SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
ESSA and French gambling regulatory authority ARJEL have signed an integrity agreement ahead of the Euro 2016 Championships.
The agreement will allow ESSA and ARJEL to exchange information with each other on suspicious betting.
The partnership protocol covers a range of sports and competitions and demonstrates both parties’ ongoing commitment to protecting sport, consumers and regulated betting markets from the threat of match-fixing.
Mike O’Kane, Chairman of ESSA, said: “We are delighted to be working with ARJEL; this agreement represents an important milestone in establishing a network of international information sharing agreements between regulators and responsible regulated betting operators. One of our key objectives has been to establish cross-sector partnerships as the most effective means of tackling betting related corruption in sport.”
Charles Coppolani, Chairman of ARJEL, stated: “The exchange of information and international cooperation with betting companies is a key part of the Council of Europe Convention to protect sport and tackle corruption.
“This agreement strengthens our betting integrity framework ahead of one of the biggest sporting events in the world, taking place on French soil. Sports betting integrity is paramount and ARJEL is committed to protecting that ethos and to working with responsible stakeholders such as ESSA.”
ESSA holds positions on match-fixing policy forums at the European Commission, Council of Europe and the IOC. It recently released its Q1 2016 integrity statistics, and is involved in a number of activities aimed at addressing betting related match-fixing in sport.
These include a player education programme with EU Athletes and an international project, entitled “Keep Crime out of Sport”, led by the Council of Europe and funded by the European Commission.
