Tennis retains top spot in ESSA suspicious betting report

Integrity body ESSA has revealed that tennis accounted for the highest amount of suspicious betting alerts for the ninth consecutive quarter, during the three months to March 31, 2017,

Tennis was responsible for 12 cases in the first quarter, representing 45% of the total 27 reports.

Football and volleyball each attracted four reports, while two cases were flagged in snooker and basketball, and boxing, handball and ice hockey had one each.

Despite another quarter in which tennis generated the most cases, it is hoped tennis will benefit from the publishing of the International Tennis Federation-commissioned report into match-fixing in the next few weeks.

ESSA chairman Mike O’Kane said: “The figures for Q1 follow a similar trend to previous reports; we know that tennis, in particular, has been working hard to address this situation and we await with interest the imminent publication of the Independent Review Panel’s interim report.

“It is a process that ESSA has engaged in and welcomed as an important step, and we hope that the Panel’s recommendations are both evidence-based and provide practical and proportionate actions.”

O’Kane also provided an update on ESSA’s joint activities with the European Commission, whereby the integrity body has been supporting various studies into match-fixing activities.

“In addressing this issue at any level, there must be a clear understanding that well-regulated betting products, in themselves, neither create nor support match-fixing,” O’Kane said.

“That illicit activity is a result of corrupt sportspeople and criminals seeking to defraud betting operators.

“Those operators are the intended victims of that fraud and any mitigating actions will be best served acknowledging that.”

Related article: ESSA cites 130 cases of suspicious betting activity in 2016