D
uring the first quarter of 2021, the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) reported 64 cases of suspicious betting to the relevant authorities.
The Q1 total is mostly similar to the 68 cases reported in Q4 2020 and the 61 alerts reported in Q1 2020. Almost 75% of all alerts reported during the quarter are: Tennis (18), eSports (17), and football (12), the remainder covering table tennis (7) basketball (5), volleyball (4), and horse racing (1). Europe and Asia accounted for two-thirds (66%) of alerts, from a geographical perspective.
Khalid Ali, CEO of IBIA, stated in a press release: “After a difficult 2020, many operators appear to be close to normality in terms of their pre-pandemic market offering. This is reflected in the alert numbers and geographical spread for Q1, with a refocus on those sports that have traditionally and numerically dominated the betting offer globally, namely tennis and football. The association and its members continue to work closely with those sports, and indeed all sports that wish to engage with us, to identify potential corruption and to seek robust sanctions to punish and deter such illicit activity.”
Seven different sports were reported by 7 alerts. A quarter of all alerts came from Russia (10) and Bulgaria (6). 18 alerts on tennis were spotted. 20 different countries were reported with alerts.
