The report contains 268 alerts that were flagged by the association’s members in a bid to ensure that sports remain safe and free of manipulation over the surveyed period. Although the present results were 14% more than a year before, this may be owing to the fact that IBIA has been actively adding to its list of members.

IBIA Takes a Look at Suspicious Betting in 2022

IBIA has seen the numbers increase, but this has partly been motivated by the number of new partners accumulated over the past 12 months. The association has been steadily growing its list of trusted members who have been equally keen to eliminate fraud and corruption from sports.

Overall, there were 50 alerts in the fourth quarter of the year, 90 in the third quarter, and 80 reports in the second quarter. The first quarter of the year was interestingly the least busy, even though both Q4 and Q1 are usually some of the busiest.

The alerts registered during 2022 focused on 14 sports across 61 countries, including tennis and football (soccer) which tended to be the most targeted by fraudsters or to generally be associated with a higher likelihood of producing suspicious betting signals as well.

IBIA also reported that during the year, a total of 15 successful criminal sanctions were announced against sports officials, players, and entire teams. Those named in the announcements were tied to proven cases of sports manipulation. Other cases investigated by IBIA had to do with suspicious activities that were not necessarily proven instances of match-fixing and manipulation.

Protecting Sports Is IBIA’s Mission

The association’s partners have been quick to act though reporting cases to IBIA which then related them to the relevant parties tasked with integrity investigations. IBIA CEO Khalid Ali hailed the role that his association played in maintaining the safety of sports globally. He argued that the association was a “protective shield” that is a vital tool in the fight against corruption. Ali explained:

That has been underlined by welcome successful prosecutions during 2022 based on IBIA data, and we expect further corroboration of the association’s important positive impact and collaborative approach to be evident throughout 2023.

IBIA CEO Khalid Ali

In the period between 2018 and 2022, the association collected 1,224 alerts across 21 sports and 102 countries. As of last year, the most reports came from tennis, with 102 of the total instances. Football (soccer) ranked second with 67 alerts, with the other signals much fewer across other sports.