The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) has released its figures for the first quarter of 2025, with some mixed results to begin the new year.
Key Takeaways
- The IBIA flagged 63 suspicious betting alerts in Q1 2025, down 3% from Q4 2024 but up 11% year over year.
- Soccer and tennis accounted for 64% of reports, though alerts related to those sports dropped 14% from Q4 2024.
- North America led all regions with 27% of alerts, but combined with Europe, total reports from the pair fell 29% from the end of 2024.
Q1 represented a modest dip in overall reports, with a total of 63 alerts down from the 65 in Q4 of 2024. Despite that positive trend, the overall movement year over year has continued to grow, with Q1 2024’s 57 alerts marking a double-digit jump in percentage points of 11%.
Despite the modestly concerning movement, IBIA CEO Khalid Ali isn't particularly pressed about the leap.
“The first quarter of 2025 was relatively consistent with the previous quarter and the comparable period last year,” Ali said. “Football (soccer) and tennis remain the most reported sports, albeit their combined Q1 2025 number was down 14% on Q4 2024.”
In fact, 64% of all the reports came via those two sports, with those 40 alerts marking a 14% jump from the end of last year. Between the pair, however, soccer proved the major culprit, representing just shy of 50% of all alerts.
“This quarter-on-quarter reduction was primarily due to a fall in tennis alerts,” Ali added, noting that the reduction has been a welcome sight thanks to some increased precautions.
Similarly, that heightened scrutiny has also helped drop table tennis infractions over the past number of quarters, with a Q4 spike representing a blip rather than a trend, according to the IBIA.
“The Q4 2024 increase in table tennis alerts has not continued into Q1 2025 and has fallen back to previous levels,” Ali noted. “IBIA has taken increased precautions regarding this sport and agreed a number of new integrity partnerships and protocols in Q1 with the aim of detecting and sanctioning corrupt betting activity.”
Other takeaways from report
In addition to the sport-by-sport breakdowns, the IBIA also revealed a regional breakdown of the 63 suspicious reports. North America represented the most prominent base for reports, with 27% of all reports coming from the region – including six via American basketball.
In conjunction with Europe, the pair of regions represented 51% of all alerts. While that may appear concerning, it is notable that it marked a 29% decrease compared to the 45 combined alerts for Q4 2024.
Additionally, continued efforts in the field of eSports regulation have continued to help move the sport in the right direction after a major spike in 2024. Just four total alerts were flagged, with only horse racing representing a small percentage of suspicious activity.
