IBIA: Suspicious betting alerts fall 54% in Q3
The International Betting Integrity Association has published its quarterly report.
UK.- The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) reported 42 alerts of suspicious betting to the relevant authorities in the third quarter (Q3) of 2024. That’s 54 per cent less than the revised figure of 91 alerts for Q2 2024, and 16 per cent less when compared to Q3 2023 (50 alerts).
The 42 incidents of suspicious betting in Q3 concerned five sports in 18 countries and five continents. Football and tennis had the most alerts with 14 each, together totalling 67 per cent of all alerts. Sporting events in Europe accounted for 33 per cent of all reports with 14 alerts, a decrease of six from Q2 2024 (20 alerts). There were five alerts on sporting events in Burundi, representing 12 per cent of all alerts.
There have been six alerts on sporting events in Burundi so far during 2024, the first alerts since 2020. Meanwhile, there were 12 esports alerts reported, a 75 per cent decrease on the 48 reported in Q2 2024.
Khalid Ali, CEO of IBIA, said: “The third quarter saw football and tennis register the highest number of alerts, albeit those numbers are in line with those seen in recent years and, in the case of tennis, represent a significant decrease compared to its peak. It should also be noted that esports alerts fell back to more normal levels in Q3, following an increase during Q1 and Q2 that was primarily the result of a linked case.
“We continue to work closely with the integrity authorities for those sports, and indeed all sports, where we see suspicious betting, with the aim of detecting and sanctioning corrupt activity to protect sporting events and betting markets.”
The Q3 integrity report includes a focus on the main football betting markets and data from the Availability of Sports Betting Products report released earlier this year. That calculated that the main football markets are forecast to generate over $500bn of turnover globally in 2024, leading to a total gross win of $46.3bn.
The IBIA is a not-for-profit integrity monitoring body. Its global monitoring network is used to detect and report suspicious activity on members’ betting markets. The association has longstanding information-sharing partnerships with sports bodies including FIFA, UEFA, the ITIA and the IOC and many gambling regulators to utilise this data and prosecute corruption.
Meanwhile, Police in the German states of Hessen and Saarland have confirmed that they are working on a joint investigation into 17 football matches over suspicions of match-fixing. The matches in question were in the DFB-organised 3. Liga, Regionalliga and Oberliga.
