Legal sports betting in North America is becoming a relatively safer industry, according to Sportradar Integrity Services’ annual betting corruption and match-fixing report.
While Sportradar’s results for suspicious matches in 2022 represented a 34% increase compared to the year prior, North America saw that number decline 25% year-over-year. Meanwhile, Africa reported the biggest rise in suspicious matches with an 82% increase compared to 2021.
In 2022, Sportradar detected 1,212 suspicious matches in 12 different sports. The total of suspicious fixtures, which included 92 countries, were from a pool of over 850,000 matches. Of the total of suspicious matches detected last year, only 24 came from women’s events.
“Our technology enables us to monitor more matches on a deeper level, providing more precise and accurate insights to help aid partners, clients, and the wider sports industry in efforts to safeguard sporting events from corruption,” said Managing Director Andreas Krannich.
Sport breakdown
Sportradar’s North America region reported favorable results in 2022 despite a dramatic increase in suspicious activity for basketball at online sports betting sites. The company detected a total of 220 suspicious games in 2022 — marking a 250% increase year-over-year.
Soccer continued to lead the way with 775 suspicious matches last year, up from 695 in 2021. Tennis fell behind both soccer and basketball in 2022 with a total of 75 suspicious matches detected, compared to 53 the year prior. Despite the growth in suspicious activity by sport, more than 99.5% of all sporting events are free from match-fixing, according to Sportradar.
The company has also taken the steps to level the playing field for non-traditional sports. Last September, Sportradar signed a multi-year bet monitoring agreement with the European Table Tennis Union.
In 2022, Sportradar detected 62 suspicious table tennis matches globally. Sportradar has also secured a partnership with the International Ski and Snowboard Federation.
