The Global Lottery Monitoring System (GLMS) detailed that over 300 alerts and notifications were generated during the first quarter of the year.
Of these alerts, 243 were sent before the start of a match, with a further 12 based on probability changes in the game and 45 triggered after the end of a match.
Only 14 were classified as ‘red alerts’ however – triggered by suspicious odds changes, member information, matchmaking rumors from an identified source and the volume or pattern on the Betfair Exchange – while the bulk (185) were green alerts and 65 were yellow.
Geographically, Europe accounted for the vast majority of alerts with 170, followed by Asia (61), South America (36), Africa (22), North America (9) and Australia (1).
Luca Esposito Poleo, GLMS Secretary General, said: “Over the past two years throughout the global pandemic, GLMS has seen an increase in suspicious betting activity worldwide, which has culminated in an increase of over 20% in 2021 . The highest occurrence was in Europe, followed by Asia, South America, North America and Africa”.
“GLMS’ work is invaluable in monitoring and sharing information about irregularities in sports competitions, providing education and training opportunities for industry participants and resources for members on policies and their code of conduct on sports betting.”
From a sporting perspective, football accounted for the most alerts with 176, followed by basketball with 57, ice hockey with 35, eSports with 23, tennis with six and volleyball with three, with the most alerts for each sport. originating in Europe.
This is a constant trend in GLMS reports, with the organization identifying football as the top source of betting alerts in previous updates, with the majority consistently coming from the European continent.
GLMS actions on other continents
Operationally, GLMS outlined a number of highlights during the quarter, notably cooperating with sports authorities and other integrity monitoring operators to prevent match fraud and corruption at the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) and the Beijing Winter Olympics.
During the Winter Games, the group worked closely with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Sportradar and the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) to coordinate integrity and safeguard measures.
The IOC and GLMS are observers to the Statutory Committee of the International Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions, and during the games they worked to leverage the agreement and develop synergies between the lottery and sports sectors.
Commenting on the latest GLMS report, President Ludovico Calvi said: “Over the past three months, GLMS monitoring activities have increased, working on events this year together with FIFA for the African Cup (AFCON) and the IOC for the Games Beijing Winter Olympics”.
“GLMS lottery members played an important role in providing real-time intelligence on fairness and transparency for each sporting competition.”
“Our local lottery members in Morocco and China played a strategic role in supporting all our members and were supported by our General Secretariat and our Integrity Hubs in Hong Kong, Denmark and Canada,” concluded Calvi.
