Sportradar’s Universal Fraud Detection System (UFDS) recorded 903 cases of ‘suspicious betting activity’ in 2021 – the highest level in its 17-year history.
Highlighted as a key finding in a new report titled ‘Bit Corruption and Matchmaking in 2021’, the sports betting and data provider identified 903 suspicious matches across 10 sports spanning 76 countries – a 2.4% increase from previous high of 882 suspicious matches in 2019.
Football generated the most alerts, with one in 201 games causing concern. It is worth mentioning that September and October had the highest number of suspicious events with 105 and 104, respectively. This corresponds to the start of the traditional football season.
Lower league soccer competitions were significantly affected by match-fixing. It was identified that 50% of suspected cases in leagues came from the third division or below, including regional and grassroots football. One in 384 eSports games was flagged by Sportradar, with basketball following close behind with one in 498 games.
Sportradar director assesses report data
Andreas Krannich, Managing Director of Sportradar’s Integrity Service, said: “There is no easy short-term solution to the match-fixing problem, and we will likely see similar numbers of suspicious matches in 2022, if not more. As the market developed, the threat of earnings manipulation evolved.”
“Now would-be criminals take an increasingly direct approach to match-fixing and betting corruption, with athletes sending messages directly through social media platforms.”
“Can we take what we observed in 2021 and ask ourselves as fans of the sport, what lessons can we learn? At Sportradar, we believe in taking a progressive approach to integrity protection, through betting monitoring and information gathering.”
“It has been proven that this generates sanctions against those involved in the manipulation of results. Preventive measures, such as educating athletes and stakeholders, are also of crucial importance in the long-term fight against match-fixing.”
“The record number of betting alerts, coincided with an increase in betting volume, exposes the serious and ongoing threat that match-fixing presents to the integrity of global sport at all levels.”
Company estimates global betting turnover at €1.45 trillion
In the report, the company estimates that global betting turnover has reached €1.45 trillion – with approximately €165 million generated in profit from match-fixing betting.
Despite the increase in suspicious matches detected over the past year, Sportradar has reaffirmed its commitment to global sporting integrity. To this end, the provider has been working alongside its partners to support 65 sanctions: 46 sports sanctions, 15 criminal sanctions and four sports and criminal sanctions.
