BGC and IBIA agree to collaborate with new MoU

Through the memorandum of understanding signed today (12 May), the associations will work together to promote regulated betting market frameworks and related integrity provisions in existing and emerging markets. 

IBIA chief executive Khalid Ali said the organisations had already been working together for some time and shared a number of members, prompting them to formalise their partnership.

“Both of our associations are active internationally and in many of the same markets, share many of the same members and have many of the same regulatory goals,” Ali explained. “We’ve already been collaborating in markets such as Brazil and it was a natural progression to a more formal and structured relationship. 

“The scope of our combined membership gives us a powerful mandate to speak on behalf of a large part of the regulated sector and policymakers welcome that level of focused industry engagement.”

BGC chair Brigid Simmonds said the MoU would help the association  “champion the betting industry internationally”.

“The IBIA is playing a decisive part in ensuring that sports betting markets are duly regulated, and sports integrity is at the core of its action,” she continued. “The BGC will wholeheartedly join this effort and bring its experience and expertise in promoting world class standards in new and emerging sports betting markets.”

Last month, the IBIA published its report of suspicious betting alerts from the first quarter of 2021. The association reported 64 suspicious betting events to authorities, with tennis and esports leading the way in numbers of alerts.