New company pairs LEARFIELD’s college athletics expertise with U.S. Integrity’s conflict-free compliance and integrity monitoring services to usher college athletics into the new era of legal sports betting.
The College Football Playoff, including last night’s National Championship, generated an estimated $500 million in legal sports betting activity.
Plano, Texas and Las Vegas – Today, LEARFIELD and U.S. Integrity announce a joint venture – BetDetect – to provide collegiate athletics departments monitoring, education, and advisory services, as opportunities around online sports betting in college continue to increase. Fans across the country are spending over $11 billion placing bets on collegiate play every year in the Power 5 conferences alone according to the latest estimates from U.S. Integrity. BetDetect will provide integrity monitoring to collegiate institutions, whether or not those schools pursue sponsorships in the category.
“We’re deeply committed to serving the industry, and with U.S. Integrity’s exceptional reputation and services, we’re confident together we will enable growth and also protect the stakeholders in and around college athletics,” said John Brody, Chief Revenue Officer, LEARFIELD. “By combining LEARFIELD’s established leadership and connectivity in college athletics with U.S. Integrity’s expertise in online sports betting fraud prevention, our companies are delivering a first-of-its-kind solution to usher in this new phase of exciting possibilities.”
College sports fans are over 86% more likely to have participated in betting than the general population, according to Scarborough Research. Even in the early days of legalized sports wagering, YouGov reports that one in four college sports fans says that betting helps them feel more engaged with their favorite teams. As a result of these fan trends, there is increased interest in the space amongst institutions and the need to protect the ecosystem has never been greater.
The joint venture will pursue contracts with collegiate institutions providing what the sports betting industry calls “integrity monitoring.” BetDetect will leverage its proprietary product to analyze dozens of data sets to proactively identify potentially suspicious wagering activity and irregular contest-level patterns back to schools. U.S. Integrity, a leader in integrity monitoring, fraud detection, education, and consulting services, represents the NBA, the SEC, Pac-12 and other major sports leagues and conferences. LEARFIELD brings nearly 50 years of intercollegiate athletics experience to BetDetect, leveraging deep, integrated relationships with institutions across the country.
“Schools want to avoid game manipulation, match-fixing, and other potentially nefarious behavior that could materially damage the good reputation of their storied athletic programs,” said Matthew Holt, CEO and co-founder of U.S. Integrity. “We know from experience that a lot can go wrong if care and attention isn’t paid to issues of compliance and integrity. BetDetect provides real-time anomaly detection tools aimed to identify suspicious wagering activity and brings significant transparency and insights so that schools can confidently navigate nuanced issues stemming from regulated sports betting.”
“Legal sports wagering is a complicated topic and requires integrity, judgement and transparency,” said Whit Babcock, Director of Athletics, Virginia Tech. “BetDetect gives us assurance that we have the industry’s leader monitoring the transactions and providing us insights – all day, every day – to ensure compliance and mitigate risks with a holistic approach.”
“BetDetect represents another way we are investing in an evolving landscape to guide and support our institutional partners and industry,” continued Brody. “With this new joint venture in place, LEARFIELD and U.S. Integrity can now help school partners understand and explore key areas related to online sports betting opportunities, while having the ultimate confidence of doing so under a safe and secure model.”
Colleges and universities looking for more information about BetDetect and the range of services offered should visit BetDetect.com.
About BetDetect: BetDetect Collegiate Integrity and Insights provides collegiate athletic departments monitoring and advisory services to help them confidentially support sports wagering. Independent of any sports book or betting company, BetDetect provides conflict-free transparency. The company was founded in 2021 as a joint venture between LEARFIELD, a media and technology leader in college sports, and U.S. Integrity, a leader in wagering monitoring and analysis services. For additional information, visit BetDetect.com.
About LEARFIELD: LEARFIELD is a media and technology services leader in intercollegiate athletics. The company unlocks the value of college sports for brands and fans through an omnichannel platform with innovative content and commerce solutions. LEARFIELD services include licensing and multimedia sponsorship management; publishing, audio, digital and social media; data analytics; ticketing, ticket sales and development services, and professional concessions expertise; branding; campus-wide business and sponsorship development; and venue technology systems. Since 2008, it has served as title sponsor for the acclaimed LEARFIELD Directors’ Cup, supporting athletic departments across all divisions. For additional information, visit LEARFIELD.com.
About U.S. Integrity: U.S. Integrity is a leading technology-driven sports wagering monitoring company, providing the highest level of protection against betting-related fraud and corruption. USI’s mission is to grow the legal, regulated sports betting market by providing solutions that ensure sports betting integrity in every play, every game, every sport. USI partners with a number of the largest professional sports leagues and collegiate conferences in the U.S., as well as licensed sports-betting operators and regulators. USI is based in Las Vegas and New York. For additional information, visit USIntegrity.com.