Leadership and management in the world of sports integrity and the lottery business is all about ‘collaboration and cooperation’ according to Gilles Maillet, Sports Integrity Director at the Francaise des Jeux (FDJ) and Vice-Chair of the Global Lottery Monitoring System (GLMS).
Speaking to Kelly Kehn, SBC Global Relationships Director, on the SBC Leaders Podcast, Maillet explained that to steer sporting integrity in the right direction, different organisations must collaborate and share information, but that it is not always easy to achieve.
“I’ve always been a manager who promotes collaborative management,” he remarked.
“It is very clear that…It’s all about collaboration and cooperation which is not always easy because there can sometimes be suspicions between the world of sports, public authorities and betting operators. So collaboration is really, really key. My target is to try to influence as much as possible and make so that the people around the table have a common objective.”
Maillet noted that one key move that the French lottery operator has implemented is that of an anonymous whistleblowing platform, allowing people with suspicions of match betting can report those suspicions. He stated that they have ‘received a few reports but the first reports were rather quick’.
“The point is not to develop the platform but it has to make aware the world of sports actors,” Maillet stated of the website.
“We count on the sports federations, leagues and clubs (to investigate and share information). They are doing their job now, under the pressure of the Ministry of Sports and of the Olympic Committee, etc.”
Reflecting on his past career in the world of fast-moving consumer goods, the GLMS Vice-Chair remarked that lottery products and sports betting are increasingly becoming FMCGs.
“To me, lottery products and sports betting products are FMCGs and the more it goes on, the more it is very clear. So there is not much difference versus what I was doing in the past.
“The difference now is that I’m working on sports integrity. But what I have learned is that marketing, sales and strategies drive projects in an effective way.”
Questioned about his role in Sports integrity at a betting operator when the former is not profit-driven like the latter, Maillet recalled the time he spoke to the President of the French Sports Federation, who likened his role to that of a firefighter.
“No,” he explained. “That’s not the way we explain it. We are there for good reasons. The betting operators are not the people who want to have the widest and deepest range of bets to offer whatever the consequences.
“We care about what we are doing, not only for business reasons but also because we share values of sports,” he concluded.
