Sportradar Integrity Services and the Canadian Hockey League have entered into a multiyear agreement for education services as well as bet monitoring.
Sportradar Integrity Services will monitor the Western Hockey League (WHL), Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League through the Universal Fraud Detection Systems (UFDS) of the CHL.
Sportradar has an extensive portfolio of partners in ice hockey, which includes nine leagues and international federations. Canada’s addition strengthens Sportradar’s leadership in North American sport leagues.
Andy Cunningham is the director of Global Partnerships for Sportradar Integrity Services. He said: “By partnering with Sportradar Integrity Services, which provides integrity services as a leading provider, the CHL puts itself in an excellent position to both protect and maintain the integrity of its competitions, as well as inform, educate, and grow awareness among all of the CHL’s key stakeholders regarding the potential dangers of sports betting.”
Sportradar, in conjunction with the CHL and its UFDS will provide an audit of integrity to Sportradar, and its Intelligence and Investigations team is available to help investigate any possible integrity threats throughout the entire agreement.
The move comes as a result of the tightening up of sports betting laws in Canada. It is now mandatory for CHL players, teams, and staff to receive an online tutorial program that will be available soon in several languages. The tightening rules were a result of the fact that customers in Canada could now wager on single sporting events instead of only multiples.
In August of last year, after Bill C-218 was passed into law by the Canadian government in July, single-event betting on sports became legal. Sportradar claims that this bet-monitoring system was independently evaluated and verified by experts in sports betting integrity. It also complies to the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC’s) priority of responsible gambling.
Dan MacKenzie added, “We’re excited to sign this contract with Sportradar Integrity Services. Their bet-monitoring and -education services will further enhance our integrity measures.
The CHL has a commitment to protect all league stakeholders against match-fixing. Sportradar’s online tutorial is a key tool to help them understand and recognize integrity threats.
Sportradar Integrity Services reached a similar agreement with the International Handball Association in late 2018.
