The International Tennis Federation and Tennis Integrity Unit Supervisory Board plan to ramp up integrity safeguards for the World Tennis Tour, including a ban on the collection of live scoring data for minor events offering prize money up to $15,000. An earlier proposal would have banned live streaming and data collection on events with prize pools of up to $25,000.
It was one of seven recommendations put forward by an independent review panel in May last year, designed to uphold the integrity of the sport, before being revised in December 2018.
The prohibition will be accompanied by the creation of more events with a prize pot of at least $25,000, to discourage unofficial data collection at the $15,000 events. Following that final, revised report, efforts have already been taken to reduce the supply of live scoring data for these events, and up to 3,500 fewer matches will be available to betting markets in 2019, compared to 2018, according to iGamingBusiness.com.
Further reductions will continue during 2020 and 2021, until it has been phased out completely.
The International Betting Integrity Association led the fight against the proposed ban on data collection and streaming for $25,000 events. The group argued that the move would push bookmakers to use unofficial data feeds to offer markets on these events, ultimately creating greater risk of manipulation.
“In-play betting makes up 80 percent of IBIA members’ tennis markets and over 95 percent at ITF level,” IBIA chief executive Khalid Ali explained. “Retaining live data for $25,000 matches and setting out an expansion of that tour is an overwhelmingly beneficial move by tennis both from an integrity and commercial standpoint.
“Removing all ITF World Tennis Tour data from regulated operators would have led to the undesirable situation of consumers seeking that product through unregulated channels, with the corresponding loss of market oversight and the ability to detect and punish corruption.”
The move forms part of a broader strategy to enhance integrity safeguards for the sport, based on recommendations set out in the panel’s final report. To ensure suspicious betting patterns are quickly identified, markets on ITF events will be monitored, in partnership with the TIU, while the governing body will collaborate closely with data suppliers and betting operators.
A new system of accreditation and access control for WTT events will also be rolled out, alongside video recording of matches and added security to deter unofficial data collection. On-site integrity protection personnel will also be at events. The ITF expects to invest $8 million to enhance integrity controls.
“Our commitment to protecting the integrity of the World Tennis Tour is paramount,” ITF President David Haggerty said. “This is a program that looks holistically at all aspects of integrity across the full tour calendar. The scale of this project is unprecedented.”
Tennis governing bodies have been under pressure to step up efforts to fight corruption since a joint Buzzfeed—BBC News investigation in 2016 uncovered widespread evidence of match-fixing at the top levels of the sport. This prompted a review of all existing controls.
In the association’s third quarter integrity report, the number of suspicious activity alerts generated for tennis matches was down 40 percent year-on-year, at 72.
