Football tops GLMS regulatory alerts in 2018
The Global Lottery Monitoring System (GLMS), the organisation tasked with upholding sports betting integrity in the lottery industry, has said that it flagged 631 alerts to its partners in 2018, with football responsible for more than 75% of the cases.
The lottery body submitted 482 alerts relating to suspicious betting activity on football to its members and partner associations around the world, according to its 2018 intelligence monitoring report. GLMS also alerted football governing bodies about 81 matches as a result of the levels of suspicious activity.
Of these games, 46 matches organised by Uefa, the governing body of football in Europe, were flagged, while 18 match alerts were sent to the sport’s global governing body, Fifa.
Basketball was second to football in terms of suspicious activity, with 69 alerts, followed by tennis with 30, then ice hockey on 17.
Europe was by far the most active region in terms of irregularities caught by GMLS, with the body sending 459 alerts to members about sporting events across the continent.
Football was responsible for 359 of European alerts, ahead of basketball with 45 and tennis on 18.
Asia ranked second with 69 alerts, 40 of which were related to football, while South America came in third on 63 alerts, with all but two – one each for tennis and basketball – for football.
GLMS said that the majority of alerts were for irregularities noted before an event, with just 19% taking place during play and 7% after.
In terms of the reasons why the alerts were triggered, the large majority were down to a significant change in odds, with 231 sent to partners. A total of 124 were related to team news, with 51 filed for a suspicious change in betting odds.
GLMS also noted that 87 alerts were filed in response to a specific request, with 44 submitted after the body received certain information from a partner.
The GLMS reporting system works by the organisation generating an alert when a betting pattern is detected. This then leads to consultation with its members, as well as an investigation on potential grounds that could justify the irregularity.
If the GMLS is unable to identify a valid reason for the shift in betting patterns, it can then issue an official report.
The GMLS intelligence monitoring report offers a significantly different view on betting irregularities in sport than international betting integrity body ESSA.
Earlier this month, ESSA’s 2018 publication said that the organisation flagged 267 instances of unusual wagering activity from operator partners, to gaming regulators and sports governing bodies. More than half of these suspicious activity alerts concerned tennis, with 52 generated for football.
In December, the GLMS introduced an updated set of rules in an effort to better protecting consumers. The code applies to all GLMS members, partners, employees and executive committee members. GLMS members include the likes of Danske Spil, Svenska Spel, the Hong Kong Jockey Club and Française Des Jeux.