The number of suspicious betting alerts issued globally fell to 184 last year, down by 101 from the 285 alerts in 2022 according to the International Betting Integrity Association’s (IBIA) 2023 Integrity Report.
This, the IBIA noted, was significantly below the average of 244 annual alerts for the period from 2019 to 2022. It also highlights the importance of having a legal requirement for regulated sports betting operators to join an international sports integrity monitoring body, increasingly imposed in well-regulated markets, it explained.
The 2023 Integrity Report highlights that IBIA’s suspicious betting activity data helped to prove that 74 matches were corrupted and found that there was an increase in the number of clubs, players and officials successfully sanctioned for violating sports betting rules.
IBIA noted that the reduced number of alerts reflects its increased ability to detect and deter suspicious betting activity, which now accounts for over US$137 billion of global betting turnover per annum.
“The fall in last year’s global alert numbers is encouraging,” said IBIA CEO, Khalid Ali. “It confirms that our world leading monitoring and alert network is making a very important contribution to deterring criminals from seeking to defraud our members, and that increased collaboration between IBIA, sports and regulators is a winning combination.
“Despite this progress, we must remain vigilant and recognize that the greatest threat to sports integrity comes from unregulated operators, most notably in Asia.”
The report shows that football was the sport with the majority of alerts in 2023 with 63, similar to the 67 football alerts in 2022 and 66 alerts in 2021.
Tennis was the second most reported sport with 54 alerts, representing a 49% decrease on the 2022 total of 106. On average, tennis alerts have been decreasing over the past years, and for the first time the number of tennis alerts is below football, IBIA noted.
Of 21 clubs, players and officials sanctioned in 2023 there were eight tennis players, seven umpires and four snooker players.
“The ongoing decrease in tennis alerts, along with notable reductions in table tennis and esports, is very encouraging,” said Khalid. “IBIA will continue to work closely with the International Tennis Integrity Agency and other important partners in the sports sector to exchange information on suspicious betting and to support the prosecution of wrongdoing. The progress made in tennis over a number of years now demonstrates that successfully identifying and sanctioning match-fixing sends a powerful message to athletes and officials about the risks of engaging in match-fixing.”
