The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) has issued a fresh call to all parties engaged in the supply of sports event data for betting to adhere to global best practice standards. 

The association advised that this is the most effective approach to protecting the integrity of sport, its data, betting markets generated by that data and consumers enjoying those products.

CEO Khalid Ali said: “Upholding the reliability and credibility of sporting event data is of paramount importance for my members and the challenges posed by the pandemic have further highlighted the necessity for robust data chains. 

“There is a clear benefit for everyone involved in the data supply chain in ensuring that such data is a product of high levels of accuracy and transparency. IBIA and its members have been considering this issue internally for some time and would like to go a step further and have a proper industry-wide debate. 

He added: “To that end, IBIA is asking all stakeholders, notably data providers, to proactively engage with the association and its members to develop and implement agreed best practice standards around the sale, collation and distribution of sports data for betting.”

IBIA, run by operators, has long standing information sharing partnerships with leading sports and gambling regulators to utilise its data and prosecute corruption. It represents the sector at high-level policy discussion forums such as the IOC, UN, Council of Europe and European Commission.