The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) released its 2024 sports betting integrity report, outlining a host of key developments over the past calendar year.
Among the most prominent revelations, the report reveals a 17% jump in suspicious betting alerts over 2023 figures, with flags coming via 12 sports in 53 countries.
“The integrity position remains relatively consistent with previous years, with the focus of suspicious betting remaining primarily on football and tennis,” said Khalid Ali, CEO at IBIA
“A geographical shift away from European sporting events was observed, but it is too early to determine if this is an ongoing trend.”
That geographical shift, represented quantifiably as a 37% drop in Europe and leap of 18% and 13% in Asia and Africa, respectively, did not ultimately come through in the most prominent countries, as Czechia and Türkiye served as the most prominent hot spots.
“As with all potentially corrupt activity, IBIA is analyzing the data and working with its members and global integrity network to implement targeted countermeasures,” Ali added. “IBIA’s growing membership are resolute in their commitment to identifying, disrupting, and preventing corrupt sports betting activity and to working with stakeholders.”
In total, 33 matches we're deemed corrupted, with 17 sanctions placed as direct result of the IBIA findings.
IBIA expresses optimism
Despite the jump in incidents during 2024, the IBIA did make note that the numbers did have an important caveat.
The 2024 figure remains below the three-year annual average of 245 alerts between 2020-2023. There were a reported 219 alerts this past year, compared to the yearly 245 average.
Also interesting in the findings is the apparent normalization of eSports alerts. Last year, eSports were among the most prominently flagged events by the IBIA, alongside the aforementioned soccer and tennis.
Following an early third quarter report from the IBIA noting a normalization in eSports cases following a mid-year spike, eSports dropped to fourth, just behind table tennis and ahead of basketball.
