Sports data and integrity services supplier Sportradar announced today the Estonian Center for Integrity in Sports (ESTCIS) signed an agreement with Sportradar Integrity Services to utilize its monitoring capabilities across domestic sport competitions starting from October 2021.
Relying on UFDS’s Monitoring Capabilities
Under the agreement, Sportradar will provide bet monitoring and reporting via its Universal Fraud Detection System (UFDS) for matches in football, basketball, volleyball and handball taking place in the country, covering more than 1,000 events every year.
“We are fully committed to putting in place the measures necessary to ensure that the integrity of sport throughout Estonia is maintained, and this agreement with Sportradar Integrity Services is integral to doing so.”
Henn Vallimäe, Executive Director, ESTCIS
From the summer of 2022, the deal has provisions for the scope of the UFDS monitoring services to expand and cover matches in ice hockey, badminton, futsal, beach soccer and cricket, to fully utilize the capabilities of the independently assessed and verified by sports betting and integrity experts system.
“Global bet monitoring across a broad range of sporting competitions will give us a valuable insight into the betting activity surrounding our domestic competitions, with Sportradar’s integrity specialists able to alert us to any abnormalities.”
Henn Vallimäe, Executive Director, ESTCIS
The Threat of Match-Fixing
The UFDS, which comprises of a global team of qualified integrity specialists tasked to analyze irregular betting patterns utilizing a combination of sophisticated mathematical models and machine learning, has already proved its value to sports organizations around the world, having detected more than 500 suspicious matches last year and a tally in excess of 5,500 reports in the past 15 years.
“Having worked alongside the Estonian FA for the last decade, we are delighted to sign this agreement with another key Estonian partner in the ESTCIS. At Sportradar we have witnessed integrity threats across a range of different sports in recent years, and these challenges have only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated issues on a global scale.”
Andreas Krannich, Managing Director, Sportradar Integrity Services
Sportradar Integrity Services and the Estonian Football Federation have been working together for more than 10 years, with data and monitoring services supporting investigations across the competitions the federation governs, including the high-profile case of match-fixing in 2014 which led to more than 20 players being sanctioned for taking part in the offense. Recently, Sportradar Integrity Services added the Austrian Football Federation (ÖFB) to its list of partners.
“The services provided by the UFDS will help aid the ESTCIS in their efforts to understand the threat of match-fixing in the country and to prevent manipulation of their sporting competitions now and in the future, and we look forward to supporting their integrity programme.”
Andreas Krannich, Managing Director, Sportradar Integrity Services
Sportradar is determined to continue to upscale its technology and operations and enhance its bet monitoring capabilities to deliver on the ambitious task of safeguarding the integrity of global sports. As part of that commitment, Sportradar announced earlier this year it would offer the UFDS free of charge to sports organizations and leagues.