Betfair signs MoU with cricketing body
Information sharing agreement with England and Wales Cricket Board covers betting integrity related issues.
Exchange operator Betfair has signed an information sharing agreement with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), covering all county cricket and England international matches.
Aimed at dealing with “betting integrity related issues”, the memorandum of understanding will see Betfair share relevant customer and transactional data with the ECB, with the operator describing the move as “A safeguard against any betting integrity issue within cricket.”
Betfair signed a similar MoU with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) earlier this year, ahead of the London 2012 games.
The operator has continued to work closely with a number of sporting bodies in the recent past, most notably through a “landmark” £40m deal with British Racing, signed in July.
The ECB is one of 56 sporting bodies to receive free access to selected data from the operator, while it is also permitted under the terms of the MoU to use Betfair’s ‘BetMonitor’ monitoring tool.
Martin Cruddace, chief legal and regulatory affairs officer at Betfair, said “If we are to protect the sports we all love then both parties must continue to work openly and co-operatively, and this agreement is a clear example of just that.”
ECB anti-corruption manager Chris Watts said: “The ECB welcomes Betfair’s commitment to share any relevant information and data relating to betting patterns on international and domestic cricket. This will form part of our on-going efforts to protect the integrity of the sport and help ensure that cricket at all levels is free from the taint of corruption.”