The Gibraltar Gambling Division have assisted, alongside other gambling regulators (UK and Malta), in providing evidence in a multi-jurisdictional investigation conducted by the Darts Regulatory Authority (DRA) into match fixing.
The Commission was engaged, alongside the Gibraltar gambling industry in identifying suspicious activity and ensuring that relevant betting and account data was transferred in a compliant manner to assist the investigation. Integrity in sports betting is an issue that has received specific mention in Gibraltar's data protection legislation.
The investigation commenced in May 2020 and as a result of the investigation, Kyle Mckinstry, a professional darts player from Northern Ireland, was banned on 25 November 2020 from the sport for a total of eight and a half years for fixing two matches in the Modus “A Night at the Darts” series. Part of that ban was for failing to supply mobile phone records. He was also ordered to pay costs of £4730.
Sports betting integrity work is a key part of the Gambling Division's role with particular regulators having developed expertise in this area.
During "lockdown", the Gambling Division, who normally see reports relating to football and tennis, saw an increase in reports on minority sports or "friendly" matches. There was also an uplift in reports on E-sports.
The full case details can be found at http://www.thedra.co.uk
Gambling Commissioner Andrew Lyman, said: "Betting operators want the markets they offer to be considered clean and not subject to manipulation. That is why they report suspicious betting patterns to regulators and the International Betting Integrity Association. Lockdown provided its own challenges in that data providers covered less elite sport and more fringe sporting activity where there is an obvious integrity risk.
Match fixing is something which undermines the fundamental appeal of sport; that being the uncertainty of outcome. It is in the wider public interest for gambling regulators and the industry to spend time and resource on combatting the corruption of sport by participants for betting purposes."
