25 per cent increase in suspicious betting alerts on football
The IBIA has reported a 48 per cent increase in suspicious betting alerts for 2020, including a 25 per cent increase in alerts relating to football.
Belgium.- International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) has reported a 48 per cent increase in suspicious betting alerts for 2020 compared to 2019.
It saw a particular increase in alerts related to betting on football, which rose by 25 per cent year-on-year to 61 alerts in 2020.
The Brussel-based body reported a total of 270 cases of suspicious betting activity covering 15 sports and 43 countries. Of those, 68 cases were reported in the final quarter.
Tennis remained the sport that accounted for the most alerts. Out of 98 alerts related to suspicious betting on tennis, 39 of those came in the form of intelligence reports from the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) and related to events not covered by the main tennis tours.
Together, tennis, football, table tennis and esports accounted for 86 per cent of all suspicious betting alerts.
The IBIA reported that in 2020, 12 criminal and sporting sanctions were made against players and teams based on IBIA data.
Focus on new sports tournaments
The IBIA noted that it had adjusted to trends developing during the Covid-19 pandemic and was monitoring new sports tournaments as a result.
IBIA CEO Khalid Ali 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.”
