The International Betting Integrity Association has formed a partnership with the Professional Footballers’ Association in Canada.
International Betting Integrity Association Agrees New Partnership With PFA Canada
IBIA and its members, which includes sports betting apps such as, bet365, FanDuel and Betway, will now work in tandem with PFA Canada after striking up a new partnership.
The collaboration will create a two-year educational program for the players/staff that are in the Canadian Premier League – which currently has eight teams.
Both the IBIA and PFA Canada believe the new system will make certain issues easier to address, including fraud, match fixing and detecting suspicious activity.
Khalid Ali, IBIA CEO, has reiterated the companies focus on dealing with the integrity in sports and betting markets – hoping to ‘stamp out’ the major issues.
He said: “IBIA’s members take their role – as responsible regulated betting operators – in protecting the integrity of sporting competition and of betting markets seriously.
“Alongside balanced, efficient and evidenced-based regulation, protecting soccer players, staff and officials from being targeted by criminals is an essential first step to stamping out sports-betting related match-fixing and fraud.”
IBIA, Betway, Bet365 and FanDuel will be the financial supporters or this new program, putting $218,891 into the three-year funding plan.
Dan Kirk, PFA Canada Executive Director, was also very vocal about the new partnership and how it can play a role in gaining the trust of ‘busy athletes’.
He said: “IBIA has delivered sports-integrity education to over thirty-five thousand athletes in Europe since 2010, and we’re grateful that they can leverage that know-how to design a bespoke training for CPL players.
“At PFA Canada we understand that, despite being more resource-intensive, in-person sports integrity education is essential to gain the trust and understanding of busy athletes, and to enable full, frank and open conversations.”
The IBIA revealed a 65% rise in alerts relating to suspicious betting and the largest amount came from soccer markets on the various Canadian sports betting sites.