Increase in alerts attributed to widening of the monitoring network as a result of membership growth
The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA), the leading global voice on integrity for the licensed betting industry, has published its annual suspicious betting alerts. The increase in alerts for 2022 was a result of significant growth of its membership and the coverage of its regulated betting market monitoring network. The number of successful sporting or criminal sanctions last year confirms the value of collaborating through IBIA’s network in the fight against match-fixing.
The 268 cases reported represents a 14% increase on the previous year, albeit the figure is reasonably consistent with the 230 average annual alerts during 2019-21. There were 50 alerts in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2022, adding to revised figures of 48 alerts (Q1), 80 (Q2) and 90 (Q3). The 2022 alerts spanned 14 sports and 61 countries, with tennis and football continuing to dominate. Europe also continued to provide the highest number of alerts with nearly 50% of the annual total.
During 2022, successful sporting or criminal sanctions were announced against 15 teams, officials or players where IBIA had reported suspicious activity on their matches. In several of the cases, data from IBIA and its members helped contribute to significant sanctions, such as life bans, being issued. This collective action attests to the powerful impact of IBIA’s data and cross-sector partnership working.
Khalid Ali, CEO of IBIA, said: “The protective shield provided by IBIA is a vital tool in identifying and sanctioning attempted corruption on regulated betting markets. That has been underlined by welcome successful prosecutions during 2022 based on IBIA data, and we expect further corroboration of the association’s important positive impact and collaborative approach to be evident throughout 2023.”
IBIA’s network involves over 45 companies and 125 sports betting brands, including many of the leading regulated betting operators in the world, making IBIA the largest organisation of its nature. Whilst mitigating integrity activity continues across all of our members’ markets, North America has understandably been the focus of much attention: IBIA is the largest integrity monitor in Ontario, with a number of new members set to be announced across U.S. states over the coming weeks and months.
Khalid Ali adds: “The addition of 16 new members in 2022 has undoubtedly strengthened our monitoring and alert network and our ambition is to see all responsible regulated sports betting operators collaborating through IBIA. Proactive and collaborative action by our sector is an essential component in the fight against match-fixing, and to enhancing the overall reputation of the sector in general.”
Over the period 2018-22, IBIA reported 1,224 alerts across 21 sports and 102 countries. This involved 559 alerts in tennis and 295 in football during that five-year period and which accounted for 70% of all cases. The generation of these alerts involved important customer account transactional data which is only available via IBIA and its members, and which is often the initiator of investigative action by sport bodies, regulators and law enforcement, and is the cornerstone of subsequent sanctions.
Other key data for 2022:
102 – Total tennis alerts, an increase of 27% on the 80 reported in 2021
67 – Football alerts, a similar figure to the 66 reported in 2021
22 – Alerts on sporting events in North America
17 – Alerts on horseracing, with 14 in the U.S.
10 – Alerts on football matches in India
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