Sportradar Integrity services, a supplier of sport integrity solutions, has today released the results of a study that found more than 1,100 suspicious sports matches have occurred since April 2020. Of these 1,100, 655 matches took place in 2021.
Andreas Krannich, managing director, Integrity Services at Sportradar, said: “As our analysis shows, match-fixing is evolving, and those behind it are diversifying their approach, both in the sports and competitions they target, and the way they make approaches to athletes, such as the rise in digital approaches.”
The results of this study were collected via Sportradar’s bet monitoring system, named the Universal Fraud Detection System (UFDS). The UFDS was used to detect suspicious activity in 12 different spots in 70 countries.
As per the results of the study, soccer is the sport most likely to be related to corruption, with 500 suspicious matches occurring in 2021 alone. However, this is a somewhat rare event in elite level soccer, with 40% of suspicious activity taking place in third-tier leagues and below.
“To help address this, Sportradar has made a significant investment to make it possible to offer the UFDS for free to global sports organizations and leagues. The reason for this is that we are committed to supporting the sustainability of global sports and using data and technology for good,” Krannich added.
Europe was the most likely destination for match-fixing with 382 events, followed by Latin America with 115, Asia with 74, Africa with 43, and nine in North America.
The rise of esports has also seen the activity become a target of fraudulent activity, with 70 suspicious occurrences. Other sports that saw fraudulent activity include tennis with 37 matches; basketball with 19; table tennis with 11; ice hockey with 9; Cricket with 6.
