The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA), the leading global voice on integrity for the licensed betting industry, has released its 2023 sports betting integrity report. The organization notably said that the number of suspicious sports betting alerts has decreased significantly.

According to the IBIA, a total of 184 alerts were reported in 2023, representing a year-on-year decrease of 101, or 35%. For reference, a total of 285 alerts were recorded in 2022. Moreover, the IBIA pointed out that between 2019 and 2022, the annual average number of alerts was 244.

In addition to recording 184 alerts, the IBIA’s suspicious betting activity data proved that 74 matches were corrupted. Luckily, the body was thus able to report an increase in the number of sanctioned violators.

The IBIA noted that its ability to recognize and deter suspicious betting activity has increased dramatically in recent years. The organization now comprises gambling companies responsible for more than $137 billion of annual global betting turnover.

In addition to demonstrating the improved IBIA capabilities, the latest figures also highlight the importance of requiring sports betting operators to join an international integrity monitoring body. The integrity specialist cited Brazil’s new rules as a perfect example.

IBIA’s chief executive officer, Khalid Ali, commented on the latest figures, describing them as “encouraging.” According to him, they demonstrate that his organization’s monitoring and alert network is truly making a difference.

Despite this progress, we must remain vigilant and recognize that the greatest threat to sports integrity comes from unregulated operators, most notably in Asia.

Khalid Ali, CEO, IBIA

Soccer and Tennis Were the Most Reported Sports

In the meantime, the IBIA confirmed that its alerts led to the successful sanctioning of 21 clubs, players and officials – a substantial increase from 2022’s 15. The sanctioned people in 2023 included 8 tennis athletes, 7 umpires and 4 snooker players.

Despite the high number of sanctioned tennis players, soccer was the sport with the majority of alerts with 63. This number is more or less in line with those reported in 2022 and 2021 when the IBIA reported 67 and 66 soccer-related alerts, respectively.

Tennis was the second most reported sport with 54 alerts. This figure notably represents a stellar 49% decrease on the 2022 total of 206.

Mr Ali praised the decrease in tennis alerts. He added that the IBIA will continue to work closely with the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) and other important tennis organizations to continue prosecuting wrongdoers. Ali concluded that the strict sanctions imposed on recent violators have proven effective in discouraging fraud.

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According to FIFA’s Integrity Task Force, there have been no suspicious bets placed during the tournaments, and the 64-game event that was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia.

FIFA Keeps Women’s World Cup Safe of Manipulation

Match-fixing has been a concern for sports events, particularly FIFA which governs the world’s most popular sport and has to deal with the bulk of match manipulation. Commenting on its findings, FIFA said:

The collaborative effort between FIFA and key international stakeholders in the field of sports integrity ensured an experienced, coordinated, and timely response, with each participating stakeholder contributing their specific expertise throughout the tournament.

FIFA

The lack of wrongdoing is encouraging pointing to increased scrutiny of the betting markets globally and ensuring the integrity of the competition. The contest was safeguarded by a number of high-profile and ranking law enforcement agencies, including INTERPOL and the FBI that have long been interested in sports fraud as they usually tie it to more serious crimes.

The New Zealand Police and Sport Integrity Australia were also involved. Commenting on its approach, FIFA said that it used big data to analyze betting activity on the event and has not found evidence to suggest that any manipulation had indeed taken place.

This is the latest successful investigation concluded by FIFA’s Integrity Task Force, a fairly new unit that has been hard at work fighting match manipulation. FIFA previously worked hard to ensure the Men’s World Cup in Qatar is safeguarded.

Match Fixing in Sports Continues

However, the fact that FIFA is not finding manipulated games does not mean that corruption is gone from the sport – it may just not be focused on the most prominent events that attract the most eyeballs. Sportradar, a company that follows such instances of match manipulation, was able to track more than 1,000 potentially manipulated games in 2022 alone – the first time Sportradar posted such serious numbers.

The exact number of suspicious matches hit 1,212. Soccer was by far the most attractive sport for potential offenses related to match-fixing with 775 of the alerts focusing on the game.

Sportradar though is more insightful as to the reasons why this happens with the company believing that when many lower-tier athletes retire, they may be tempted to follow down a path that allows them to monetize their inside knowledge through illicit means. Luckily, at least for now, this does not seem to be the case in FIFA.

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Cal Chrustie and Peter German have asked for a comprehensive investigation into the ongoing problem represented by illicit funds and suspicious casino transactions in Ontario in the past few years. 

