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Members of the Australian Wagering Council (AWC) have reaffirmed a strong, ongoing commitment to protecting the integrity of sport in Australia.

In the wake of the NRL banning Manly winger David Williams for the rest of the season for betting on matches, including several in which he was involved, AWC Media Manager Mary Collier stated that the "confirmation by the National Rugby League of an investigation and

Sanction of players and officials identified as having bet on rugby league matches highlights the importance and effectiveness of the current integrity agreements between AWC members and the NRL.

"AWC members are committed to continuing to work collaboratively with the NRL and other sporting bodies to encourage high standards of probity and integrity across all sporting codes.”

A statement from the AWC higlihted that added AWC members:

• Conduct regular audits of their customer databases to determine if prohibited participants (such as officials, administrators, coaching staff and players) have placed bets.

• Develop and uphold industry standards for information exchange with sports, governments and law enforcement agencies about unusual bets and suspicious betting patterns.

• Develop and uphold national integrity agreements with sports controlling bodies to ensure binding agreement about the type of bets permitted by the sport and other integrity requirements as specified by that sporting body.

• Contribute a direct financial return by way of product fees to respective sporting bodies to fund measures to strengthen the fight against corruption, fraud, match-fixing and the manipulation of sports events.

Collier added "the account-based nature of AWC member operations promotes transparency and enables the identification of customers and the nature and extent of their betting activities, no matter how big or small the wager.

"AWC members are regulated and licensed in Australia and will continue to work closely with Government and industry to ensure that any areas of vulnerability or potentially fraudulent betting activity be identified to ensure the protection of our national sporting heritage.”

The AWC represents: Bet365, Betfair, Betchoice (operating as Unibet), Ladbrokes (including Betstar), Sportsbet (including its subsidiary IASbet.com) and the William Hill Group (including Sportingbet, Centrebet and TomWaterhouse.com)

For more information go to www.australianwageringcouncil.com

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