ESSA welcomes EC online gambling proposals

On the latter, the action plan proposes that the Commission;

·         adopts a Recommendation on best practices to prevent betting-related match-fixing;
·         actively participates in the negotiations on a Council of Europe Convention; and
·         promotes international cooperation to fight match-fixing.

For Members States, the Commission’s Communication urges that they set up national contact points involving all key stakeholders, suitable legal resources and the financing of sport integrity measures.   

Khalid Ali, ESSA Secretary General, said that “the Commission’s sports integrity plans recognise many of the issues and concerns which the licensed betting industry has been raising for over a decade. Indeed, many of the proposed actions represent policies which the betting sector has been actively involved in promoting and which we warmly welcomed in the recent Nicosia Declaration.”  He added, “to defeat betting related match-fixing and address the dangers posed by the unregulated market we must have transparency and that can only be achieved through regulatory initiatives such as this. We look forward to working with the Commission and Member States to implement practical, proportionate and evidence-based policies.”

ESSA has been at the forefront of betting integrity issues since its inception in 2005 and has established information exchange agreements with over twenty sports bodies and gambling regulators as well as funding a player education programme. The organisation’s recent integrity figures, which shows 8 suspicious alerts in 2011, demonstrates that the early warning system and sophisticated detection and risk assessment protocols have been a success, with corrupters generally steering clear of ESSA operators. 

“We are hopeful that Member States will adopt a positive approach to addressing betting-related match-fixing which engages with ESSA and our sector as a key stakeholder as the Commission suggests. Indeed, we welcome the recent integrity discussions, involving ESSA, which have been held in the Commission’s working groups and are keen to be involved in their recommendation on anti-match fixing which will be published in 2014,” Ali stated.

Whilst the industry welcomes and supports the broad thrust of the Commission’s proposals, Ali sounded a note of caution: “We must remember that betting-related match-fixing is only half of the story. Non-betting, or sporting related, match-fixing also threatens the integrity of sport and likewise corrupts the fairness of betting markets and consumer confidence. The Commission’s action plan is primarily focused on gambling and does not therefore directly address the entire match-fixing issue, which is essential if all stakeholders are to be protected.”