The number of betting alerts was down by 44 per cent year-on-year.

Belgium.- The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) has released its report for the second quarter, noting a sharp drop in the number of suspicious betting alerts in comparison with Q2 2022. It reports that 50 alerts were made to sporting authorities in the quarter, which is 44 per cent less than in the same quarter last year (88).

However, the number represents a 4 per cent rise on the revised Q1 total of 48. Football continued to be the sport with most alerts at 19. That compares to 15 in Q1 and 32 in Q2 2022. Football was followed by tennis (14 alerts), table tennis (eight), darts (five) and boxing, bowls, esports and badminton with one suspicious betting alert each.

Europe was the region with most alerts with 34, with the UK the single country with the largest number at nine, which accounted for 18 per cent of all reports. There were seven alerts in Africa, all relating to football, six from South America (four from football and two from tennis) and two in North America (football and tennis).

IBIA CEO Khalid Ali said: “The second quarter of the year saw a welcome downward trend with 44 per cent less suspicious alerts compared to Q2 2022, and a near 30 per cent decline in the first half of 2023 when considered against 2022.”

Ali noted that the number of tennis betting alerts had fallen by more than half from 29 in Q2 2022. He said: “Much of that decline is a result of collaborative cross-sector efforts headed by the International Tennis Integrity Agency to eradicate match-fixing in tennis, the success of which was highlighted by the prison sentence recently handed out by a Belgian court. 

“That judgement sends a clear and unequivocal message to corrupters that they will be caught, and harsh sanctions imposed. The outcome is very welcome and IBIA congratulates the ITIA on its collaborative partnership working with key stakeholders and its continued resolve to identify and punish illicit activity. IBIA’s responsible regulated betting operators remain committed to working closely with sports to weed out corruption.”

Q2 saw the IBIA sign a memorandum of understanding with the Portuguese Online Betting and Gambling Association (APAJO) and an integrity protection agreement with the Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gaming (IBJR).