The BackPage Weekly | Prosecuting match fixing cases: the importance of intelligence and the role of Sportradar

By Andrew Nixon

🎱 Introduction

The decision in the recent case of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (the “WPBSA”) and Ten Snooker Players has been issued by an independent disciplinary commission appointed and administered by Sports Resolutions.

In summary, the WPBSA’s Integrity Unit undertook an investigation into various breaches of the governing body’s Conduct Regulations. All ten players were charged, and suspended, pending final determination. The majority of the charges that were brought were upheld by the disciplinary commission. A summary of the liability hearing can be found here.

🎱 ‘A cancer that eats at the health of the game’

Match fixing, and betting related corruption, remains the most significant threat to the essence of sport. It removes uncertainty of outcome, a principle which underpins the very point of sport from a participation, fan engagement and, ultimately, a commercial perspective. As the independent panel in England and Wales Cricket Board v Kaniera and Westfield stated, “match fixing is the cancer that eats at the health and very existence of the game”.

An analysis of the various integrity related regulatory frameworks within sport is outside the scope of this article but, as stated in Sport: Law & Practice, 4th Edition, sports federations will seek, through private regulation, to prohibit and prevent any conduct that risks undermining the “all important public confidence in the authenticity and integrity of their results”. The WPBSA, in this regard, is no different and, much like other sports federations, combine ‘catch all’ regulations in relation to acts which may bring the sport into disrepute, with more specific regulations tailored to match fixing, as well as requirements in relation to cooperation and reporting.

However, even the most carefully curated integrity regulations have limited utility unless they can be effectively enforced. Unlike other areas of sporting misconduct, which either take place in the full glare of spectators and officials (and often TV cameras) or, in the case of doping, can be policed by urine or blood sample analysis, match fixing is difficult to both detect and prosecute.

Federations therefore need to be smart, in terms of how they gather evidence and intelligence, starting with analysis of betting activity, and betting patterns. Indeed, without that starting point, which federations and their integrity teams can work back from, very few investigations would ever get off the ground. 

🎱 The role of intelligence

Sportradar is probably best known as a global sports data company and the official sports data provider of high-profile sports bodies, such as UEFA, FIFA, ITF, NBA, MLB, NASCAR, and the NHL.

An essential part of Sportradar is its ‘Integrity Services’ (Sports Betting Fraud Detection & Prevention - Sportradar). Sportradar Integrity Services monitor and analyse the worldwide betting market for suspicious betting patterns, as well as providing intelligence and investigative support, and educational services to athletes, officials, and other sporting stakeholders on the dangers of match-fixing. This service is then supplied to sports federations – such as the WPBSA – as well as to state authorities and law enforcement institutions in order to detect and prevent betting-related manipulation of matches.

In this case, Sportradar’s Integrity Services would have received a report on suspicious betting from its global bookmaker network. Sportradar would then have been able to share this betting market intelligence with the WPBSA, as a result of their partnership.

But the collaboration between the WPBSA and Sportradar would not have ended there. Consistent with other cases of this nature, Sportradar and the WPBSA would have worked closely together throughout the investigation, with Sportradar providing in depth analysis on other matches through what is called its Universal Fraud Detection System, or the UFDS. Sportradar would also have been able to support the WPBSA with extensive investigative support from its Intelligence & Investigation Services. 

For example, this would have included:

• betting data analysis, and intelligence, which showed the link between certain players and bettors who had placed bets on matches identified as suspicious;

• analysis of whistle-blower information;

• digital forensic analysis of mobile telephone devices (which would have been confiscated pursuant to disciplinary rules) of relevant players that were suspected of being involved in the match-fixing, followed by forensic examinations and analysis of the data extracted from the mobile telephones; and

• dissemination of findings to WPBSA, to enable the governing body to commence investigative interviews.

Indeed, in February 2023, shortly before the hearings took place in April and May 2023, Sportradar’s investigation team disclosed all evidence collected, and summarised it in a final investigation report. The contents of that report were central to the findings of the independent panel.

🎱 Concluding remarks

The case is another reminder that corruption, and match fixing, remains a clear and present danger to the integrity of sport. Sports federations are often in an unenviable position, as private bodies, charged with conducting complex (and resource heavy) investigations and prosecutions.

The relationship between federations and the betting markets is key: without that, many incidents would go undetected. In this case, it is important to complement the WPBSA’s regulatory process, its zero-tolerance approach and its own established intelligence gathering capabilities. Sportradar was then able to provide the ‘bridge’ between the WPBSA and betting related intelligence and overlay intelligence services with highly sophisticated investigative support, which complemented the skills of the WPBSA’s Integrity Unit. This dual investigative, intelligence led approach is now indispensable to the ongoing fight against match fixing.