The IBIA has published its Q2 2023 integrity report, revealing a substantial year-on-year decline in suspicious betting activity.
The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) has published its Q2 2023 integrity report, revealing a substantial year-on-year decline in suspicious betting activity.
The association recorded 50 incidents of suspicious betting activity during the quarter, representing a 44% decline on Q2 of last year, in which 90 alerts were triggered.
The Q2 figure does denote a sequential increase however, up 4% on Q1 2023, when 48 alerts were logged.
The Belgium-based body identified the alerts across a network of more than 125 sports betting brands, which collectively account for $137bn in annual betting turnover.
The 50 suspicious incidents reported in Q2 spanned eight sports and 18 countries across four continents.
The not-so-beautiful game
Football led the pack with 19 alerts, marking a 27% jump on Q1’s 15 alerts. However, the figure again depicts a 41% decline from the 32 alerts reported in Q2 of last year.
Tennis alerts in Q2 2023 tallied 12, showing a near 60% drop on the same period of last year. This decrease highlights the successful crackdown on match-fixing in the sport, said the IBIA.
In terms of geographical distribution, the UK emerged as the country with the highest number of alerts. The nine UK alerts covered four sports, including five for darts, two for football and one each for bowls and boxing.
Tennis turnaround
Commenting on the report, IBIA CEO Khalid Ali lauded the 44% annual decrease in suspicious alerts, which he attributed largely to collaborative efforts led by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) to eliminate match-fixing in tennis.
The effectiveness of these efforts was underscored by the prison sentence handed down by a Belgian court to 28 individuals convicted of match-fixing. The gang’s ringleader received a five-year prison sentence and an €8,000 fine.
“The judgment sends a clear and unequivocal message to corrupters that they will be caught, and harsh sanctions imposed,” said Ali.
“IBIA’s responsible regulated betting operators remain committed to working closely with sports to weed out corruption,” he added.
Further insights into the report revealed two alerts related to women’s events and 47 for men’s events, as well as one for a mixed gender event.
Dutch coverage
The release also delved into Dutch gambling market specifics. The Netherlands had just eight suspicious alerts between 2018 and 2022 across football, tennis, darts and beach volleyball.
According to H2 Gambling Capital, the country’s legal online sports betting market is projected to grow from €276m in GGR in 2022 to €690m by 2028, despite a sizeable unregulated market, which accounts for some €124m in offshore revenue.