IBIA and Spelinspektionen to strengthen sports integrity

The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) has been busy establishing its footprint in North and South America, and now the guarantor of fairness in sports will be teaming up with Spelinspektionen, otherwise known as the Swedish Gambling Authority.

The two organizations have signed a Memorandum of Understanding which will focus first and foremost on sports betting integrity and will ensure that IBIA receives updates from the regulated gambling market in the country and its operators, part of a global effort to monitor for aberrations in betting patterns and alert relevant authorities.

IBIA and Spelinspektionen will exchange and share information about suspicious betting activity that will further help with global efforts to tackle the incidence of match-fixing and manipulation. IBIA has played a vital role in ensuring that match-fixers find it increasingly difficult to ploy their craft as there are more eyes on the regulated market and the role of the black market continues to diminish through global legalization moves of the industry.

Commenting on this opportunity, Spelinspektionen Director-General Camilla Rosenberg welcomed the opportunity to have the opportunity to share and receive information that has to do with the integrity of sports in general.

"Therefore, we are delighted to have reached this agreement with IBIA which will be beneficial to our coordination of the national platform and general work against match-fixing. We look forward to our cooperation with IBIA," Rosenberg said.

IBIA CEO Khalid Ali was similarly pleased with the opportunity to strengthen the organization’s reach and ensure that it provides the relevant authorities with teeth to fight back against manipulation in sports. IBIA uses global customer account transaction data to look for suspicious betting activity in Sweden and thus help its new partner home in on potentially fraudulent activity.

In kind, IBIA will also receive relevant data from its new partner and be able to maintain a higher global standard of sports monitoring and integrity. Presently, IBIA reunites 125 leading sports betting brands which generate over $137bn in betting turnover. This number is only expected to grow as more companies join, appreciative of the opportunity to strengthen the integrity of sports and protect their business interests.

In the meantime, IBIA reported 50 suspicious betting alerts in Q3 2023, with the Q4 report due in several weeks.

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