Tennis and football continue to account for the majority of suspicious betting activity alerts in sports, according to the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA).

Updating sporting and betting industry stakeholders in its Q3 2021 report, the IBIA revealed that 23 suspicious betting alerts were reported to authorities from tennis fixtures, followed by football 18.

Meanwhile, table tennis accounted for 17 alerts, esports for two, and handball, cricket, squash and basketball saw one case each.

In total, the IBIA reported 65 cases of suspicious betting activity to relevant authorities, as opposed to 76 during the corresponding time period one year prior.

Khalid Ali, IBIA CEO, remarked: “The 65 cases in Q3 brings the nine-month total to 167 alerts, a 17% decrease on the same point in 2020 with 202 alerts.

“Tennis provided the highest number of alerts during the first three quarters with 47, followed by football with 46, table tennis 33 and esports with 25 cases. These four sports made up 90% of alerts reported in the first nine-months.”

Geographically, Europe accounted for 60% of all alerts during the third quarter of 2020 – an increase on the results of the organisation’s Q2 report which saw 47% of alerts come from Europe, although it marked a decrease on the 66% which originated in the continent in Q1 – followed by Asia at 15% and Africa at 12%.

On a national basis, there were 28 different countries where alerts were identified, and 23 of these alerts came from Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Russia, which accounted for one-third of the total, whilst there were six alerts on sporting events in the Americas. 

Ali continued: “The benefits of being part of an international integrity monitoring body continue to be recognised; the association welcomes the decision of the Ontario authorities to require all licensed betting operators to be part of an integrity monitoring body, a position which is already in force in the recently opened market in the Netherlands. IBIA members are well-placed in those markets.” 

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