The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA), the leading global voice on integrity for the licensed betting industry, has published its 2022 suspicious betting report. its regulated betting market monitoring network. The number of successful sporting or criminal sanctions over the past year confirms the value of collaboration across the IBIA network in the fight against match-fixing.
The 268 reported cases represent a 14% year-on-year increase, although the number is reasonably consistent with the 230 alerts during 2019-21. There were 50 alerts in Q4 2022, adding to the revised numbers of 48 alerts in Q1, 80 in Q2 and 90 in Q3. The 2022 alerts covered 14 sports and 61 countries, with tennis and soccer 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, managers or players on which the IBIA had reported suspicious activity in their matches. In several of the cases, data from the entity and its members helped contribute to the issuance of significant punishments, such as lifetime bans. This collective action attests to the powerful impact of partnership work between different sectors.
IBIA CEO evaluates actions to protect the integrity of sport
Khalid Ali, CEO of IBIA, said: “The protective shield provided by the IBIA is a vital tool in identifying and sanctioning corruption attempts in regulated betting markets. This was underlined by welcome and successful processes during 2022 based on the IBIA data, and we expect that further corroboration of the association’s important positive impact and collaborative approach will be evident throughout 2023.”
IBIA’s network involves over 45 companies and 125 sports betting brands, including many of the world’s leading regulated betting operators, making IBIA the largest organization of its nature. While integrity mitigation activity continues in all member markets, North America has understandably been the focus of a lot of attention: IBIA is the largest integrity monitor in Ontario, with several new members to be announced in US states. in the coming weeks and months.
Khalid Ali added: “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 the IBIA. Our industry’s proactive and collaborative action is an essential component in the fight against match-fixing and in improving the industry’s reputation in general.”
During the 2018-22 period, the IBIA reported 1,224 alerts in 21 sports and 102 countries. There were 559 alerts in tennis and 295 in football in the period, which represented 70% of the total number of cases. The generation of these alerts involved important transactional customer account data that is only available via IBIA and its members, and which is often the initiator of investigative actions by sporting bodies, regulators and law enforcement, and is the cornerstone of subsequent sanctions.
Other important data for 2022:
- 102 – Total tennis alerts, an increase of 27% over the 80 reported in 2021;
- 67 – Football alerts, similar to the 66 reported in 2021;
- 22 – Alerts on sporting events in North America;
- 17 – Horse racing alerts, 14 of which in the US;
- 10 – Alerts about football matches in India.
