The Dutch gambling regulator, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), has revealed that match-fixing incidents have more than doubled YoY in 2024.
In its latest match-fixing trends report, the authority highlighted that while 2023 was a noticeably calm year in regards to sports manipulation – with only 6 incidents on record – this number rose to 13 in 2024.
While it may not seem like a significant number, the cases are worrying in nature because they’ve all occurred on the platforms of licensed sports betting providers.
In its report, the KSA reminded that while it is not legally obliged to actively detect match-fixing, it ensures that licensed gambling operators have all necessary measures in place to prevent such cases.
One of these measures includes consistent communication with the Sports Betting Intelligence Unit (SBIU) – a branch created within the system of the KSA whose job is to investigate reports of potential sports manipulation risks that have been forwarded by the licensees.
It is the SBIU who received the 13 alerts mentioned in the report, passed forward by a total of eight operators.
The most at-risk sport in 2024 according to the KSA was tennis (10 reports), followed by football (2) and basketball (1). Out of the 13 reports, 10 were made in the first three months of 2024.
All alerts have been divided into three categories; striking betting patterns, high-risk match bidding, and striking quote changes.
The first category is the most prevalent, concerning all of the reports from the tennis events. It is used to identify cases when an operator has found patterns of player betting behaviour where a high amount of money was bet on the same options in a short period of time, and when the maximum wager was put in at times of ball striking.
The SBIU added that such bets may hold high-risk of match-fixing, as those who have made them might possess insider knowledge. The operators who detected these betting patterns have acted swiftly by cancelling the bets, the report further states.
Under the second category, high-risk match bidding concerns were raised on two occasions by an international sports association. After being alerted about the potential threat, licensees who had the events in their offer initiated an internal investigation, taking down the offer from their platforms and withholding all winnings until the investigation was completed.
All in all, the KSA stated in its conclusion that the rise in match-fixing incidents is more likely due to the regulator’s increased efforts to inform license holders of their reporting obligations with the SBIU, and less so due to a breach in the safety of the Dutch sports betting market.
