Ontario’s AGCO temporarily halts UFC wagering

Added: December 2, 2022

Ontario’s Alcohol and Gambling Commission has recently ordered its bookmakers to stop providing betting services on UFC matches due to integrity shortcomings.

The regulatory body has commenced the temporary ban to protect Ontarian bettors from potential match-fixing and other malpractices, as UFC’s events do not comply with AGCO’s wagering integrity standards.

AGCO requires that sports championships need to have restrictions on insider wagering, and the UFC does not match that criteria. Insider wagering is betting from an athlete’s managerial team, coaches or doctors who have the potential to know key details that are not accessible to the average bettor.

Recently there have been a couple of incidents of insider wagering on UFC matches that piqued the regulator’s interest, as well as a number of reports of questionable wagering activities in several markets.

“Our standards were put in place to protect Ontarian bettors against match-fixing, odds manipulation and other wagering malpractices that have the possibility of causing financial harm to players. This decision was not the easiest one to make, as the UFC is quite popular in our licensed sportsbooks, however, the risks of those malpractices are quite concerning at this time. The commission will be working with the UFC and iGaming Ontario to make the sport safe to bet on.”

remarked the chief executive officer and registrar of the Alcohol and Gambling Commission of Ontario, Tom Mungham.

AGCO, Ontario, UFC