Sportradar signed yet another deal to help sports betting integrity worldwide, this time for billiards and snooker.
The new deal for Sportradar
The sports data company announced it agreed to a three-year deal with the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, which is the governing body for those sports worldwide.
It is the second major deal for Sportradar with a sporting organization in the past week. It represents its third deal on the integrity front in that same timeframe.
Sportradar will apply its Fraud Detection System for monitoring sports betting trends and thousands of snooker matches over the course of the deal.
The company will also provide an annual education workshop to stakeholders in the industry, as well as “intelligence and investigatory support” as required.
“We have had the chance to work with Sportradar over the last few years so we were delighted we could convert that experience into a stronger and closer relationship,” WPBSA Vice Chairman Nigel Mawer said in a press release. “Sportradar continue to develop new services and improve the sharpness of their existing products, which means that this partnership should enable us to preserve the most robust defences against those who would look to undermine our sport.”
Sports betting on cue sports
The possibility of match fixing isn’t always a major concern for the leagues signing deals with Sportradar. It can be often viewed as more of a preventative measure.
But snooker is a popular sport to bet on in European markets. It’s also proven to be susceptible to match fixing, as a list of investigations in the sport demonstrates. As a sport where someone would only have to pay one player to affect the outcome, it is much easier to influence results in snooker than in team sports.
One high-profile case resulted in a lengthy ban for a player in 2013.
“Fans and stakeholders of the WPBSA should feel reassured that they have such a committed and forward-looking team protecting these two sports,” Sportradar’s Managing Director Integrity Services, Andreas Krannich, said. “This development is really encouraging and we look forward to doing our bit to ensure snooker remains an exciting, world class sport.”
Sportradar continues to branch out
Sportradar offers its integrity services to a variety of sports organizations around the world. Two of those are with major North American sports leagues — the NBA and the NHL. Both those deals were signed this year, as well.
Most reecntly, Sportradar partnered with its first motorsports organization, now providing integrity services for MotoGP.
Photo credit: DerHexer, Wikimedia Commons, CC-by-sa 4.0