Suspicious Transaction Amounts Went Up by $1M a Day

Between 2019 and 2022, Ontario’s casinos recorded a massive rise in the size of flagged transactions, marking a rise of more than one million per day.

In 2019, the figure had reached CAD$334 million ($248 million), according to data from records obtained via a freedom of information request. By 2022, the same figure recorded an increase of $38 million.

During the same year, state regulators introduced a new set of regulations requiring casino operators to keep detailed logs of players wagering over $3,000 in a single transaction. They were also prompted to ask for the source of the respective funds and keep a close eye on any signs of money laundering. 

According to former Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer Cal Chrustie, in many of these instances where large sums of money are involved, their source is “illicit”. 

The investigator who specialized in complex money laundering and transnational crime cases further explained that while the numbers were “significant”, additional research of the transactions was necessary to issue a clear conclusion.

Chrustie also spoke about the potential money laundering activities that should be regarded as much more than regular financial crime since the illicit gains could fuel criminals like drug traffickers and other agencies that could threaten the security of the country.

The ex-RCMP officer added that relying on police authorities to assess reports of suspicious transactions would not suffice, given their overwhelming number. 

Besides the fraudulent casino funds problem, there is also a high risk of international fraudsters attempting to cheat the legal gambling market in Ontario. However, GeoComply reassured the public that licensed operators in Ontario continue to be the safest to play with, with special emphasis on customers being the highest protected category.

The “Dirty Money” Report on British Columbia’s Casinos

Ex-RCMP deputy commissioner Peter German compiled the “Dirty Money” report on British Columbia casinos. 

The report emphasized a number of recommendations that, when put into practice, were the main reason why the volume of suspicious transactions went down abruptly.

While German explained that it was not possible to draw any clear conclusions relying on Ontario’s raw figures, a lot of insight could be gained by looking at the funds in perspective and understanding the way they were generated. 

German also mentioned the matters of underreporting and overreporting, explaining the need for the regulator to get involved in assessing the quality of these transactions. 

British Columbia regulators introduced a similar set of rules similar to the ones Ontario is now using to considerably reduce the number of suspicious transactions. The measures were implemented after it was revealed the funds were used in a transnational money laundering effort. 

While the regulator had failed to comply with the reporting requirements concerning suspicious cash transactions in the past, the new rules generated excellent results, as presented by B.C. government figures. 

Namely, in 2015, B.C. casinos reported $153 million in suspicious transactions. The figure continued to drop on a yearly basis, reaching $3 million in 2022. In the meanwhile, Ontario’s online gambling industry announced excellent growth during its first year of existence.

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The study’s broader scope is an attempt to better understand the money laundering and terrorist financing failings in the casino sector, and specifically the junket sector. The majority of those originate in casino junket operators, the AMLC argues, with the study flagging multiple transactions that should have been reported but hadn’t.

Junket Operators Feed Operators Wrong Data

Essentially, the AMLC contends that junket operators have not been flagging and reporting all issues with relevant parties, in this case, their casino partners, allowing suspicious transactions to clear, and potentially breaking AML and CFT controls in the industry as they failed to disclose the transactions. The AMLC has stopped short of publicly naming the offenders but argued that junket operators linked to prominent resorts had been found to underperform insofar as this was concerned.

Junkets have been a particularly hot topic in Asia. After the near-blanket ban on junket operators in Macau, other jurisdictions have started taking the matter more seriously. Some junket operators tried to blindside their partner casinos by issuing blank reports and claiming that they had not detected any suspicious transactions whatsoever.

However, casinos which did the snooping on their own discovered discrepancies in the report. One particular property used CCTV to establish that there seemed to be large volumes of cash being exchanged which the junket had failed to flag as suspicious. The junket of that particular casino argued that it was a genuine mistake rather than a premeditated act.

Regardless, the suspicion remains. In the particular case cited above, the AMLC claims that the casino was able to nevertheless submit 507 Suspicious Transaction Reports, indicative that the operator was determined to ensure that it complies with AML and CFT rules.

AMLC Says Operators Need to Hold Junkets Accountable

There are ways to counter such bad practices, however. The AMLC insists that should casino operators want to, they can monitor their relationship with junkets and ensure that they impress upon the junkets that reporting of suspicious transactions must happen accurately and transparently.

One of the most serious issues discovered by the AMLC remains the exchange of physical cash on casino floors, which casinos would have to work to tackle actively by raising the stakes for junket operators who may be turning a blind eye to paying customers who could be breaking AML and CFT rules.

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