Virgin Bet has introduced its inaugural Women’s Day event – a celebration that will provide appreciation to the women in racing and nurture an inclusive environment.

The social event will take place at the Virgin Bet Raceday on March 9 at Ayr Racecourse, allowing the operator to extensively promote its message. The Women’s Day event is notably a part of the gambling company’s A Good Bet initiative, showcasing the operator’s commitment to promoting inclusivity.

The new event will see Virgin Bet empower women in racing. The operator will therefore offer a variety of exclusive experiences to players, such as providing female visitors with the opportunity to pick the Best Turned Out Award before each race and present the trophies to the eventual victors.

In addition, Virgin Bet will team up with WalkSafe, an app developed to help women feel safe when walking alone. The operator will also make a donation to Ayr Racecourse’s charity partner, Ayrshire Cancer Support.

Virgin Bet Wants to Celebrate the Uncelebrated

In addition to other activations, Virgin Bet has also teamed up with presenter Natalie Pike who agreed to host the Women’s Day events. Commenting on the matter, Pike said that she is excited to be a part of this project and hopes to inspire “the next generation of incredible women working in horse racing.”

Sport is for everyone, and activations such as this are crucial to ensuring inclusivity and safety for women at events, and ultimately heroing the brilliant people who work in the sport.

Natalie Pike

Virgin Bet’s marketing director, Ric Leask, also commented on the initiative, saying that his team wants to provide exposure and support to the many women in the horse racing industry. According to Leask, these women are, sadly, often uncelebrated and un-thanked.

Leask concluded: “At Virgin Bet, as part of our “A Good Bet” brand campaign, we want to make sport more accessible and to highlight brilliance, no matter who the subject, and this initiative is doing exactly that.”

The post Virgin Bet to Celebrate Women in Racing at Inaugural Women’s Day Event   appeared first on Keno Wizard.

A new survey conducted by the international online research data and analytics technology group with a mission to offer an ongoing stream of “accurate data and insight into what the world thinks,” YouGov, has revealed women’s sports as being equally attractive for both male and female bettors. 

The study received funding from sports data and analytics company, StatsPerform, and Women’s Sports Group, the advisory company that advances the global rise of women’s and men’s sports by offering outstanding sports advisory and negotiation expertise.

Bettors Looking for More Betting Options on Women’s Sports

Another critical highlight of the study aimed at UK respondents regards bettors’ enhanced interest in being given additional opportunities to wager on women’s sports. 

More than 60% of female bettors and 46% of male bettors who were acquainted with betting on women’s sports expressed a desire to be offered more opportunities to bet on women’s soccer.

The survey assessed responses received in August 2023 from 2,500 male and 2,500 female bettors.

Approximately 60% of male and female sports bettors who placed wagers at least once a month stated they were actively watching or following women’s sports. 

At the same time, 81% of male bettors and 96% of female bettors who watch women’s sports said they were also interested in men’s sports.

Nine out of 10 male and female bettors expressed their desire to watch women’s sports in the upcoming year. 

Women’s Soccer in the Lead 

As for the most popular sports mentioned by respondents, women’s soccer ranked among the top four sports watched by both male and female sports bettors. 

A discrepancy in betting behaviors was also revealed by the survey. Around 85% of male bettors watch and wager on men’s soccer, but only 23% of them bet on women’s soccer. 

Similarly, 72% of female bettors also wager on men’s soccer while only 26% place bets on the same sports. 

Similar figures 23% like the ones recorded for bets on women’s football were recorded by bets on men’s tennis, cricket, rugby, and boxing.

When inquired about the arguments why they do not bet on women’s soccer, 38% of male sports bettors said they never considered it whereas 34% of male respondents used the “lack of knowledge” argument as the main reason. 

Moreover, two-thirds of female bettors who are actively interested in women’s sports are 45 or younger. 

Last July, a YouGov study conducted on behalf of GambleAware assessed the way gambling ads viewed at a younger age can impact gambling habits later on in life.

The post YouGov Study Shows Growing Interest in Betting on Women’s Sports appeared first on Keno Wizard.

According to FIFA’s Integrity Task Force, there have been no suspicious bets placed during the tournaments, and the 64-game event that was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia.

