IBIA reports 17% increase in Q3 suspicious betting alerts as esports reports more than triple
The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) has reported a 17% year-on-year increase in suspicious betting alerts to 76 in Q3 2022.
While that represents an increase over Q3 2021’s 65 alerts, it is a reduction of 15% compared to Q2 2022’s 89.
Around half of the alerts, at 37, were reported in European markets, while Asia accounted for eight alerts and Africa and South America each reported seven. Just one alert came from North America, relating to suspicious activity around a tennis match in the Dominican Republic.A further 16 alerts – those reported in esports – were also included in the report but were not assigned a geographical region as it is not always clear where the tournaments and betting activity takes place.
Esports was the vertical which invited the largest increase in the number of alerts, more than tripling year-on-year from just five during the first half of 2022.
The IBIA said that increase largely reflects the recent growth in its membership as multiple esports-focused betting operators have joined the association.
By vertical, tennis remained the sport most rife with suspicious betting activity, accounting for 33 of all suspicious alerts.The growth in esports-related reports led the vertical to take the second place of the most reported-on sports with 16 alerts, while football and table tennis accounted for a further 13 and 10 alerts, respectively.
IBIA was established in 2005, and describes itself as the leading global voice on integrity for the licensed betting industry.
Its members, it said, share a common goal of combatting betting corruption to protect the integrity of sport and the betting industry.
The latest report covers eight sports across 29 countries.