Paddy Power's president of North America, Eamonn Toland, has spoken to Clarion Events about regulation and sports integrity ahead of the Brazilian Gaming Congress.
Toland draws parallels between the path to regulation in the US and how Brazil might look to proceed; explores the role operators can and should play in working with governments and regulators; explains how international co-operation can help prevent match fixing and what steps operators can take to uphold sports integrity.
“We can never be complacent about match-fixing or corruption in sport more generally, but it is clear that the problem of corruption is magnified enormously in jurisdictions where there is no legal, regulated sports betting. When gambling revenue is unlicensed, unsupervised and unregulated, the risk of corrupting officials or players to throw a game becomes far, far higher,” said Paddy Power’s key decision maker.
He added: “In a market the size of Brazil, with billions of Reals at stake, the obvious way to thwart corruption is by legalising and regulating sports betting.”
Toland will be speaking on day two of the three-day Congress, on the topic of demystifying the risks of sports betting and demonstrating best practice in keeping the integrity and the security in regulated betting in sports.
Directors and CEO’s from Paddy Power, Ladbrokes, Lottomatica, Intralot, Gaming Group, GLI, Danish Gambling Authority and Italian Customs and Monopolies Agency are all meeting at the inaugural BgC in Rio de Janeiro.
The meeting is expected to address how sensible and well-executed regulation of sports betting can contribute to preserving the integrity of sports.
