World´s leading betting integrity body touches down in North America

The North American market is the fastest growing and most dynamic in the world and is expected to reach $96bn in handle in 2022, and with wagers on this week’s Super Bowl projected to top $7bn for the first time with almost a third through the US regulated sector as compared to 6% in 2019, according to H2 Gambling Capital. IBIA’s world-leading betting integrity monitoring system will play a major role in ensuring the integrity of the North American market, which is essential to maintaining the continued growth of the industry.

Khalid Ali, CEO of IBIA, said: “IBIA is delighted to announce that we are touching down in the North American market. With the largest customer transaction-based betting integrity monitoring system in the world, we will play a crucial role in protecting and supporting the growth of the betting industry in the US and Canada.”

Ali continued: “IBIA is run by sportsbooks for sportsbooks, and our mission is to provide the best and broadest protective coverage of the market. With the accelerated growth of regulation, existing IBIA members have encouraged the association to extend its global betting integrity coverage to North America, which we are delighted to do.”

IBIA’s monitoring and alert platform is a highly effective anti-corruption tool that detects and reports suspicious activity on its members’ betting markets. It allows IBIA to protect its members and the betting market from corruption through collective action.

“Flutter Entertainment have a long successful working relationship with IBIA’s global integrity monitoring system via our existing agreements through international brands and are proud of the collective improvements in the space,” said John Sheeran, Director of Risk and Trading, FanDuel Group. “Expanding an excellent working relationship to include integrity monitoring of North American sports and wagering will add another element of trust and security to our sports betting product, which we know is of the utmost importance to our consumers.”

“Protecting the integrity of sport while creating an engaging product for sports fans is at the heart of everything we do,” said Roy Pollitt, DraftKings’ Vice President and Head of Regulatory Affairs. “We are impressed with the progress IBIA has made in promoting high standards for the betting industry and we warmly welcome their arrival to North America.”

With the support of FanDuel and DraftKings, IBIA is already protecting over 60% of the regulated US online market from betting corruption. The launch is the beginning of a process to secure a license in states that require operators to be part of a monitoring body and to engage with gambling regulators more generally across the US. The association has also applied to the Canadian province of Ontario, which similarly requires operators to be part of an integrity monitoring system.

H2 Gambling Capital’s US operator market share data for 2021 has been used. H2 Gambling Capital - a global analyst company based in the UK - is widely recognised as the leading independent authority regarding market data and intelligence on the gambling industry. www.h2gc.com

About the International Betting Integrity Association

The International Betting Integrity Association is the leading global voice on integrity for the regulated betting industry. The association is the largest customer transaction-based betting integrity monitoring system in the world and represents operators with over $137bn in betting handle per annum globally. Its annual report showed that 236 alerts were reported to the relevant authorities globally in 2021. IBIA reported 39 cases of suspicious betting on sports events located in the US during 2017-21.

Our members share a common goal of combating betting corruption to protect the integrity of sport and their businesses. Established in 2005 and formerly known as ESSA, we are a not-forprofit association whose members include many of the world’s largest regulated operators, active across six continents. Members undergo a rigorous due diligence process and must adhere to our code of conduct committing them to responsible betting practices.

The IBIAs Monitoring & Alert Platform is a highly effective anti-corruption tool that detects and reports suspicious activity on its members’ betting markets. The bespoke system tracks transactional activity linked to individual consumer accounts, clearly distinguishing it from commercial monitoring systems focused on simple odds movements.

The association has longstanding information sharing partnerships with leading sports bodies including FIFA, UEFA, the ITIA and the IOC and many gambling regulators to utilise this data and prosecute corruption.