270 betting integrity alerts reported by IBIA in 2020 with 5 from Brazil

270 alerts were reported to the relevant authorities in 2020. This is a 48% increase of 87 alerts on the 2019 figure of 183 but consistent with the 266 and 267 alerts reported in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

Khalid Ali, CEO of IBIA, said: “2020 was a turbulent year for many sectors including the betting industry, which had to adjust its market offering due to the global sports lockdown. As a result, IBIA focused its integrity monitoring activity to take account of new sports tournaments and competitions that emerged.” 

“The association is seeking to work with stakeholders to address any potential integrity issues that may be associated with these new events through a range of actions, including promoting a set of standards for the collation of sports data for betting. Whilst there was an increase in overall alerts from 2019 to 2020, it should be noted that the 2020 cases are consistent with the number of alerts reported in both 2017 and 2018”, he added.

Other key data for 2020:

• 270 alerts were reported to the relevant authorities in 2020. This is a 48% increase of 87 alerts on the 2019 figure of 183 but consistent with the 266 and 267 alerts reported in 2017 and 2018 respectively.
• The 270 alerts spanned 15 sports and 43 different countries. Four sports; tennis, football, table tennis and esports made up 86% of the total alerts. 
• Of the 98 tennis alerts, 39 matches were provided to the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) as intelligence reports as they do not relate to events sanctioned by the main tennis tours. However, some players engaged in those events may fall within the scope of that body’s Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP).
• Football saw 61 alerts, an increase of 25% on the 49 reported in 2019. 10 of these alerts came from just one country, Vietnam.
• During 2020 successful sporting or criminal sanctions were announced against 12 teams or players where IBIA had reported suspicious activity on their matches. In several of the cases data from IBIA and its members helped contribute to significant sanctions, such as life bans, being issued.

During the four-year period 2017-2020, IBIA reported 986 alerts across 17 sports and 95 countries, with our unique customer account data leading to numerous sanctions being imposed.

The International Betting Integrity Association is the leading global voice on integrity for the licensed betting industry. It is run by operators for operators, protecting its members from corruption through collective action. Its monitoring and alert platform is a highly effective anti-corruption tool that detects and reports suspicious activity on its members’ betting markets. 

The association has longstanding information sharing partnerships with leading sports and gambling regulators to utilise its data and prosecute corruption. It represents the sector at high-level policy discussion forums such as the IOC, UN, Council of Europe and European Commission.

Established in 2005, and formerly known as ESSA (Sports Betting Integrity), the International Betting Integrity Association is the leading global voice on integrity for the licensed betting industry. IBIA’s Members share a common goal of combating betting corruption to protect the integrity of sport and their businesses. Building alliances is at the core of our approach and is focused on the following:

*Safeguarding Betting Integrity
*Advocating Informed Policies
*Research & Education

Source: GMB / IBIA