Sportradar delivers bet monitoring service free of charge

The supplier made the announcement alongside an update on the number of suspicious betting activities recorded since the beginning of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic in April 2020.

It said that it has detected more than 1,100 suspicious sports matches since the beginning of the pandemic, with 655 of these detected in the first nine months of 2021.

Sportradar’s UFDS has been used to detect suspicious activity in 12 different sports across more than 70 countries worldwide.

The supplier’s figures show that football is the sport most at risk of betting-related corruption, with more than 500 suspicious matches detected in 2021 to date.

Sportradar said approximately 40% of suspicious activities reported within domestic football competitions come from third-tier leagues and below, including youth level, as match-fixers increase their attention on lower-level matches.

It said the rising popularity of esports has also made it a target for match-fixers, and has led to a rapid increase in the number suspicious matches reported.

Over 70 suspicious esports matches have been detected by the UFDS since April 2020, across five different game titles. More than 40 of those were identified since January 2021, Sportradar said.

In addition to football and esports, the UFDS has detected suspicious activity in 37 tennis matches, 19 basketball matches, 11 table tennis matches, nine ice hockey matches and six cricket matches this year, while further suspicious activity in volleyball, handball and beach volleyball was also detected.

Geographically, 382 suspicious matches have been identified in Europe throughout 2021, while 115 were recorded in Latin America. The Asia Pacific region saw a further 74 suspicious matches identified, 43 were reported in Africa, 10 in the Middle East and nine in North America since the beginning of this year.

Andreas Krannich, managing director of integrity services at Sportradar, said: “As our analysis shows, match-fixing is evolving, and those behind it are diversifying their approach, both in the sports and competitions they target, and the way they make approaches to athletes, such as the rise in digital approaches.

“To help address this, Sportradar has made a significant investment to make it possible to offer the UFDS for free to global sports organisations and leagues. The reason for this is that we are committed to supporting the sustainability of global sports and using data and technology for good.”