Sportradar Integrity Services is expanding its reach and teaming up with new sports bodies to ensure the safety of sports worldwide. The latest partnership was signed with the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) for a period of several years and will see Sportradar provide the league with its arsenal of fraud detection tools.    

Sportradar Integrity Services is interconnected with global hockey leagues and governing bodies, allowing the company to collate data and observe aberrations in betting behavior, which is synonymous with fraud in the sport.

Ensuring the Integrity of Hockey in Canada

The CHL consists of three member leagues which will now be monitored by Sportradar. The Western Hockey League, Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, and Ontario Hockey League will join the family of Sportradar hockey league as a testimony to their aspiration to clear the sport from any doubt of underhand practices.

The league’s key stakeholders have been interested in ensuring the fairness of all contests as it attracts more sponsors and gives viewers a sense of belonging that translates into various successful activations. Sportradar Integrity Services director of global partnerships Andy Cunningham welcomed the move and commended CHL’s decision to protect its integrity:

“By engaging Sportradar, a leader in providing integrity services, the CHL is putting itself in a strong position to protect the integrity of their competitions as well as educate and inform all their key stakeholders about potential risks within a sports betting environment.”

Sportradar Integrity Services director of global partnerships Andy Cunningham

As Canada now officially allows sports betting on single events, the need to protect sports has become more pressing. The entire North American market is rapidly opening up to new betting opportunities, Cunningham argued.

Meanwhile, CHL president Dan MacKenzie argued that the league is fully committed to ensuring the highest standards of sport integrity and player safety. The partnership with Sportradar Integrity Services is a step in the right direction that will allow the league to educate stakeholders on the dangers of match-fixing and strengthen the sport’s overall integrity.

Criminals Get More Sophisticated, So Does Monitoring

Sportradar has been vocal about the danger of match-fixing in numerous sports. The integrity service cautioned that criminals are becoming more sophisticated in coming up with ways to undermine the fairness of competitions, using remote technology to get in touch with players and try to influence the outcome of games in seemingly innocent ways. MacKenzie was unequivocal about the league’s mission in ensuring that these attempts fail:

“The CHL is fully committed to protecting all of our league-wide stakeholders from the threat of match-fixing, and Sportradar’s elearning tutorial will be integral to ensure they are fully equipped with the necessary knowledge and understanding of how best to react to integrity threats.”

CHL president Dan MacKenzie

Moving forward, Sportradar will be able to lend the CHL the expertise that allows it to investigate potential fraud incidents. The Intelligence and Investigation team at Sportradar is fully capable of conducting in-depth investigations. Sportradar maintains a partnership with numerous sports bodies, including the Bundesliga, the Netherlands Football Association and many others.