IBIA records 76 cases of suspicious betting in Q3
The International Betting Integrity Association has made its quarterly report.
Belgium.- The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) has reported that it received 76 reports of suspicious betting in the third quarter. That’s a drop from 88 in Q2. Europe accounted for 37 reports, down from 46 in Q2.
There were eight suspicious betting reports in Asia, seven in South America and Africa and one in North America. Tennis was responsible for 33 alerts, remaining the most represented sport in reports made by the IBIA’s partner organisation. Esports followed with 16 reports – a significant increase as more operators focusing on the sector have joined the IBIA.
Alerts related to football betting were down 28 per cent year-on-year, from 18 alerts in Q3 2021 to just 13. Table tennis accounted for 10 reports, all of them from Europe (including five from Poland and three from Hungary).
Tennis generated 23 reports in Europe, with four reports from Italy and three from Spain. The remaining reports from Europe comprise two football alerts, in Bulgaria and Lithuania, an alert relating to horse racing in Ireland and an alert related to snooker in the UK.
IBIA CEO Khalid Ali 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.”
In April, the IBIA appointed the former French basketball player Jean-François Reymond as an education ambassador for athletes. He will support betting education campaigns with player associations and IBIA partners.
Reymond had a 12-year career in French basketball before he became secretary general of EU Athletes in 2012. In that role, he led the sports betting education projects PROtect Integrity and PDM Project. From 2016 until 2019, he was a member of a French platform to tackle the manipulation of sports and he has also served as vice-president of the World Player Association.
In 2021, the International Betting Integrity Association reported a drop in the number of betting alerts it recorded, down to 239 from 270 in 2020.
The IBIA noted that this followed a “consistent” trend in recent years. The average number of annual betting alerts between 2018 and 2020 was 240. Meanwhile, 11 sporting or criminal sanctions were issued as a result of IBIA alerts.
