The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) reported 183 cases of suspicious betting to the relevant authorities during 2019, with 45 of those cases reported in the last quarter (Q4).

The annual total represents a 31% fall in alerts from 2018, with tennis accounting for the vast majority of that decline. Tennis (101) and football (49) constituted 82% of all alerts reported during 2019, with Europe (48%) and Asia (28%) maintaining their positions as the primary locations of the sports events on which alerts were generated during that period.

Khalid Ali, CEO of IBIA, said: “The decline in alerts is very welcome, especially as this is primarily a result of an improved level of integrity in ITF tennis, which has been the subject of particular scrutiny in recent years. However, there remains a clear threat from criminals intent on manipulating sport to defraud operators. Such illicit organised and targeted action has an impact on the reputation and financial well-being of sports and reputable betting operators alike.”

He added: “We continue to work closely with sports and our members to reduce that threat and to identify and punish such corruption, utilising the world’s largest operator-run and customer data led integrity system. Our rebranding and global repositioning in 2019 has aided our expansion with operators increasingly recognising the value and business necessity of engaging in collective action to protect their products against the loss of revenue resulting from betting corruption.”