Fonbet, the biggest online betting company operating in Eastern Europe, recently announced that it had signed a partnership agreement with the European Sports Security Association (ESSA). Fonbet which is also the leading online betting operator in Russia decided to become a member of ESSA, the integrity body for the betting industry as it would enable the company to strengthen its global reporting and betting integrity alert systems.

With this new partnership, ESSA now has a total of 20 members. The organisation continues to play a major role in eliminating match-fixing from global sports and is a key member on match-fixing policy forums at the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Council of Europe and the European Commission. ESSA is responsible for launching a number of activities that address the growing concerns of match-fixing and all conducts a number of educational programs for players on how to avoid falling prey to match-fixing.

In a statement, Khalid Ali, Secretary General of ESSA, said: “I am delighted that Fonbet has teamed up with ESSA. It is a major player in the Russian betting market and it will add significant value to our alert system, benefiting our wider membership and integrity partners. Fonbet joins other responsible betting operators intent on driving fixers and cheats out of their markets; the options for corrupters continues to diminish as ESSA’s membership and global information sharing network grows.”

Fonbet has been a market leader in Russia’s online market and retail industry capturing 21.4 percent of the market share in 2014. The company had recorded a total of 2.5 million monthly visits to its website and was providing online gaming services to more than a million customers from fifty countries. Fonbet also had 1,180 betting shops in the Russian market and bagged the rights of being the official sponsor for the 2016 Euroleague Final Four, which is the main event of the European club basketball. The 2016 championship was won by Russian franchise CSKA Moscow.

Alexandra Sergeeva, the Chief Marketing Officer of Fonbet stated that the company was happy to be accepted as an ESSA member. Fonbet realized that it was important to partner with ESSA as it provided the company with numerous benefits and would help them establish a robust alert mechanism. Sergeeva also said that the partnership would be beneficial for the gambling industry as it would help to defend gambling operators at international policy forums.

ESSA is also running an international projected called “Keep Crime out of Sport” which is funded by the European Commission and led by the Council of Europe. ESSA recently entered into a partnership with Sportradar to clean up match-fixing in tennis across the globe.