RFL signs up to deal monitoring betting patterns in rugby league

The Rugby Football League (RFL) has signed up to a fraud detection system to ensure the sport is free from breaches of its gambling laws.

The governing body has signed a two-year deal with Sportradar Integrity Services to monitor global betting patterns in rugby league.

Under the agreement, Sportradar's fraud detection system will monitor over 200 matches a season, including all Betfred Super League games, Ladbrokes Challenge Cup ties and the Dacia World Club Series.

RFL director of operations and legal Karen Moorhouse said: "At the Rugby Football League we take the integrity of the game very seriously.

"It is important that everyone within rugby league, but also those outside our immediate reach, are in no doubt about our commitment to an honest and credible sport.

"Our partnership with Sportradar underpins our message and magnifies it. We are looking forward to working with them over the coming years."

The announcement comes as Australia's National Rugby League conducts an investigation into Samoa international Tim Simona, the Wests Tigers centre, whose registration was cancelled after he was alleged to have broken rules relating to gambling on matches.

It also comes in the wake of Wayne Shaw's pie-eating stunt in Sutton's FA Cup clash with Arsenal which prompted former sports minister Richard Caborn to label gambling within sport a "serious problem".

The last player to be banned by the RFL for gambling was former Leigh forward Andy Thornley, who admitted to betting on a number of matches in 2014, including some in which he had been playing.

The most famous case was in 2004 when St Helens scrum-half Sean Long was handed a three-month ban and his team-mate Martin Gleeson suspended for four months for betting on their team to lose to Bradford by more than eight points.