Sportradar Integrity Services Highlight the Scale of Match Fixing in Sport Over the Last 18 Months
NEW YORK and ST. GALLEN, Switzerland, Oct. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sportradar Integrity Services, a global supplier of sport integrity solutions and partner to over 100 sports federations and leagues, has detected more than 1,100 suspicious sports matches since the start of the global pandemic in April 2020, with 655 of those matches detected in the first nine months of 2021. Sportradar Integrity Services is a unit of Sportradar (NASDAQ: SRAD) (Sportradar or the Company), a leading global sports technology company.
In the last 18 months Sportradar has utilised its bet monitoring system, the Universal Fraud Detection System (UFDS), to detect suspicious activity in 12 different sports across more than 70 countries worldwide. These insights are published as Sportradar officially begins delivering its UFDS bet monitoring service free of charge, effective today, to sports federations, sports leagues, and state authorities around the world, in its continued commitment to protecting the integrity of global sport and making the system accessible to all.
According to Sportradars UFDS figures, soccer is the sport at most risk of betting related corruption with more than 500 suspicious matches detected in 2021 to date. Approximately 40% of the suspicious activities reported within domestic soccer competitions comes from third tier leagues and below, including youth level, as fixers increase their attention on lower-level matches.
Andreas Krannich, Managing Director, 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.
The rising popularity of esports has made it a target for fixers and has led to a rapid increase in the number of suspicious matches reported. Over 70 suspicious matches have been detected by the UFDS since April last year across five different game titles, with more than 40 of those suspicious matches identified since January this year.
In addition to the suspicious soccer and esports matches detected this year, Sportradars UFDS has detected suspicious activity in Tennis: 37 matches; Basketball: 19; Table Tennis: 11; Ice Hockey: 9; Cricket: 6, while suspicious activity has also been identified in Volleyball, Handball, and Beach Volleyball.
On a global level, the UFDS has detected 382 suspicious matches in Europe so far this year, with Latin America recording 115 suspicious matches in the same period. Thats followed by the Asia Pacific region with 74, Africa with 43, 10 in the Middle East and 9 in North America since the start of January 2021.
About Sportradar Integrity Service
Sportradar Integrity Services are a global supplier of monitoring, intelligence, education and consultancy solutions for sport organisations and state authorities to support them in the fight against betting-related and sports corruption. Trusted and relied on by more than 100 sports governing bodies and leagues around the world and staffed with executives who have both implemented betting policies for the worlds largest sports bodies and provided large-scale consulting services to leagues in the integrity space, they are firmly established as the unrivalled market leader in the field of sporting integrity.
About Sportradar
Sportradar is the leading global sports technology company creating immersive experiences for sports fans and bettors. Established in 2001, the company is well-positioned at the intersection of the sports, media and betting industries, providing sports federations, news media, consumer platforms and sports betting operators with a range of solutions to help grow their business. Sportradar employs more than 2,300 full time employees across 19 countries around the world. It is our commitment to excellent service, quality and reliability that makes us the trusted partner of more than 1,600 customers in over 120 countries and an official partner of the NBA, NHL, MLB, NASCAR, and FIFA. We cover more than 750,000 events annually across 83 sports. With deep industry relationships, Sportradar is not just redefining the sports fan experience; it also safeguards the sports themselves through its Integrity Services division and advocacy for an integrity-driven environment for all involved.
Source: Sportradar Group AG
Media Contact:
Sandra Lee
comms@sportradar.com
