IBIA: Suspicious betting cases up 48% in 2020
Integrity body flags rise in alerts in esports and table tennis as tennis and football dominate suspicious betting cases
Suspicious betting cases rose 48% year-on-year during 2020, according to the latest data published by the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA).
A total of 270 cases were reported in 2020, with 68 of those reported in the final three months of the year.
Alerts were reported on 15 sports in 43 different countries, with 12 criminal or sporting sanctions levied against players and teams based on IBIA data.
The IBIA has highlighted a rise in cases relating to esports and table tennis as accounting for the largest part of the overall increase in cases.
Tennis and football remained the two sports in which the most suspicious betting patterns were identified, accounting for 59% of the overall total.
The rise comes despite a significant proportion of the international sporting calendar being cancelled or severely impacted due to Covid-19.
“2020 was a turbulent year for many sectors including the betting industry, which had to adjust its market offering due to the global sports lockdown,” IBIA CEO Khalid Ali said.
“As a result, IBIA focused its integrity monitoring activity to take account of new sports tournaments and competitions that emerged.
“Whilst there was an increase in overall alerts from 2019 to 2020, it should be noted that the 2020 cases are consistent with the number of alerts reported in both 2017 and 2018,” Ali added.
Over the last four years, the IBIA has reported 986 alerts across 17 sports and 95 countries, with these reports playing a significant part in reducing instances of match-fixing across sport.