IBIA Integrity Report: 183 betting integrity alerts reported in 2019

The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) reported 183 cases of suspicious betting to the relevant authorities during 2019, with 45 of those cases reported in the last quarter (Q4). The annual total represents a 31% fall in alerts from 2018, with tennis accounting for the vast majority of that decline. Tennis (101) and football (49) constituted 82% of all alerts reported during 2019, with Europe (48%) and Asia (28%) maintaining their positions as the primary locations of the sports events on which alerts were generated during that period.

Khalid Ali, CEO of IBIA, said: “The decline in alerts is very welcome, especially as this is primarily a result of an improved level of integrity in ITF tennis, which has been the subject of particular scrutiny in recent years. However, there remains a clear threat from criminals intent on manipulating sport to defraud operators. Such illicit organised and targeted action has an impact on the reputation and financial well-being of sports and reputable betting operators alike.”

He added: “We continue to work closely with sports and our members to reduce that threat and to identify and punish such corruption, utilising the world’s largest operator-run and customer data led integrity system. Our rebranding and global repositioning in 2019 has aided our expansion with operators increasingly recognising the value and business necessity of engaging in collective action to protect their products against the loss of revenue resulting from betting corruption.”

Other key data for 2019:

5 – new betting operators joined IBIA
12 – number of sports on which alerts were reported
43 – per cent fall in tennis alerts from 2018 to 2019
52 – per cent of alerts raised on sports outside of Europe

The International Betting Integrity Association is the leading global voice on integrity for the licensed betting industry. It is run by operators for operators, protecting its members from corruption through collective action. Its monitoring and alert platform is a highly effective anti-corruption tool that detects and reports suspicious activity on its members’ betting markets. The association has longstanding information sharing partnerships with leading sports and gambling regulators to utilise its data and prosecute corruption. It represents the sector at high-level policy discussion forums such as the IOC, UN, Council of Europe and European Commission.

The association publishes quarterly and annual reports covering the integrity alerts reported through its monitoring and alert platform. The 2019 report can be viewed on the IBIA website here along with previous reports. The association can be contacted via [email protected].