It also calls for the creation of a new tri-partite body to tackle corruption in tennis, made up of representatives from tennis associations, betting operators and sports data companies.
New regulations to enable quicker player sanctions based on betting data and player analysis are also among Sportradar’s other recommendations, along with targeted measures to protect tennis players at lower levels of the sport from abuse and potential bribery.
The comments come after Sportradar were invited to respond to the TIU’s Independent Review of Integrity in Tennis, released earlier this year following concerns over the sport’s integrity raised in 2016.