IBIA suspicious betting alerts rise year-on-year to 63 in Q1
The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) recorded 63 suspicious betting alerts during the first quarter of 2025, with football drawing the highest percentage.
Alerts were 11% higher than the revised figure of 57 in Q1 last year, the IBIA said in its report. However, the total was slightly lower than the 65 suspicious betting alerts sent during the final quarter of 2024.
Football was again the sport of most concern for the IBIA. In total, it sent 31 football alerts in the quarter, 49% of all alerts for the period. Football also drew the most alerts in Q1 last year, as well as in all of 2024.
Tennis, table tennis and basketball tied for second with nine alerts each. The IBIA sent four reports related to betting on esports, as well as a single alert for horse racing.
Mexico and Brazil football betting a concern for IBIA
Geographically, the highest number of alerts related to activity in North America at 17. Of these, nine were for football betting in Mexico and six for basketball betting in the US. The other two were for betting on football in Jamaica.
Elsewhere, 15 alerts were registered in Europe, nine of which were for table tennis. Seven alerts related to table tennis betting in Czech Republic and two Germany. Other alerts were spread across several countries for basketball, football and horse racing.
South America also hit double figures with 11 alerts, with nine attributed to football betting in Brazil. This was the joint-highest number for a single country along with Mexico. Single alerts for football and tennis were also registered in Ecuador and Argentina, respectively.
The IBIA also raised six alerts in Africa, with all these related to football. Ivory Coast had the most at three, with one each in Algeria, Burundi and Tunisia.
No alerts were noted in Australasia, though the IBIA did raise four global esports alerts. The organisation cannot allocate esports alerts to any specific country as it is not always clear where an event is hosted.
‘Welcome’ reduction in tennis alerts
Commenting on the data, IBIA CEO Khalid Ali said Q1 was relatively consistent in terms of the number of alerts. He also noted the fall in tennis alerts but raised concerns over table tennis betting.
“The quarter-on-quarter reduction was primarily due to a fall in tennis alerts, which have shown a welcome reduction in recent years,” Ali said. “The Q4 2024 increase in table tennis alerts has not continued into Q1 2025 and has fallen back to previous levels.
“IBIA has taken increased precautions regarding this sport. We have agreed a number of new integrity partnerships and protocols in Q1 with the aim of detecting and sanctioning corrupt betting activity.”
The IBIA works with more than 80 companies across over 140 betting brands around the world. It covers 50% of all regulated commercial online betting activity, and 30% of all regulated online betting across retail and online.