Unveiling of Sportradar's Third Integrity Report in Sports Industry
In the world of sports, the fight against match-fixing is a constant battle. Sportradar, a leading provider of sports data and integrity services, has released its 2023 report on Betting Corruption and Match-fixing, offering insights into the prevalence and detection of suspicious activities.
The report highlights a consistent match-fixing rate of 0.21% across all sports, equating to one suspicious match in every 467 games. This year saw a total of 1,329 matches under suspicion, spread across 11 sports and 105 countries. Europe led the pack with 667 suspicious matches, followed closely by Asia (302) and South America (217).
Soccer was the most affected sport, with 880 suspicious matches, followed by basketball with 205 and table tennis with 70. Interestingly, men's sporting events accounted for 1,295 suspicious matches, while women's events saw only 34.
The AI models developed by Sportradar continue to evolve, aiding in the detection of hard-to-find instances of match-fixing. AI was incorporated into the Universal Fraud Detection System (UFDS), significantly boosting detection rates. The UFDS utilizes advanced AI to identify and alert its global team of integrity analysts to suspicious matches.
In 2023, AI played a significant role in identifying 73% of all suspicious matches, a 123% surge from the previous year. The UFDS analyses account-level data and processes 30 billion odds changes in real-time across 600 global betting operators.
The Sportradar Integrity Exchange (SIE) is another crucial tool in the fight against match-fixing. It allows over 70 betting operators to actively contribute information on suspicious betting, leveraging account-level data to identify potential match-fixing instances.
The company's approach combines cutting-edge technology with its expert Integrity Services unit for a comprehensive and multi-pronged detection of match-fixing. This collaboration with over 220 partners worldwide, including sports organizations, state authorities, national platforms, and law enforcement agencies, has led to a combined total of 147 sporting and criminal sanctions in 10 sports across 23 countries.
Andreas Krannich, EVP of Integrity, Rights Protection, and Regulatory Services at Sportradar, emphasizes the importance of continued investment in technology for detecting match-fixing. "The fight against match-fixing is an ongoing battle, and we are committed to staying at the forefront of technology to ensure the integrity of sport," Krannich said.
Despite the efforts, no single sport exhibited a suspicious match ratio surpassing 1%, with 99.5% of monitored sporting events showing no signs of suspicious betting activity. The report underscores the effectiveness of Sportradar's approach in maintaining the integrity of global sports.
While the exact breakdown of suspicious matches by sport and region in the 2023 report was not provided, Sportradar typically includes detailed statistics on suspicious matches categorized by sport and geographical region in its reports. For more specific information, you can refer to the official 2023 report directly.
- Andreas Krannich, from Sportradar, emphasized the significance of continuous investment in technology to combat match-fixing, stating, "The fight against match-fixing is an ongoing battle, and we are committed to staying at the forefront of technology to ensure the integrity of sport."
- AI models developed by Sportradar aided in the detection of hard-to-find instances of match-fixing, contributing to the identification of 73% of all suspicious matches in 2023, which marked a 123% rise from the previous year.
- In the 2023 report, soccer was the most affected sport, with 880 suspicious matches, closely followed by basketball with 205 and table tennis with 70.
- The Sportradar Integrity Exchange (SIE) enables over 70 betting operators to actively share information on suspicious betting, utilizing account-level data to identify potential match-fixing incidents in sports.
