IBIA Sounds Alarm on 50 Betting Alerts in Q3 2023

In Q3 of this year, the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) flagged 50 questionable betting activities. Interestingly, these figures echo the numbers from Q2, pushing the total alerts for the first three quarters of 2023 to 148. It’s worth noting that over half of these alerts were centered on football and tennis. These alerts spanned IBIA’s extensive network, which includes over 125 sports betting brands handling a staggering annual turnover exceeding US$137 billion.

Zooming into the details, these 50 alerts in Q3 encompassed eight distinct sports and originated from 21 countries across five continents. Some important statistics from Q3 2023 are:

• A significant drop of 41% was seen when comparing the 50 alerts of Q3 2023 with the 85 alerts from Q3 2022.
• Tennis led the pack with 15 alerts, indicating a minor hike from 14 alerts in Q2 but a significant drop from 33 in Q3 2022.
• Football had 13 alerts, marking a 32% reduction from Q2’s 19.
• Europe was the epicenter of these activities, generating 30 alerts, while South America followed with seven.

Khalid Ali, the CEO of IBIA, commented, “The quarter witnessed a sustained decline in alerts, reducing by over 30% compared to 2022, primarily driven by tennis.” He highlighted a collaborative effort between IBIA and the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), involving a joint integrity seminar in New York. This collective approach, Ali mentioned, reaffirms their commitment to eradicating corruption in sports, especially tennis.

The Q3 report offers a deep dive into the patterns of alerts from 2018-2022, particularly in North America. Tennis-related alerts averaged 13 cases every quarter in 2023, showing a decrease from 26 in 2022 and 20 in 2021.

Data from the prominent global gambling intelligence firm, H2 Gambling Capital, predicts the licensed US betting market will grow to a hefty US$11.7 billion in 2023 and further surge to US$18.9 billion by 2026.

A finer detail from Q2 2023 indicates that three of the 50 alerts related to women-only events, 43 to men-only, three were mixed-gender, and one pertained to greyhound racing. IBIA’s recent research delves into the women’s sports betting domain, shedding light on its size, features, and susceptibility to match-fixing.