In fact, one of the objectives of the industry is to eradicate the activity of mafias or organized crime, where they use methods of payment and/or extortion to influence the results of matches.
The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) 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.
Online sports betting operators capture and retain real-time data - in part - for statistical purposes to determine odds and payout factors. Thus, they can be contrasted by big data analysis, with data from previous games and/or seasons, to detect exponential upturns or abrupt trend breaks in bets or game patterns, which are indications of match-fixing. In this way, their collaboration is crucial to activate alarms in cases of suspected fraud.
In its latest document, the IBIA reported 76 cases of suspicious betting to the relevant authorities during the third quarter (Q3) of 2022. The Q3 alerts covered eight sports, with the top four of tennis with 33 cases, eSports with 16, football with 13 and table tennis with 10 accounting for 95% of all alerts.
From a geographical perspective, Europe accounted for around half of all alerts reported, followed by Asia with 11 per cent and Africa at nine per cent.
Khalid Ali, IBIA CEO, said: “Alerts for the quarter are at the higher end of the scale compared to previous years, but must be viewed against the association’s substantial growth in membership during the year. That has served to increase global market coverage and the alerts identified and reported, underlining the beneficial impact of a global multi-operator betting integrity network.”
“IBIA continues to work closely with its members and external stakeholders, such as sports and regulators, to ensure that suitable risk management processes are implemented and encourages a zero-tolerance approach to the manipulation of sporting events and associated betting fraud,” Ali added.
There was a 60% decrease in football alerts compared to Q2 (32 alerts) and in 29 countries the number of alerts reported dropped. Spain, Hungary and Poland all recorded the highest number of alerts in a country at five.
Source: GMB
