METRIC GAMING


US sports betti int


nte tegrity and the powe


Will Harris, Commercial Manager of


Metric Gaming, discusses regulation,


and top talent can ensure integrity for


T


data how


bookmakers and the wider sports industry.


he road to legal sports bet ting in the US A has been long and bumpy , and throughout the journe y one burning issue has


monopolised the conversation – integrit y . Since the Supreme Court ov erturned


the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection A ct (P PAPA


ty y fee


ASPA) in May, we hav e seen a push by the major US sports leagues for states to propose an integrity on the handle of sports w agering. These demands only create additional hurdles for states to clear a s they move forw ards with enacting legislation and rolling out regulatory frameworks. The r ty


eality is y golf is likely to already


y is corruption in US sport s, racing and y exist. The ke y her e is that the


intr oduction of legal gambling doesn ’t pr o vide a ne w vehicle to exploit oppor tunities for corruption – they already exist in offshor e and illegal onshor e credit bookies.


By legalising gambling there is le ss ma sking of corruption by the rest of the illegal r ecr eational business as this will organically tr ansfer to legal operators first. These legal operators will be set up to spot this activit


ty ty.


The illegal offshore operators and credit bookies are fragmented, unr egulat ed and risk management is ineffective or non-e xistent; this combination means the potential for detection of corruption is low. these entities, it’s a capability problem – they don ’t have the appropriate tools and can’t at tract the top talent.


w. . For


To contrast, any major operat or has both the incentive – it costs them money – and the means to source the talent and the tools to spot corruption To combat corruption, operators need effective risk and customer management strat egies and capabilities that are efficient at identifying


behaviours outside of the norm – this is not eas y t o do properly and the more data an oper ator can collect and analyse, the quicker the oper ator will be able to spot trends that allow for efficacious identification of potential corruption.


operator s in Europe have a track r ecord of not knowing their


e a tr “


of not knowing their customer s well enough


” 68 NOVEMBER 2018 Many Many big


Technological solutions to track mark et price s and other data points in support of fr aud det ection are already


certainly be leveraged in the US. Bookmak ers use these t ools and techniques to identify betti


y mature in European mark et s and will y


y mat tt ng


patterns that are irregular and requir e some fur ther investigation.


That said, many big operators in Europe ha v e a track record of not knowing their customer s well enough; this only exacerbate s immature and


ineffective corruption detection processes emplo yed by many European operator s. In view of that,


imagine how poor rly it’s done now, if at all, by the w,


illegal offshore and onshore operations. It may be simplistic to say, but ultimat ely legalization increases detection st andards. Regulation will lead to consolidation in US bet markets with a large number of operat ors capable of detecting irregular betting patterns.


consolidation in US betting tt


Despite sports betting having been legal for just a handful of months, US operators and sport s leagues are already buying proven technology and attr the sort of exper tise that is experienced in dealing with anti-corruption and anti-fraud matt ers. A working example is the PGA Tour who r ecently employed a data company to monit or global betting activity; a clear indicator of the sports body t proactive step to addre ss concerns surrounding corruption. The PGA Tour wa s also among the first to step forward in support of legalised gambling in the US.


tt acting To dy aking a


Metric Gaming are once again ahead of the curve on this aspect. Our 21st century technology isn ’t encumbered by legacy issue s and decisions; it’s a modern platform built t o handle the challenge s facing a modern spor tsbook.


Knowing y our customer is the single most important activity any sportsbook will undert ake, and Metric’s next -generation risk management tooling and experienced trading t eam are capable of identifying unusual betting patt erns quickly and effectively to protect both the integrity of betting markets as well as vulnerable gamblers.


ty ty


There is a huge appetite for sports betting in the US, and bettors have been bet ting on matches, games and tournament s for decades. Corruption may already e xist, but the quicker the individual states’ markets open and mature, with a r esponsible and pragmatic level of regulation – the gr eater the integrity of US sports betting.


tt ty wer of data tt ng,


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74