Stats Perform to Assist in the Fight for Integrity with a New Tool

The sports data company has launched a new tool which uses a combination of different types of technology to assist in integrity investigations. The tool utilizes statistics such as expected goal rate, player performance data and the Opta database. That comes on top of other Stats tools that monitor bet reports to give a multi-faceted view of the situation.

Named “Essential Tool in the Detection of Match Manipulations”

The new service has already been used in several major investigations. Council of Europe’s has deployed it as part of the ‘Working Group on Sports Integrity’. The council has named Stats Perform’s methodologies and analysis an essential tool in the detection of match manipulations.

Stats Perform has noted that the performance analysis tool will provide new and richer insights to investigations. The tool will further add a deeper level of analysis and provide confidence when launching integrity cases.

“Underpinned by a robust process and methodology, Stats Perform Integrity utilizes the deepest and highest quality Opta performance data. This comes along with a suite of bespoke in-house analytical tools to provide a deeper view of what has unfolded on the pitch and how this relates to the overall integrity of any given match,”

The tool has been used in one instance for two matches that were referred for investigation due to suspicions for a pre-match settlement. The software showed a demonstrable lack of attack patterns from one of the teams. It indicated an all-time low Expected Goals total according to the Opta database.

Other investigations done using the performance analysis tool have showed altered formation in teams within precise periods during matches and player errors aligned with dubious actions in betting markets. Earlier in February, Stats Perform deployed its Edge Analysis tool to German Bundesliga soccer club Bayer Leverkusen.

Considerable Step Forward in the Fight against Sport Manipulation

Opta database is the largest performance analysis database in sport. The company has used it successfully in the elite player performance and media spaces. Alex Rice, chief rights officer for Stats Perform, said the tool had proved its usefulness a long time ago. Yet, by changing its perspective, questions on the integrity of sport can find an answer. To this end, Stats Perform uses a professional and methodological approach.

“Opta data is the most trusted, accurate and largest performance database in the industry,” Rice added.

Thanks to this new integrity service unique insights in the in-play complexities attached to suspicious player or team performance can be reached. As a result, sporting organizations can judge whether a match or game has been manipulated by a predetermined result.     

Federations and sport governing bodies have long been in need of professional performance analysis. Supporting the fight against match-fixing and the launch of such a tool is a major step towards the integrity of sport.

Jake Marsh, Global Head of Integrity at Stats Perform, was confident in the tool’s success. “As with every element of sport integrity, success is built on a unified combination of measures across prevention, detection and investigation.”

Stats Perform is the first data provider to receive the International Betting Integrity Association’s (IBIA) Data Standards Accreditation. IBA’s hallmark recognizes its efforts in betting data collection. 

The IBIA standards include requirements that only people aged at least 18 should carry all data collection. Data providers must also make data collection transparent and state how exactly they acquired it. Additionally, companies must also carry out a detailed risk assessment for all sporting events or competitions on which they collect data.