LSports has provided iGaming Expert with a staunch denial of claims made in the House of Lords that it is unlawfully acquiring data from UK sporting events.
Lord Foster of Bath, a former Liberal Democrat MP, was scathing in accusations that such companies are ‘scraping data’ from UK sports teams and competitions, as he attempted to add an amendment to the Sporting Events Bill that criminalised the unlicensed use of sports data.
Responding to the allegations, LSports told iGaming Expert that it ‘respects the rule of law and operates lawfully’ and described its presence in the UK as ‘limited’. However, it acknowledged the UK as a market it would like to grow in.
The company said: “LSports is a sports data provider incorporated and operating under the laws of the State of Israel. LSports has not infringed any party’s intellectual property or data rights, and we reject the characterisation of our work as piracy.
“LSports generates its data through a range of means, including its own scouting network, television-based collection and its proprietary computer vision technology.”
Although LSports has a limited presence in the UK market, it is perhaps their high-profile case with Sportradar that drew them to the attention of Foster on this subject.
In an Israeli court in February, Sportradar filed a case against LSports accusing the firm of using sports data belonging to Sportradar. LSports has, however, remained steadfast in its denial of any piracy.
Israel’s Copyright Act states that copyright does not extend to ‘facts or data’, meaning that the case hinges on whether Sportradar can prove LSports did not collect its own data.
UK law has a similar policy; however, database rights protect the contents of a database when there has been ‘substantial investment in obtaining, verifying or presenting the data’.
Foster’s pursuit of policy change made little progress before being struck down by Gambling Minister Baroness Twycross, despite his argument that the UK sports industry is missing out on vital income as a result of the practices of such data companies.
Sports data is a lucrative market worth billions of dollars due to the importance of metrics for both sports teams and leagues, as well as gambling companies that rely on the data to provide sports betting services.
According to LSports’ website, it provides data on over 100 sports from 15,000 leagues worldwide, and lists brands such as Betano, Betsson and Betfred among the gambling operators that use its services. The company has also been a data distributor and technology partner for the International Tennis Federation (ITF) since 2024.
On the claims made by Foster that UK sport is losing money due to its actions, LSports argued that limiting the number of data suppliers would hinder revenue growth for organisations.
The company said: “The market for sports data is contested. A competitive market of licensed providers grows the revenue that flows back to the leagues and gives operators genuine choice. Placing all access to sports data in the hands of a single company does the opposite.”
Foster also accused LSports of facilitating illegal gambling due to the operators it works with. LSports emphasised it supplies sports data to operators, as opposed to gambling services to consumers,
It added: “Licensing of any given operator in its own market is a matter for that operator and its regulator. As a matter of policy, LSports does not operate in sanctioned jurisdictions.”
There is currently no provision under the UK’s Gambling Act requiring data providers to be licensed by the Gambling Commission.
