Are sports wagerer being watched?

When you open an account with a bookmaker using ‘iesnare’, a program is downloaded to your computer, laptop, phone or tablet without you knowing it. If they use this, it is always stated in their general terms and conditions or Terms and Conditions (T&C). Iesnare is a programme that makes a digital fingerprint of our surfing behaviour, as it were. This fingerprint can be read by the company’s customers, such as the bookmakers, who are thus able to follow our online activities. 

The main purpose for bookmakers to use a programme like iesnare is to prevent fraud with stolen identities and/or credit cards. There is nothing wrong with this, of course. However, there are voices saying that bookmakers are not stopping there. They would also use it to check if you have accounts with other bookmakers. If this is the case, bookmakers can analyse your betting behaviour and thus check whether you are, for example, trying to clear a deposit bonus or are sure betting. This puts bettors at risk of being limited.  

How do I know if I am being tracked? 

There is an increased chance that iesnare found on devices which:  

• Have Macromedia Flash installed  
• Are frequently found at online bookmakers  

To check if iesnare is installed on your device, you can go to the search function on your device and search for ‘mpsnare’. If Iesnare is installed on your system, the following folder(s) will appear:  

• #mpsnare.iesnare.com  
• #ci-mpsnare.iovation.com  
• mpsnare.iesnare.com  
• ci-mpsnare.iovation.com  

There are ways to disable and remove iesnare. The removal of iesnare is not the most difficult thing to do, because at the next visit, the software will already try to nestle itself on the device again. If you value your privacy, there are ways to get rid of it. But then you will probably have to repeat the method over and over again, and that is less fun.