The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) is the leading global voice on integrity for the licensed sports betting industry. It recently published its 2023 Sports Betting Integrity Report.
The report highlights that the total number of suspicious sports betting alerts reported in 2023.
In other words, the number dropped to 184, which represents a reduction of 101, or 35%. All this against the revised 2022 figure of 285 alerts.
The 2023 global alerts are significantly below the average of 244 annual alerts for the period 2019 to 2022.
The report also highlights that IBIA’s suspicious betting activity data helped prove that 74 matches were corrupted.
Thus, it noted an increase in the number of clubs, players and officials who were successfully punished for violating sports betting rules.
When considering the number of reported alerts, it is important to recognize that IBIA’s ability to detect and deter suspicious betting activity has increased significantly in recent years.
It now represents over US$137 billion in annual global betting volume, making IBIA the leading integrity monitoring body operated by operators around the world.
Analyze by countries
These results confirm the importance of the legal requirement for regulated sports betting operators to join an international sports integrity monitoring body, increasingly imposed in well-regulated markets.
This requirement was recently introduced in Brazil, which the 2023 report shows as the third country with the highest number of suspicious betting alerts (11), behind the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic.
Khalid Ali, CEO of IBIA, said:
“Last year’s drop in global alert numbers is encouraging. It confirms that our world-leading monitoring and alert network is making a very important contribution to deterring criminals from trying to defraud our members.
And, the intensified collaboration between IBIA, sports and regulators is a winning combination.
Despite this progress, we must remain vigilant and recognize that the greatest threat to sporting integrity comes from unregulated operators, especially in Asia.”
IBIA uses suspicious betting activity data from its unique global monitoring network to help sports, regulators, policymakers and law enforcement investigate and prosecute criminals.
IBIA’s contribution against fraud in sports in 2023
In 2023, IBIA warnings contributed to the investigations and subsequent successful sanctioning of 21 clubs, players and officials, an increase from the 15 sanctioned in 2022.
Of the 21 sanctioned in 2023, there were 8 tennis players, 7 referees and 4 snooker players.
In several cases, data from IBIA and its members has helped contribute to significant sanctions, such as lifetime bans. This collective action testifies to the powerful impact of IBIA data and cross-sector collaboration.
In terms of individual sports, football was the sport with the most alerts, with 63, remaining relatively consistent over time, with 67 and 66 alerts reported in 2022 and 2021 respectively.
Tennis was the second most reported sport, with 54 alerts. This represents a 49% decrease from the total of 106 in 2022.
On average, tennis alerts have been decreasing in recent years, and for the first time the number of tennis alerts is below football.
Khalid Ali said: “The continued decrease in tennis alerts, coupled with significant reductions in table tennis and esports, is very encouraging.
IBIA will continue to work closely with the International Tennis Integrity Agency and other key partners in the sports sector to exchange information on suspicious betting and support the prosecution of malpractice.
Progress made in tennis over several years now demonstrates that successfully identifying and punishing match-fixing sends a powerful message to athletes and officials about the risks of engaging in match-fixing.”
The association publishes quarterly reports covering health alerts reported through its monitoring and alerting platform.
About the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA)
The International Betting Integrity Association is the leading global voice on integrity for the licensed betting industry. Its members include many of the world’s largest regulated betting operators, operating across six continents.
Therefore, members undergo a rigorous due diligence process and must adhere to our code of conduct, committing to responsible betting practices.
The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) Monitoring and Alert Network is a highly effective anti-corruption tool. In other words, it detects and reports suspicious activity on its members’ betting markets.
Additionally, the unique system tracks transactional activity linked to individual consumer accounts. Thereby, clearly differentiating from commercial monitoring systems focused only on simple probability movements.
IBIA maintains long-standing information-sharing partnerships with major sporting entities. As well as FIFA, UEFA, ITIA and IOC, as well as many gambling regulators, to use this data and prosecute corruption.
