Sportradar Unveils Free Of Charge Anti-fraud System
Sportradar Integrity Services has announced the launch of a new Universal Fraud Detection System (UFDS), which will be made available to any sports federation or league worldwide, free of charge.
The UFDS will be available from October 2021, and is an evolution of Sportradar’s current bet monitoring service, the Fraud Detection System (FDS) which the company first launched in 2005 to detect match-fixing across global sport.
For the past 15 years, the FDS has classified more than 5,300 matches as suspicious, while Sportradar Integrity Services has supported over 400 successful sanctions, and more than 30 successful criminal convictions as a result. In 2020 alone, the company says more than 600,000 matches were monitored by the FDS across 1,000+ leagues and competitions, in 26 different sports.
The launch of the new UFDS in October cements Sportradar’s commitment to safeguarding the integrity of global sport, making the capabilities and benefits of its established service available to all of sport.
According to Sportradar – an Official Partner of the Sport Industry Awards 2021 – it will speak to sporting bodies around the world so they can understand the service being offered in the lead up to the UFDS launch in October, and will continue to upscale their technology and operation to deliver the global undertaking.
“We believe that integrity is fundamental to public confidence in sport, and that wrongdoing at any tier of competition affects all levels of sports and its fans,” said Carsten Koerl, Group CEO, Sportradar.
“Today marks a very special day in the history of our company, as we announce the upcoming launch of our core bet monitoring system, at no financial charge to any sports federation or league that wants to use it. By making this significant investment in integrity via the UFDS initiative, we are demonstrating our commitment to support the sustainability of sport around the globe.
“We are continuing to upscale our technology and operation to handle this considerable undertaking, and as well as providing it to new partners we have already set about discussing and implementing the UFDS with our 70+ existing FDS partners. We are very excited to launch this exciting initiative and add to the proven track record of our integrity team, by ensuring the UFDS plays a major role in protecting the integrity of the sports we all love in the decades to come.”
Among the major sport organisations to back the initiative are the IOC and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), who already partner with Sportradar’s FDS.
Ahmed Alosaymi, Head of Integrity, AFC, said: “We have worked with Sportradar since 2013, and their data-driven approach to utilising the latest technology, matched with the professional experience of their analysts, has allowed us to be at the forefront of ensuring integrity for football in Asia. With more matches happening each season, coupled with the tremendous popularity of Asian Football, ensuring we have the right partner that delivers us results is key. “
The IOC’s Olympic Movement Unit on the Prevention of the Manipulation of Competitions added: “The IOC’s OM Unit PMC welcomes this significant commitment by its longstanding partner Sportradar. We will continue to work with all stakeholders of the Olympic Movement, notably International Federations, National Olympic Committees and multi-sports events organisers, to reach a sustainable approach towards protecting all sports from competition manipulation.
“It continues to be important for all sporting organisations to understand the most sustainable way to protect sports from competition manipulation. Utilising this substantial investment by Sportradar with its proven and reliable bet monitoring of the global betting market can be the foundation for a holistic integrity programme.”
