Watch: Joe Lee on the importance of collaboration

Head of GB&I at Paddy Power Betfair, Joe Lee has emphasized the importance of developing a collaborative relationship between the betting industry and sports governing bodies when it comes to maintaining integrity in US sports.

Lee also discussed the importance of public trust, both in the industry as well as in governing sports bodies.

In an interview at the recent Betting on Sports Conference, Lee commented: “I think the relationship between the governing bodies and the betting industry is vitally important particularly from an integrity standpoint. People trusting both ourselves as operators, like FanDuel in New Jersey, and also the governing bodies themselves to ensure what they’re seeing on the field or on the court is up to the standard that everybody wants to see and that there are no question marks about anything.”

He also discussed how a successful partnership between the betting industry and sports governing bodies would not just deepen engagement in US sport, but would also play a pivotal role in sporting integrity.

Lee stated: “I think the relationship between the governing body of the sports themselves and the betting industry is vitally important, both from a successful standpoint for our industry but also to maintain the integrity and ensure that everybody is happy with how the industry is operating and the games that they are seeing. That’s something that’s been worked on with our betting partners and also the actual league bodies themselves. There is constant back and forth, we obviously learn from them and they learn from us.”

As well as reinforcing the importance of public trust and the building of relationships between the industries, Lee discussed how both entities could work ‘hand in hand’ and act as gatekeepers.

He concluded: “Ultimately I think the governing bodies and the bookmakers can work hand in hand. They are obviously the gatekeepers for the sport but we can obviously be the gatekeepers of integrity because if there is something untoward or questionable going on, we can certainly work with the governing bodies and build those relationships to alert them to anything like that.”