Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | December 2013 30 surprising just how little knowledge of our industry and how it works is displayed by many of the politicians and policy officials involved in these discussions. There has also been a clear move towards painting the Asian market as the sole culprit in the corruption of sport around the globe. Asian gangs have clearly been operating in this environment, notably in the unregulated sector, but the reality is somewhat more complicated. Modern-day criminal networks, like the betting markets they exploit, operate on a transnational scale. ESSA has been active in delivering this message and providing evidence-based arguments to counter proposals for market restrictions and to influence, for example, the Council of Europe’s ongoing development of what it intends will be a global match- fixing convention. The United Nations also has entered the debate, and earlier this year, representatives from 128 countries committed their governments to developing appropriate policies and structures to address the threat of corruption at the national, regional and international levels. With such activity comes increasing political pressure from governments around the world to act, and invariably that will mean advocating the kind of flawed market restrictions outlined above. This is as much a danger to the regulated Asian sector as to the European and should not be underestimated. It is more important than ever that the licensed betting industry stands together in the face of an increasing tide of flawed integrity rhetoric designed to advance commercially based arguments. The European Sports Security Association is a Brussels-based non- profit that works with commercial betting operators in employing cutting-edge technologies to combat match-fixing and corruption in sport through the detection, disruption and reporting of suspicious betting patterns. Members include: bet365, bwin.party, interwetten, Ladbrokes, Paddy Power, Sportingbet, Stan James and William Hill. Khalid Ali is secretary general of ESSA, responsible for the administration and day-to-day running of the association and for providing strategic counsel to its members. Since joining the group in 2008, Mr Khalid has helped grow the association and has been involved in a number of high-level policy forums, including the Council of Europe’s Convention on Match-Fixing and the European Commission’s expert group on good governance. For more information, visit www.eu-ssa.org . IN FOCUS Asian operators should not be drawn into thinking that this is solely a European issue. UEFA, EPFL and other global authorities will want associated contributions from operators around the world, as they do with other commercial activities such as TV rights. The English Premier League recently criticized the Japanese government for extending the country’s betting market to its games without holding discussions with the league which no doubt would include promotion of a commercial “right”.