Sportium becomes the 22nd regulated operator to join ESSA

Spanish-licensed Sportium has become the 22^nd leading regulated operator to join the international betting integrity body, ESSA.

The official betting partner of Spanish football’s La Liga has become the fourth operator to join the association this year, in a move which further strengthens ESSA’s alert and reporting system.

Khalid Ali, ESSA Secretary General, said: “Sportium is a major player in the Spanish market and I’m delighted they have decided to join ESSA.

“The continuing growth in our membership base is a clear sign of the increasing recognition of many major operators to the significant advantages that can be achieved from acting in partnership with ESSA to identify, disrupt and report betting related fraud.”

Mark Fowler, Product and Trading Director at Sportium, added: “Sportium has many important business partnerships within the sporting sector, highlighted by our sponsorship of one of the world’s foremost sporting competitions in La Liga.

“We place great value in maintaining the integrity of sport and to preventing fraud in betting markets. Sportium’s link-up with ESSA underlines our commitment to that, and to protecting our business and consumers from the adverse impact of illicit betting activity.”

ESSA holds positions on match-fixing policy forums at the European Commission, Council of Europe and the IOC. It is driving several activities aimed at addressing match-fixing, including 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.

Sportium is a major operator in the Spanish-licensed market, which offers over 60,000 bets each week through online and retail betting facilities. The operator has also been seeking to grow its business across Latin America with a digital entry into the Mexican market at the start of 2015.