A significant increase in suspicious betting activity was confirmed by the Global Lottery Monitoring System revealing that there were 452 match-fixing alerts in the third quarter of 2020. Of the 452 alerts received by the monitoring system 44 required further investigation. The increase was a year-on-year rise of 116.3% causing concern for operators and regulators. The level of unexplained incidents went up by 91.3% compared to the third quarter of 2019.
Sorting out the 44 unexplained issues it was reported that 41 of them are regarding soccer or what in Europe is called football. The administrator of European football, The Union of European Football Associations received 15 of those reports, and 11 went to the governing body of world soccer, the Federation Internationale de Football Association FIFA which boasts 209 members. Swiss gambling regulator received 15 reports, while12 alerts were received by other authorities.
Of the total 452 alerts that the GLMS generated, 400 of them came before the games started. Ten of them arrived during play and 42 were generated after the games were over. 158 of the alerts were related to team news, with 78 alerts recognized as significant changes in odds. Wrong opening prices accounted for 68 alerts, while 42 of the incidents related to changes in odds that required more investigation.
Other than soccer, basketball alerts were highest on the list with 34, after that tennis, ice hockey, American football, esports, and baseball. Most of the possible problems, 298 originated in Europe with 71 alerts in Asia, 38 in North America, 26 in South America, ten in Africa and six more alerts in Oceania.
Ludovico Calvi the GLMS president said he has concerns that the threat of match-fixing could grow as a result of the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said that the impact of the crisis “may increase the level of risk-taking and vulnerability of athletes and sport stakeholders.”
