KTO, a sports betting brand owned by the KTO Group, has joined the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA). The company was founded in 2018 and has a strong Latin American presence, notably in Brazil where it ranks in the top ten most popular iGaming brands.
The move fulfils the regulatory obligation in Brazil, under the recently published Provisional Measure, to join an international body for monitoring sports integrity. The operator joins nearly 50 companies and over 125 leading sports betting brands in the IBIA, further strengthening the association’s position as the world’s leading operator-run integrity monitoring body.
“We are thrilled to become members of the IBIA,” the Managing Director for KTO, Jeff Tabone, said. “We view this as a step that reinforces our dedication to upholding the highest standards of integrity in sports betting. Trust has always been a cornerstone of the KTO brand and joining the IBIA signifies our commitment to a safe and transparent environment for our customers and the wider industry.”
“KTO is the latest operator to make the IBIA its preferred integrity partner for Brazil and its wider global operations,” the Chief Executive Officer for the IBIA, Khalid Ali, said. “It further expands the IBIA’s position in the Latin American region and Brazil in particular where our members are already estimated to account for over 60% of the remote gambling market. The association looks forward to working closely with KTO and welcomes the operator’s commitment to protecting its sports betting operations through the IBIA’s world leading integrity network.”
The IBIA announced its expansion into Brazil earlier this year ahead of the expected regulation of the market. The Brazilian government’s subsequent Provisional Measure, published on July 25, includes a requirement for licensed operators to be part of an international body for monitoring sports integrity.
According to H2 Gambling Capital, the leading independent authority on global gambling market data, the IBIA members are estimated to already account for over 60% of the Brazilian remote gambling market. That leading market position will enable the IBIA to provide a highly accurate analysis and effective deterrent against betting related fraud, making it uniquely positioned to support a crack-down on match-fixing in Brazil.
The IBIA is a not-for-profit body that has no competing conflicts with the delivery of commercial services to other sectors and is run by operators for operators to protect regulated sports betting markets, especially for sports and consumers, from match-fixing. The IBIA’s global monitoring network is a highly effective anti-corruption tool, detecting and reporting suspicious activity in regulated betting markets. Through the IBIA’s monitoring network, it is possible to track transactional activities linked to individual customer accounts.
All IBIA members are required to pass a strict due diligence process and commit to its code of conduct. The association recently released its Q2 integrity report detailing 50 alerts reported in the quarter. The IBIA reported 268 alerts to the authorities in 2022 with successful sporting or criminal sanctions against 15 teams, officials or players where the IBIA had reported suspicious activity on their matches.