Major League Baseball (MLB) and Sportradar have reached a multiyear partnership that gives the latter company exclusive access internationally to distribute the league’s real-time statistics to sports betting operators.
Umpires won’t be the only ones monitoring MLB games this year to make sure the outcome is fair and legitimate. (Image: Sean Haffey/Getty)
In the US, Sportradar will have the same access to stream information to sportsbooks in states where the gambling activity is legal. However, unlike internationally, the sports data provider won’t have exclusivity to the statistics.
The MLB says game statistics are collected in real time “at every ballpark via the league’s proprietary technology and stat operators.” The league explained in a statement that its official data, paired with Sportradar’s technology and extensive distribution network, “will deliver a significant competitive edge to sportsbooks when it comes to in-game betting and liability management.”
Headquartered in Switzerland, Sportradar is valued at more than $2.4 billion. Along its investors are billionaires Michael Jordan and Mark Cuban. Sportradar clients include the largest mobile sportsbooks in the world including William Hill, Ladbrokes, bwin, bet365, and Paddy Power Betfair.
On the Radar
Since the US Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on full-scale sports betting last May, Sportradar has been striking deals with professional sports leagues.
Along with its statistic distribution channels, Sportradar offers leagues its Fraud Detection System (FDS). The product monitors global betting markets for “nefarious activity” and suspicious wagering patterns. The MLB and Sportradar deal includes the FDS program.
Sportradar now has contracts with all “big four” US leagues – the MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL. The company also announced in December that it signed an “integrity partnership” with NASCAR.
Since the SCOTUS repeal, protecting the integrity of the games are of utmost importance to league officials. MLB recently asked state gaming regulators where sports betting is permitted to ban the allowance of gambling on the league’s spring training games.
MLB argued that spring training games feature players who likely won’t make the team’s final roster, and therefore those individuals could be more susceptible to outside influences betting on the contests. The Nevada Gaming Control Board denied the request, but regulators in Pennsylvania obliged.
Match Fixing Prevalence
A 2015 study titled “The Odds of Match Fixing” was conducted by the Asser Institute Center for International and European Law in conjunction with Sportradar. The group said it was the first in-depth examination of the potential links between “betting-related match fixing cases and specific types of sports bets on the basis of quantitative empirical evidence.”
From May 2009 and November 2014, Sportradar’s FDS issued 1,625 reports on soccer matches that were deemed highly suspicious. That represents less than one percent of the total games monitored.
The report found that there is no evidence that live betting – aka in-game wagers – leads to elevated incidences of match fixing. The study concluded there is no justification to prohibit “these bet types.”
However, it did conclude that lower-tier soccer leagues, as well as amateur events involving youths, could be more prone to fixing.
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