Posted by According to data undertaken by a worldwide sports technology business, potential match-fixing has been detected in over 1,100 sports matches since April 2020.
Sportradar Integrity Services, a partner of over 100 athletic federations and leagues, has utilized its betting monitoring technology, the Universal Fraud Detection System (UFDS), to uncover suspicious activity in more than 70 nations across 12 sports. The findings go back to the beginning of the epidemic, with 655 matches being discovered in the first nine months of 2021.
Football, according to Sportradar’s data, is the sport most at danger of betting-related corruption. This year, the UFDS technology has detected 500 questionable football matches. Almost 40% of the matches recorded in domestic competitions were in third-tier leagues or lower, with matchfixers especially targeting youth football.
Esports’ growing popularity has made it an increasingly popular target. Since April 2020, the UFDS has discovered more than 70 questionable matches across five distinct game titles. In 2021, more than 40 of them were discovered.
Suspicious activity was also detected in 37 tennis matches, 19 basketball matches, 11 table tennis matches, nine ice hockey matches, and six cricket matches, according to the UFDS. Volleyball, handball, and beach volleyball have all been identified as issues.
With 382 suspect matches identified this year, Europe was the region severely afflicted by corruption. There were 115 matches in Latin America, 74 in Asia Pacific, 43 in Africa, 10 in the Middle East, and nine in North America.
Sportadar has released its findings as it prepares to distribute the UFDS to sporting authorities around the world for free in an effort to defend sporting integrity.
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.”
Source : Guardian sport