Data scouting and courtsiding

Courtsiding (also known as pitch-siding) is the real-time transmission of match data, such as live scores, points or outcomes, from within a sporting venue for the purpose of creating a betting advantage by exploiting the time delay between live events and the framing of in-play betting odds.

What is data scouting?

Data scouting is the collection and transmission of match data, such as live scores, points or outcomes, to provide real-time information, insights and services to a range of organisations.

For example, this data may be supplied to:

• sporting organisations
• broadcasters
• media organisations
• statistics providers
• betting operators and:
• other organisations that rely on real-time sporting data.
   

There are two forms of data scouting:

• Official data scouting: occurs under a formal agreement between a sporting organisation and a data company or betting operator
• Unauthorised data scouting: occurs without such an agreement.

Why they are a concern

Courtsiding

While courtsiding is not illegal in Australia, it can undermine betting market integrity by creating an unfair advantage for gamblers who receive information before betting odds are updated.

With sports increasingly entering agreements with betting operators, it is important that the integrity of both sporting contests and betting markets is protected.

This helps preserve trust and confidence among athletes, officials, fans, sponsors and betting operators and their customers.
 

Data scouting

While data scouting serves a range of legitimate purposes, including supporting sporting organisations, broadcasters, and legal betting markets, it can facilitate the creation of betting markets, including offshore markets operating outside the oversight of Australian sporting organisations and regulators.

Australian sports and law enforcement agencies often have limited visibility of offshore betting markets, making it more difficult to identify and respond to potential integrity concerns.

In some cases, data scouting may enable betting on competitions, events or bet types that have not been authorised by the sport, including amateur and junior-level competitions.

The creation of betting markets, together with factors such as participant vulnerability and limited regulatory oversight, can increase the risk of people seeking to corrupt sporting competitions for betting purposes.

What sports should consider

If courtsiding or unauthorised data scouting is an issue, sporting organisations should consider:

• prohibiting these activities through ticketing or venue entry conditions
• displaying signage stating that courtsiding and unauthorised data scouting are prohibited
• designating a person, such as a competition or venue manager, to monitor events for these activities
• implementing additional governance measures, including a courtsiding and/or data scouting policy where appropriate.
   

These measures may be difficult to enforce, particularly at large venues or in public spaces where identifying and removing offenders is not always practical.

Some sports prohibit participants from engaging in courtsiding or unauthorised data scouting at competitions and events within their sport through their Competition Manipulation and Sports Betting Policy.

Sporting organisations using official data providers may also wish to consider:

• contractual controls on how official data is used and distributed, including restricting access to licensed and regulated betting operators and limiting the use of data from higher-risk competitions
• entering into information sharing and integrity agreements with betting operators and data providers to support the detection, reporting and investigation of suspicious betting activity and potential competition manipulation.