ESSA celebrates new chapter in its development with today’s rebrand as the International Betting Integrity Association
ESSA, the organization representing some of the world’s largest sports betting operators and monitoring the industry for integrity issues, today announced that it has rebranded as the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA)
The move has come as part of the association’s strategy to “better reflect the global debate around betting and integrity issues and their leading role in that discussion.”
ESSA was founded in 2005 as a non-for-profit association which represents sports betting operators that are active across six continents. Its Monitoring & Alert Platform is an anti-corruption tool designed to monitor the industry, detect and report any suspicious activity across betting markets. Aside from some of the world largest gambling companies, ESSA, now IBIA, has partnered over the years with leading sports betting and gambling regulators to utilize its data and penalize corruption in the field.
Commenting on the association’s new name, its Secretary General, Khalid Ali, said that it “communicates who we are, what we do, and where we want to be.” Mr. Ali went on to say that they have been active across six continents in the past several years and that nearly half of all suspicious activity alerts they received last year came from outside of Europe.
The IBIA Secretary General further pointed out that this activity will only increase in the coming years as “gambling markets around the world continue to open up to regulation.”
Strategic Focus Must Evolve
As noted by Mr. Ali, the debate about the integrity of the sports betting industry and the prevention of corruption in sports is a global effort and IBIA’s “strategic focus must evolve in line with that.”
Jon Russel, Non-Executive Chair of the association’s Board added that IBIA’s members represent a “sizable part of the worldwide regulated betting market and their business strategies reflect global ambitions.” Mr. Russel also said that integrity has cemented itself as a critical regulatory issue in the regulated markets debate and that “betting and integrity are now inseparable.” Mr. Russel also serves as Head of Global Trading at online gambling operator Betway, one of the members of the newly rebranded International Betting Integrity Association.
Aside from Betway, the association also represents the likes of 888sport, Betsson, BetStars, William Hill, Sky Bet, and Interwetten, among others.
Last year, the association welcomed its first affiliate member – Perform Group. Headquartered in Feltham, United Kingdom, Perform Group is a global sports media company that operates across a number of digital platforms.
The media group joining the association marked the inception of the ESSA Affiliate Program. The association said back then that all non-betting operator businesses and organizations sharing its integrity values could join the program and assist it in its activities and their promotion to the broader public.
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