Suspicious Betting Alerts Continue to Fall for a Second Year in a Row

Posted on: April 29, 2022, 09:22h. 

Last updated on: April 29, 2022, 01:38h.

Erik Gibbs Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Gaming Business, Global Gaming.

Match-fixing in sports continues to be a topic that sports organizations and sports betting companies must address. However, new data from the International Betting Integrity Association shows they’re doing a good job.

Khalid Ali
Khalid Ali speaks at the SBC Barcelona summit in 2019. The CEO of the International Betting Integrity Association reports that suspicious betting alerts continue to fall. (Image: YouTube)

The IBIA just released new figures for the first quarter of 2022, showing a significant drop from last year’s same period. It reported 42 cases of suspicious betting to the relevant authorities, a decrease of 39%.

Tennis (14 alerts), soccer (10) and table tennis (10) accounted for more than 80% of the alerts reported during the quarter. The list was completed with volleyball (4), billiards (3) and esports (1). The IBIA noted that European sporting events provided the highest number of alerts. They accounted for 55% percent of cases, followed by those in Asia, with 24%.

Last year, suspicious betting alerts in the global sports ecosystem recorded a year-on-year decline of 13%. The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) reported that there were 239 alerts in 13 sports around the world last year. The new update included alerts from 23 countries and six different sports.

Suspicious Betting Alerts Down

IBIA CEO Khalid Ali pointed out that the decline is more significant than previous years’ numbers because more operators are now in the organization than before. There has also been obvious growth in the global industry. The US has more legal sports betting states and activity is rising. Panama, for example, registered an increase of 157% in sports bets last year.

Alerts continue to fluctuate from quarter to quarter. However, it is welcome that the first quarter saw a considerable drop in suspicious sports betting and potential corrupt activity in the markets of IBIA members,” stated IBIA CEO Khalid Ali.

As a result, the partnerships will make the IBIA the leading provider of integrity in new areas, including the US, Ontario, and others. IBIA’s integrity network is worth more than $137 billion in reported annual sports betting turnover last year.

Tennis Strikes an Improvement

The 14 tennis alerts reported in the first quarter is a quarter-over-quarter decline of 57%. Meanwhile, table tennis alerts for matches played in Germany fell 50%.

The IBIA reported 236 cases of suspicious sports betting to the relevant authorities last year. This number, according to the entity, represented a decrease of 13% compared to the 270 cases reported in 2020.

For the IBIA, this figure was consistent with recent years in which there was an average of 240 annual alerts from 2018 to 20. The 2021 alerts covered 13 sports and 49 different countries, among which tennis and soccer continued to dominate. Europe also provided the highest number of alerts, with 50% of the annual total.

Integrity Continues to Take Center Stage

The numbers indicate that there is not a severe integrity issue in sports. But constant oversight is the only way to ensure the problem doesn’t grow. Different organizations are working to target potential issues, although they all take different approaches.

U.S. Integrity is a unique, for-profit company that does not engage in any other type of gambling-related activities. Sportradar and Genius Sports are two other examples of companies that provide monitoring services.

However, they also sell data feeds and other services to customers. These ancillary services don’t detract from its dedication to integrity but demonstrate its multichannel focus on the gaming space.

The IBIA is a non-profit run by members of dues-paying betting shops. It receives alerts and shares reports about suspicious activity from around the world. FanDuel and DraftKings are its two largest US partners. But it also includes global companies such as Betcris, Betsson, Flutter, Kindred Group, and more.