The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) has published its sports betting integrity report for 2023.
During the year, the association reported a 35% drop in the total number of suspicious sports betting alerts reported. The number of reports fell from 285 in 2022 to 184 in 2023.
IBIA CEO Khalid Ali said he is pleased with the decline in global alerts during the year.
He commented further by saying, “The fall in last year’s global alert numbers is encouraging. It confirms that our world-leading monitoring and alert network is making a very important contribution to deterring criminals from seeking to defraud our members, and that increased collaboration between IBIA, sports and regulators is a winning combination.”
Between 2019 and 2022, the IBIA recorded an average of 244 annual alerts. Last year’s total marks a substantial decline when compared to the average for the past few years.
However, Ali went on to note that continuing this trend means that the IBIA needs to remain focused on combatting threats against sports integrity.
He commented, “Despite this progress, we must remain vigilant and recognize that the greatest threat to sports integrity comes from unregulated operators, most notably in Asia.”
In a breakdown of sports with the most alerts, 63 alerts came from football. Tennis ranked second, with a total of 54 alerts. However, alerts from Tennis dropped by 49% when compared to the total from 2022.
Ali described the falling trend as “very encouraging” and credited a commitment to increased monitoring for the change.
He concluded by saying, “The ongoing decrease in tennis alerts, along with notable reductions in table tennis and esports, is very encouraging.
“The progress made in tennis over several years now demonstrates that successfully identifying and sanctioning match-fixing sends a powerful message to athletes and officials about the risks of engaging in match-fixing.”
