IBIA and APAJO join forces to advance betting and sports integrity efforts in Portugal

The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) and Portuguese Online Betting and Gambling Association (APAJO) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in a bid to jointly advance their betting and sports integrity efforts. The associations will discuss areas of cooperation and potential shared projects in order to advance their common goals.

In those joint projects, the two associations noted they will pool their expertise on activities aimed at promoting a viable regulated sports betting market in Portugal with high consumer channeling and related consumer, sports and operator integrity protection measures.

Ricardo Domingues, President of the Executive Committee of APAJO, said: “APAJO is strongly invested in building and maintaining the most beneficial environment for Portuguese consumers and operators, and sports integrity is definitively a very important part of this overarching goal.”

🤝We are happy to announce our cooperation agreement with APAJO, the Portuguese online betting&gambling association! We are looking forward to collaborate with APAJO on common projects on safe&sustainable online sports betting and sports betting integrity.
Press release here 👇

— International Betting Integrity Association (@IBIA_bet) June 7, 2023

He further added: "We are pleased to enter into this agreement with IBIA, whose extensive work and knowledge in this domain will surely be extremely valuable. We’ll look forward to making our own contribution at the international level for the progress of this industry as a whole.”

Khalid Ali, IBIA CEO, said: “Portugal is an important market for IBIA members, and maintaining the integrity of the betting product and sporting events is therefore of significant importance.”

"The agreement with APAJO marks the start of a coordinated approach to meeting our shared goals to establish and maintain a dynamic, competitive, and well-regulated Portuguese betting market that deters corruption and seeks to prevent customers from being channelled into the unregulated market," Ali concluded.

This year has been an active one for APAJO, with Flutter's PokerStars joining the association as an affiliate member last month. As one of the first brands launching in the Portuguese regulated market, the company says it will join forces with other market leaders within APAJO including Betano, Betclic, Bwin, Casino Portugal, ESC Online and Solverde.