FIFA Keeps Women’s World Cup Safe of Manipulation

Match-fixing has been a concern for sports events, particularly FIFA which governs the world’s most popular sport and has to deal with the bulk of match manipulation. Commenting on its findings, FIFA said:

The collaborative effort between FIFA and key international stakeholders in the field of sports integrity ensured an experienced, coordinated, and timely response, with each participating stakeholder contributing their specific expertise throughout the tournament.

FIFA

The lack of wrongdoing is encouraging pointing to increased scrutiny of the betting markets globally and ensuring the integrity of the competition. The contest was safeguarded by a number of high-profile and ranking law enforcement agencies, including INTERPOL and the FBI that have long been interested in sports fraud as they usually tie it to more serious crimes.

The New Zealand Police and Sport Integrity Australia were also involved. Commenting on its approach, FIFA said that it used big data to analyze betting activity on the event and has not found evidence to suggest that any manipulation had indeed taken place.

This is the latest successful investigation concluded by FIFA’s Integrity Task Force, a fairly new unit that has been hard at work fighting match manipulation. FIFA previously worked hard to ensure the Men’s World Cup in Qatar is safeguarded.

Match Fixing in Sports Continues

However, the fact that FIFA is not finding manipulated games does not mean that corruption is gone from the sport – it may just not be focused on the most prominent events that attract the most eyeballs. Sportradar, a company that follows such instances of match manipulation, was able to track more than 1,000 potentially manipulated games in 2022 alone – the first time Sportradar posted such serious numbers.

The exact number of suspicious matches hit 1,212. Soccer was by far the most attractive sport for potential offenses related to match-fixing with 775 of the alerts focusing on the game.

Sportradar though is more insightful as to the reasons why this happens with the company believing that when many lower-tier athletes retire, they may be tempted to follow down a path that allows them to monetize their inside knowledge through illicit means. Luckily, at least for now, this does not seem to be the case in FIFA.

The post No Suspicious Betting Activity During Women’s World Cup appeared first on Keno Wizard.

The United Lotteries for Integrity in Sports (ULIS), a mutualized monitoring body dedicated to stopping corruption in sports, has been selected to protect the ongoing FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 from fraud. In this position, the ULIS is tasked with monitoring the betting markets throughout the event and identifying potential suspicious activity.

The ULIS was selected for the position during a meeting of the FIFA Integrity Task Force, which it is a member of. The preliminary meeting was held on July 20 and was attended by other members of the Task Force as well.

Major international organizations such as the Council of Europe, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, INTERPOL and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime participated in the meeting and oversaw the designation of ULIS as the body responsible for the betting integrity of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.

The professional women’s sporting event will take place from July 20 to August 20. The event is jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

The ULIS Will Shield the Tournament from Corruption

The FIFA Integrity Task Force is an alliance that seeks to protect one of the biggest soccer associations from the manipulation of betting markets and match outcomes. As a member, the ULIS is responsible for waging war on fraud and protecting the sector from corruption.

As the body responsible for safeguarding the integrity of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, the ULIS will leverage its monitoring intelligence and expertise to crack down on suspicious activities. In addition, the body will promote fair play throughout the competition.

To protect the league from fraud, the ULIS will also rely on the ULIS Monitoring and Intelligence Group, a collaborative platform that serves as a fixed international lottery task force that encompasses ULIS members and a team of industry experts.

This will notably mark the second time a FIFA Women’s World Cup event is being monitored by a task force. The first time, for reference, was in 2019.

The ULIS Continues to Grow with New Members

Earlier this year, the ULIS welcomed a bunch of new members. In late May, the integrity body was joined by the Spillemyndigheden, Denmark’s official gambling regulator.

Two months earlier, the ULIS also welcomed the British Columbia Lottery on board. Around the same time, the monitoring body also welcomed Playtech as an associate member.

The latest official member of the body is NeoGames.

The post ULIS to Protect the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 from Fraud appeared first on Keno Wizard.

Global betting powerhouse Betsson announced that it will serve as the official sponsor of the upcoming 26th IHF Women’s World Championship 2023, brokered by SPORTFIVE. The arrangement affirms the operator’s commitment to supporting women’s sports.

The championship’s group stage will be hosted by Sweden, Norway and Denmark and will engage sports fans from November 29 to December 17 this year. As noted by Betsson, the draw took place yesterday, July 6, in Gothenburg. The final, meanwhile, is set to take place in Herning, Denmark.

The event will welcome 32 national teams. At the time of Betsson’s announcement, Norway led the operator’s odds list, followed by Denmark in third and Sweden in fifth place.

