An international legal sports betting regulator is tracking the integrity of gambling through suspicious activity.
The International Betting Integrity Association reported 50 incidents of suspicious betting activity in Q2 2023 — a 44% decline from the 90 incidents reported in Q2 2022. The IBIA surveyed over 125 online betting sites and retail operators, which have a total turnover of $137 billion annually.
In Q2 2023, soccer led the eight sports included in the IBIA’s report. Soccer had 19 incidents of suspicious betting activity across four continents during the quarter — up 27% compared to Q1.
Tennis ranked second in suspicious betting activity in Q2 2023 with 14 incidents, down 60% from the 29 incidents in Q2 2022. Europe was the continent with the most incidents in tennis with 11 total alerts.
“Much of that decline is a result of collaborative cross-sector efforts headed by the International Tennis Integrity Agency to eradicate match-fixing in tennis, the success of which was highlighted by the prison sentence recently handed out by a Belgian court. That judgment sends a clear and unequivocal message to corrupters that they will be caught, and harsh sanctions imposed,” said IBIA CEO Khalid Ali.
Caught red-handed
Earlier this month, Belgian authorities sentenced 28 people for match-fixing in tennis. The group was part of a gambling ring that bribed tennis players in Belgium over the course of four years. The leader of the ring was sentenced to five years in prison and handed a roughly $9,000 fine.
The issues in Belgium are a byproduct of Europe’s abundance of sports betting incidents. The IBIA reported that Europe had 34 suspicious alerts in Q2 2023 across four sports, including darts and boxing.
Between 2018 and 2022, the IBIA reported 624 total suspicious alerts in Europe. Russia led all European countries with 84 incidents during that span. Ukraine finished second with 59 suspicious wagering alerts.
