Genius Sports will strengthen its efforts to safeguard the global betting integrity thanks to a new partnership with the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA).
With a goal to also stomp out match-fixing, the alliance will instigate a strong monitoring symbiosis by combining Genius’s large data pool and proprietary sports technology with IBIA’s established capabilities of sports betting account surveillance.
Khalid Ali, CEO of IBIA, said: “I am delighted that we have reached this important agreement with Genius Sports. It brings together two leading global players in the sports technology and betting integrity environments with a clear focus on protecting sporting events from betting-related corruption.
“The addition of Genius Sports as an Associate member of IBIA is particularly welcome given the breadth of its sporting and integrity relationships across North and South America, which will assist IBIA’s operational expansion across those regions.”
Both entities will closely collaborate on information sharing to flag down suspicious betting activity on their respective platforms, with Genius also becoming an associate member of the IBIA.
Simon Martyn, Director of Integrity and Rights Enforcement at Genius Sports, added: “Cooperation and the sharing of information are vital pillars to safeguarding the global sports industry from the threats of match-fixing and betting-related corruption.
“Our partnership with IBIA will provide us and our partners with greater transparency over global betting patterns, helping to identify, manage and prevent any integrity threats.”
In its latest Q1 2024 report, the IBIA highlighted a total of 56 alerts of suspicious betting during the period.
With the ultimate goal to bring that number as close to zero as possible, in the past, the association has argued that sports markets should be implementing sensible and not overly-restrictive controls that are needlessly limiting players.
In a co-authored study with H2 Gambling Capital, the IBIA tackled the widely-circulated connotation that a big market size necessarily means more room for match-fixing – arguing that artificial restrictions and diminished product availability is what’s breeding suspicious behaviour and drives players towards the black market.