The current sponsorship deal is Betsson’s first sponsorship in handball and will expand the operator’s presence in professional sports. The company has been supporting sports in the Nordic region since 1963 and is happy to continue and expand its sports initiatives.

Under the agreement, Betsson’s branding will feature on the led screens across the handball arena. The operator will also give away tickets for the event and will offer a wide range of odds for the matches.

While this is Betsson’s first time supporting a handball event, it is not its first time supporting women’s sports. The company has previously served as the exclusive sportsbook partner of the CONMEBOL Copa América Femenina 2022 and the main sponsor of Athletico Paranaense and Club Atletico Boca Juniors’s women’s teams.

Betsson Wants to Support Women’s Sports

IHF’s president, Dr Hassan Moustafa, welcomed Betsson as the partner of the 26th IHF Women’s World Championship. He thanked the operator for its commitment and said that the two parties will now have a clear aim – “to excite.”

SPORTFIVE’s chief growth officer, Robert Müller von Vultejus, said that he considers Betsson to be a valued partner. He noted that the operator’s experience with female leagues made it a perfect partner for the handball championship.

With their [Betsson’s] wealth of experience in supporting women’s sports globally we are confident that this collaboration will further elevate the excitement and bring the tournament to new height.

Robert Müller von Vultejus, chief growth officer, SPORTFIVE

Finally, Betsson Group’s PR manager, Robin Olenius, said that the sponsorship reflects his team’s desire to promote and support women’s sports.

We hope that through our support of the tournament and our global presence, we will help to increase the excitement globally”, says Robin Olenius, PR Manager Betsson Group.

Robin Olenius, PR manger, Betsson Group

Recently, Betsson strengthened its horse racing content thanks to a partnership with PA Betting Services.

The post Betsson Named Official Sponsor of IHF Women’s World Championship 2023 appeared first on Keno Wizard.

PokerStars, in collaboration with Poker Power, announced the return of the 2023 PokerStars x Poker Power Women’s Bootcamp, a unique event that helps grow the number of female players of the game by providing unique learning techniques and chances for growth. This year marks the second edition of the event, and it follows the success of its debut last year.

Now, PokerStars confirmed that the event, which is for beginners only, opened its recruitment window on June 22, 2023. The recruitment will go through July 22, 2023, and the successful female applicants will be able to engage in unique tutorials and benefit from insights from some of the best female poker players around the world.

The 2023 Poker Stars Women’s Bootcamp starts on July 31, 2023, and will run through September 28, 2023. During that time, applicants will be able to take their first steps into the world of poker and gradually accumulate skills and strategies that can help them be more resilient and patient.

Overall, the Bootcamp has eight modules that focus on different aspects of poker. Besides learning strategies and skills related to poker, the inclusivity event can also help women become more decisive and improve their negotiation skills outside of the game.

The Event Helps Women Enter the World of Poker

Participants in the event will be able to access and learn from Poker Power instructors as well as the Poker Power Play app. PokerStars ambassadors, including Jennifer Shahade and Lali Tournier, among others, will also play a key role by delivering unique tips and insights. Additionally, Bootcamp participants will be able to access PokerStars Learn resources 24/7 which can help them further improve their skills.

Putting learned strategies and knowledge into practice, women will play within the PokerStars Home Games. “The Bootcamp will lead to a crescendo tournament whereby a final table of recruits will win an all-expenses paid trip to EPT Cyprus this October to take part in the PokerStars x Poker Power Women’s Bootcamp Showdown to compete further for a special package to EPT Prague this December,” explained PokerStars.

“PokerStars shares our passion and commitment for the future of women in poker, so we are thrilled to be returning with our joint Bootcamp this year.“

Erin Lydon, president of Poker Power

Erin Lydon, Poker Power’s president, explained that the company shares a passion with PokerStars to help more women enter the poker vertical. She said that it is thrilling to see the return of the unique Bootcamp event.

According to Lydon, this year’s event is expanded and will be able to reach more women. She pointed out that the Bootcamp will not only learn women how to play Texas Hold’em, but also teach them skills that can be used on a daily basis. Finally, Lydon said that she is looking forward to seeing more women grow within the poker sector thanks to skills from the Bootcamp.

The post Poker Power and PokerStars Confirm the Return of Women’s Bootcamp appeared first on Keno Wizard.