The International Tennis Federation has ended its partnership with betting and gaming company Betway early after introducing a policy to cease having sponsors in the sector.
Betway signed on as an international sponsor of the Davis and Fed Cup, the flagship men’s and women’s national team tournaments of the ITF, in November 2015. Betway signed a three-year agreement to sponsor the two events until 2018.
However, the ITF has opted to bring the partnership to an end. An ITF spokesman told the CNN news network that the body had “ceased its relationships with betting partners from 2017.”
He added: “The ITF took the decision to end the Betway partnership early as part of a policy decision to cease having betting sponsors.”
Tennis has been seeking to combat incidents of match-fixing and corruption that have blighted the sport of late. The ITF, Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and Grand Slam Board last year formed an independent review into anti-corruption procedures in tennis. The initial findings of this review are expected to be released next month.
Upon partnering with Betway, the ITF stressed that all elements of the agreement were fully compliant with the rules and interpretations of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Programme.