IBIA: UK accounted for 18% of all suspicious betting alerts in Q2
Latest data from integrity body reveals 50 alerts across four continents and eight sports during the reporting period
The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) identified 50 incidents of suspicious betting activity across eight sports during Q2 this year.
The sports monitoring body noted football continues to be the sport with the highest number of flagged activities, with 19 alerts, or 38% of all alerts during Q2.
Tennis was the second-most flagged sport with 14 alerts (28%), while table tennis had eight alerts (16%).
Darts ended the quarter in fourth place with five alerts (10%), with boxing, bowls, esports and badminton all recording one alert each.
Alerts in football represented a 27% increase on the 15 alerts reported in Q1 but a decrease of 41% when compared to Q2 2022.
Similarly, tennis alerts for the reporting period were down almost 60% compared to Q2 2022.
Geographically, 68% of the 50 alerts reported came from Europe with the UK representing the highest number of alerts per country with nine.
The nine alerts in the UK during Q2 amount to just five fewer than the total number of alerts in 2022 for the country.
Elsewhere, 7% of alerts came from Africa with all the incidents coming in football matches. A further 6% of alerts were derived from Latam and 2% from North America.
Overall, alerts in the period fell 44% compared to Q2 2022 when the IBIA noted 90 alerts.
In a statement released with the report, Khalid Ali, IBIA CEO, said: “The second quarter of the year saw a welcome downward trend with 44% less suspicious alerts compared to Q2 2022, and a near 30% decline in the first half of 2023 when considered against 2022.
“Much of that decline is a result of collaborative cross-sector efforts headed by the International Tennis Integrity Agency to eradicate match-fixing in tennis, the success of which was highlighted by the prison sentence recently handed out by a Belgian court.
“That judgment sends a clear and unequivocal message to corrupters that they will be caught, and harsh sanctions imposed,” he added. The sanction mentioned relates to a case when 28 individuals were convicted of match-fixing tennis in Belgium, with the ringleader being handed a five-year sentence and a €8,000 fine.