SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The Lotería de la Ciudad – the regulatory body of Buenos Aires – and the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) have signed a memorandum of understanding.
The new agreement will aid the development of a regulated, transparent, safe and responsible sports betting market, and aim to discourage all types of unfair or fraudulent practices and the manipulation of sports competitions in the Argentina capital.
Khalid Ali, IBIA CEO, commented: “IBIA is delighted to have reached an agreement with the Lotería de la Ciudad to work collaboratively to protect sports, consumers, and the regulated betting market from match-fixing.”
In detail the deal establishes collaboration guidelines for the exchange of technical knowledge and information related to the integrity of sports and betting.
Ali added: “The association and its members will analyse the betting on their global markets, which cover over $137bn in sports betting revenue per annum, and work closely with the Lotería de la Ciudad to identify and investigate any suspicious betting activity.”
The group revealed in its integrity report for Q1, during the period 2018-22, it found nine suspicious betting alerts on Argentinian sporting events, which represents approximately 9% of all the 105 alerts reported in the LatAm region in that period.
The Lotería de la Ciudad highlighted the deal as beneficial, as the sharing of information on suspicious betting activities will allow feedback on prevention and will facilitate the improvement of actions to ensure fraud control.
In turn, this comprehensive approach will ensure that actions are taken to mitigate any potential criminal activity.
However, the IBIA recently reported a significant decrease in the number of suspicious bets in the second quarter of 2023 compared to the corresponding time period in 2022.
A total of 50 alerts were reported to relevant sporting authorities by the IBIA, down 44% from 88 in Q2 2022, with football once again the sport which generated the most alerts at 19, accounting for 38% of all reports.
