Sports and betting-related data company Sportradar has entered into a monitoring partnership with the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) global governing body.
The deal will run for three years, from 2015 until 2017.
Under the agreement, Sportradar will monitor three of the IIHF’s major tournament during each year of the deal, in addition to hosting 12 educational workshops for players, officials, administrators and coaches.
Sportradar will utilise its Fraud Detection System to monitor the IIHF’s World Championship showpiece national team tournament, as well as its World Junior Championship and U18 World Championships youth-level competitions.
The monitoring system will help flag and analyse any suspicious betting odds movement or patterns to the IIHF.
Sportradar experts will also travel to the host cities of each event to provide participants with an insight into global betting markets on ice hockey, as well as the dangers match-fixers pose to the sport.
“What this partnership does is send a powerful message,” IIHF president René Fasel said.
“It sends a powerful message to our fans that we will not compromise when it comes to protecting the honesty of the game we all love.
“Very few sports excite and engage fans like ice hockey does. And we want to keep it that way.
“The integrity of our World Championships and our sport are central to that.”
Andreas Krannich, managing director of Sportradar, added: “By asking us to monitor 126 ice hockey games and deliver 12 workshops over three years, the IIHF has shown a keen awareness of this vitally important issue.
“We have worked hard to develop the ice hockey Fraud Detection System and we have honed it to the needs and sensitivities of the sport.”
source : www.igamingbusiness.com