ESSA, the regulated betting industry’s integrity body, and the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) have today agreed to establish a betting integrity information sharing arrangement.
The agreement builds on ESSA’s already strong information sharing base with many of the world’s major football authorities. It also aims to demonstrate the increasingly global focus of ESSA and its membership, which represents many of the leading regulated sports betting operators.
“This partnership agreement with CONCACAF sends a clear and forceful message to match-fixers and further highlights the determination of ESSA’s regulated operators and responsible sporting bodies such as CONCACAF to work together to address a common threat to both of our sectors,” said Khalid Ali, Secretary General of ESSA. “This agreement formalises our respective organisations’ joint resolve to form a robust and proactive partnership to protect sporting events and regulated betting markets from criminal elements that seek to profit from manipulating sport,” he added.
“CONCACAF follows a multi-step approach in the fight against match-fixing in order be able to prevent, detect, investigate, and respond to potential cases with zero tolerance. Cooperation and coordination with all other stakeholders is integral to CONCACAF’s strategy. The sports betting industry is an important partner in that fight. Building an efficient partnership with the betting industry’s integrity body is therefore very essential” said Dr. Laila Mintas, Director of Sports Integrity at CONCACAF.