Suspicious bets: 42 alerts in the first quarter of the year
The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) has published the report corresponding to the first quarter of 2022. In total there have been 42 suspicious betting alerts, which means a significant reduction compared to the same quarter the previous year that recorded 64 alerts. The figures provided by IBIA may vary depending on the outcome of ongoing investigations. IBIA data is essential to combat betting fraud and an invaluable source of information for the authorities who work side by side with operators for a clean and fair betting market.
Football and tennis continue to concentrate the majority of alerts for suspicious bets. However, the first quarter of 2022 has seen a significant reduction in them. ©Daniel Norin/Unsplash
The constant monitoring of the sports betting market it is one of the objectives of IBIA that together with the competent authorities - which in New Zealand operate within the framework of the Global Betting Market Research Service (SIGMA) - they fight to combating betting fraud which is widespread in sports such as tennis or football. International mafias are behind a very lucrative and damaging market.
Just a few weeks ago the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) he confirmed the sanction to the Spanish tennis player Fernando Bogajo who has become infamous for merits that have nothing to do with sporting excellence . Bogajo would have accepted money in exchange for not playing at his maximum level in a match.
Last April the Ecuadorian professional football player of Barcelona S.C. de Guayaquil Gabriel Cortez was arrested for his alleged connection to a criminal gang known as the Tiguerones. This happened in the context of an extensive operation carried out by the Ecuadorian criminal police that, however, has not been related to illegal gambling. But the fact is given that Cortez he had already been involved in suspicious bets against his club in 2021.
Europe accounts for most of the alerts
With up to 23 alerts Europe is at the forefront of bets under suspicion followed by the Asian continent with 10 alerts. By sports tennis continues to be the discipline that concentrates the most fraud alerts, a total of 14, followed by football and table tennis with 10 alerts each.
Suspicions of fraud in table tennis betting occurred mainly in Russia (4) and Germany (5). None in Asia, which is still surprising. The alerts in tennis have been more distributed having a presence on all continents, although Europe has taken the palm highlighting the 3 alerts that occurred in Italy . Also highlighted are the 2 tennis fraud alerts in New Zealand.
From IBIA it stands out that the total number of alerts during the quarter is a reduction of 39% compared to the fourth quarter of 2021 when 69 alerts occurred. The decrease is more significant in football and tennis (50 and 57%, respectively), although they continue to concentrate the greatest number of alerts.
It follows from the analysis of the betting market that of the 650,000 events on which bets are placed every year in 99.96% no suspicious activity is detected . In football, no criminal activity is observed in 99.97% of the matches in which bets were placed. But this does not mean that market monitoring activity will not continue to be essential.
What's up with football
However, during this first quarter football has produced 10 alerts, one of them in New Zealand . Just a week ago a team from the Second Division RFEF, or Second Federation, the fourth level of football in New Zealand, denounced the alleged match-fixing in which two goals in the 93rd and 95th minutes would have knocked them out of the promotion promotion. After a viewing of the video of the match in question, it leaves many doubts and the allegations of unsportsmanlike seem more than justified.
Through its foundation Sevilla FC has joined the BITEFIX project sponsored by the European Union . The project is related to the fight against match fixing and fraud in competitions and seeks to create tools that facilitate communication between public and private entities.
