IBIA Publishes New Data Standards, Partners with eCOGRA for Audits

IBIA has partnered with eCOGRA to ensure that all data collection companies in sports are compliant with the organization’s newly-outlined data collation standards.

New Integrity Standards Audit Begins by eCOGRA

The International Betting Integrity Association, known as IBIA for short, has published a new set of standards that determine the procedure for the collation of sporting event data. Because of these standards, companies operating as data collection vendors now must demonstrate that they are capable of complying with the outlined regulation.

To determine if a company is compliant, IBIA will ask eCOGRA, an industry testing agency, to undertake independent audits and compare its findings against [a] Data Standards Kitemark. This development is a follow-up on a previous announcement in May when IBIA said it would seek to standardize the way data is collected so as to ensure the fairness of sports betting markets.

IBIA has been particularly worried about how corrupt or stilted data may have been used to influence betting outcomes and mislead consumers, the organization stated in the official press release.

IBIA CEO Khalid Ali added in the statement that the process started by the organization today would allow upholding the reliability and credibility of sporting event data and that the issue should be of the utmost importance to all participating members, all of whom are established betting and gaming companies.

Ali did mention that the pandemic introduced new challenges related to data manipulation, highlighting the need for strict measures to ensure “robust data chains.” He further had this to say:

“IBIA has sought to meet that integrity challenge and has put in place a set of data standards that reflects the minimum expectations of the association and its members.”

-IBIA CEO Khalid Ali

Standards for Data Collection Essential to Integrity

Data collation is an integral part of the “wider sports betting integrity,” Ali argued, and that is why standards and an auditing process are necessary. It is effectively the next step for IBIA, the CEO argued.

 “We call upon all of those parties engaged in the data collation process to demonstrate that they meet these standards and of their commitment to protecting the integrity of the global data supply chain,” he concluded.

ECOGRA CEO Shaun McCallaghan shared his own delight to be a part of IBIA’s standardization efforts and become an official auditing partner. McCallaghan assured the public in the integrity and expertise of the audit experts hired by eCOGRA and their capability of delivering a standardized solution for data collation.

IBIA has been revving up its list of members recently, looking to bring every major brand under its roof. In October, the organization teamed up with DraftKings, and IBIA was a staunch supporter of the introduction of in-play solutions in Australia. In another recent tie-up, IBIA signed with Leo Vegas.