DARTS has been given a stamp of approval by the British public after topping an independent poll as the UK sport with the highest integrity.

The UK Sports Integrity Index by Portland polled over 2,000 members of the general public in June 2017 to measure the perceived level of integrity of the top 12 professional sports in the UK.

The poll looked at how far people had judged sports to be affected by four key issues: match, point or race fixing; players, racers or athletes using performance enhancing drugs; financial corruption; and cover-up stories & scandals.

Darts was perceived as the sport with the highest integrity by the most people in four age categories from 18-54, and as the least likely to be affected by performance enhancing drugs or cover-up stories.

“This independent report is a big thumbs-up for the sport of darts during a time of amazing growth at a professional level both in the UK and worldwide,” said PDC Chairman Barry Hearn.

“PDC tournaments are amongst the most-watched sporting events on British television and our worldwide circuit will offer a record £12m in prize money this year – figures that could hardly have been dreamed of ten years ago.

“We work with the Darts Regulation Authority to implement both Anti-Corruption and Anti-Doping programmes, while the Darts Integrity Unit offers a confidential way of reporting any potential irregularities.

“Whilst this report is a massive boost, we have to continue to be vigilant in our development as a professional sport if we are to retain this standing with the most important people; the general public who both watch darts on television and buy tickets to attend PDC tournaments in-person.

“They’re seeing wonderful characters battling it out on the oche, but the real beauty is that darts players are ordinary people with an extraordinary talent for their sport.”

To see the full report CLICK HERE

Schedule 6 Gambling Act 2005:

The DRA have now been added to schedule 6 effective as of December 2017. This means that they are now a recognised SGB under the act and the Gambling Commission can share information with them.

The DRA consider it is essential to maintain the integrity of the sport.

And to this end work closely with the Gambling Commission and betting operators to monitor betting activity on matches. Where there are suspicious or unusual betting patterns in relation to a match the DRA will be notified before the match is played.

The DRA works in partnership with Quest who provide an Integrity Unit and confidential contact lines. The Integrity Unit will assess and analyse information received on a confidential basis, reporting to the DRA Disciplinary Committee chair any matters that it considers may require further investigation and regulatory action.

The DRA welcomes any information relating to corruption in Darts including information on match fixing, gambling in Darts by participating players, or any other information relating to attempts by potential corruptors to compromise the players or match officials in any manner. Such information can be passed to the Integrity Unit either through a confidential email: [email protected]rityunit.com or on the Darts Hotline: 020 7034 3402.

The identity of any person sharing information will be kept strictly confidential and will not be revealed to anyone outside of the DRA without the specific permission of the person providing the information. The PDPA represented its members and the association at the ‘House of Commons’ as part of its commitment to the PPF ‘ Professional Players Association’ and its involvent in educating the participants in our sports, with a review of the PPF Education Programme on Sports Intergity.

PDPA CEO Alan Warriner-Little & Chairman Peter Manley attended the function at the house of commons which was also represented by all UK sports and the betting industry, and Tracey Crouch the Minister for Sport. Brendon Bateson OBE and chairman of the PPF hosted the afternoon which also saw ministers expressing their support to the integrity programme.

The PPF is proud to have led the way on educating sports people against match fixing, with the support of betting partners the funding and expertise has allowed our members to develop and support some of the best sport specific betting industry education programmes in the world. Working with the player associations means that the education can be tailor-made for the players in each sport. It is delivered by people the players know and trust and the tutors will have often played in that particular sporting field.

The philosophy is based around face to face education delivered by each association with the help of E-Learning and further interaction with their members including dedicated website resources, specially designed videos and social media.

The PPF is a member of the UK’s sports betting groups, the sports betting integrity forum and an expert group on match fixing. Looking into 2018, one of the challenges we continue to face is the high turnover of players which means the messages we give need to be fresh, entertaining and relevant in order to better engage players. Brendan

E-Learning

The PDPA will be introducing certain educational programmes for our members in 2018, including E-Learning packages which will be available on the website and sent directly to each of our members.