IBIA clocks 90 suspicious betting alerts in Q2 2024

The International Betting and Integrity Association (IBIA) has released its quarterly report of suspicious betting activity in the sports ecosystem covering the second trimester of 2024.

In the latest data aggregation, IBIA noted that there was a total of 90 suspicious betting alerts received, a slight drawdown from the 93 reports registered during the first quarter.

Esports continues to drive suspicious betting activity

However, the number still exceeded by 80% of the number of signals reported in Q2 2023 when only 50 such signals were brought to the association's attention.

As IBIA expands its monitoring capacity and branches out to North America and South America, it is expected for the organization and its members to be able to track a larger number of aberrant gambling behavior.

In the latest report, an interesting trend emerged with 8 sports across 25 countries and 5 continents showing signs of fraud. One of the biggest surprises was the number of esports alerts clocked during the period with football and table tennis bringing up the rear.

Unexpectedly, esports accounted for 48 of the total alerts during the second quarter, a whole 50% of the total registered during the second quarter. Yet, the trend is par for the course, as Q1 2024 already saw 43 esports betting signals, demonstrating that the vertical is now expanding at a previously unprecedented pace.

Commenting on these new findings, IBIA CEO Khalid Ali said that sports remained fairly fraud-free based on data from partners and members, but he acknowledged that the biggest jump has now come from esports. There are different reasons why this may be the case.

As scrutiny of traditional sports intensifies and awareness campaigns educating athletes abound, esports are still a sort of a Wild West.

Addressing new challenges and changing fraudsters' behavior

Yet, esports players have already been banned from international competitions and some even face prison sentences in places such as Australia.

"While the increase in alerts may understandably draw attention, it should be noted that esports saw a significant reduction in annual alerts across IBIA’s membership in 2023. The case again highlights the importance and effectiveness of customer account monitoring in the detection of suspicious betting and the protection of sporting events, consumers and regulated betting markets," Ali further explained.

As to sports, Poland was the country with the highest number of alerts – 6 cases. A total of 19 alerts on sports events were clocked across the continent in the second quarter of the year.

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