IBIA Says Tennis Most Susceptible to Suspicious Betting Activity

The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) has reported a substantial uplift in the number of ‘alerts’ throughout global sporting events in Q3, with 76 instances of dubious betting patterns recorded. Within this data, Tennis emerged as the sport with the highest number of registered cases – roughly 43% of the total volume.

However, eSports suffered the largest quarter-on-quarter spike, with suspect gambling behaviour concerningly quadrupling between Q2 and Q3, with 4 and 16 reports of illicit betting activity in each quarter respectively. Tennis’ number of 33 incidents represented a 20% uplift on the previous quarter.

Nevertheless, there was also positive news to announce, with a substantial reduction in the number of alerts relating to Football fixtures, withthe quarterly rate dropping 60% into the three months of July-September. Table tennis, with was the only other sport presiding over a double-digit figure, with 10 occasions of worrying bet sequences referenced in Q3. The aforementioned four sports were responsible for the overwhelming majority of reports, accounting for 95% of the overall total.

From a geographical perspective, Europe maintained its position as the worst offending continent in this space, with almost 50% of instances aligned to contests taking place on European soil.

However, IBIA Chief Executive, Khaled Ali, emphasized that the results needed to be taken into context with the organization’s growing number of members. In a statement commenting on the published figures, he articulated the link between stronger regional coverage and increased alerts, suggesting that the increase was a default reaction to a greater membership base, as opposed to any sudden wholesale changes in sports wagering behaviours.

Ali also praised the body’s consistent focus in this area, ‘’IBIA continues to work closely with its members and external stakeholders, such as sports and regulators, to ensure that suitable risk management processes are implemented and encourages a zero-tolerance approach to the manipulation of sports events and associated betting fraud.’’