IBIA records 31% drop in alerts during 2019

The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) has revealed that it had reported 183 cases of suspicious betting to the relevant authorities during 2019, marking a 31% decline in alerts from 2018.

According to the IBIA, tennis had accounted for the majority of the decline, having generated 101 alerts during 2019 – a reduction of 43% when compared to the 178 alerts reported in 2018.

Although the number of reported alerts has dropped across all levels of tennis, the largest reduction was at the ITF level which saw a decrease of 46%.

Meanwhile football was responsible for 49 of the alerts in 2019, nine of which took place during Q4. The highest number of suspicious betting alerts for the total year originated in the UK, which had recorded eight alerts.

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.”