Genius Sports and IBIA focus on tackling sports fraud

Genius Sports, one of the best-known technological companies in the sports world and the International Betting and Integrity Association (IBIA), an organization focused on incentivizing sportsbooks, tech companies, and odds suppliers around the world to exchange information and tackle corruption in sports, have announced a new partnership.

Coming together to stop corruption in sport

The main focus has been on uprooting match-fixing and Genius Sports and IBIA are bringing their collective efforts together to ensure that this is the case. As a result, the pair is forming a global anti-corruption coalition which will seek to crack down on the instances of fraud in sports.

The partnership also envisages Genius Sports as a member of IBIA, joining the global network of informational exchange established by the latter. Yet, the joining of Genius Sports adds a new lease on the network, as Genius Sports is itself committed to detecting and cracking down on fraud by leveraging state-of-the-art products.

This tie-up will allow the companies to act more decisively when it comes to spotting, flagging, and acting on suspicious of match-fixing. Genius Sports Director of Integrity and Rights Enforcement Simon Martyn said:

"Cooperation and the sharing of information are vital pillars to safeguarding the global sports industry from the threats of match-fixing and betting-related corruption. Our partnership with the IBIA will provide us and our partners with greater transparency over global betting patterns, helping to identify, manage and prevent any integrity threats."

IBIA CEO Khalid Ali was similarly pleased with the opportunity. He called the joining of Genius Sports as a particularly important moment for IBIA. One that would give the network "breadth" and help boost integrity relationships in both North and South America.

As monitoring increases, fraud avenues shrink

Genius Sports partners with more than 150 sports leagues and federations globally and has an untarnished track record for doing the right thing, time and again. As to IBIA, the association has worked to flag suspicious betting activities around the world.

In the organization’s latest report, 56 such signals were detected, demonstrating how comprehensive monitoring services have grown and how little room to navigate criminals and bad actors have.

The recent cases involving top-flight baseball and basketball players also demonstrates that even sports at the highest level is not immune to fraud and match-fixing. However, with the right tools in place to monitor betting markets, no bad deed is likely to go unnoticed.

Image credit: Genius Sports