SPORTRADAR DETECTS 1, one hundred SUSPICIOUS SPORTS FITS SINCE START ASSOCIATED WITH PANDEMIC

Source : Ayo News

Sportradar Integrity Services says it detected over 1,100 suspicious sports matches since the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020. 

During the 18 months since the start of the pandemic, Sportradar has been using its bet monitoring system, the Universal Fraud Detection System (UFDS), to detect suspicious activity in 12 different sports across more than 70 countries. According to the service, which is a unit of global sports tech company Sportradar, 655 of the suspicious matches were detected in the first nine months of 2021. 

The company published the insights yesterday, 13 October 2021, as it officially began delivering its UFDS monitoring service free of charge, to sports federations, sports leagues, and state authorities globally. 

Based on UFDS statistics, soccer is the sport most at risk of corruption, with over 500 suspicious matches detected so far this year. Around 40% of the suspicious activities related to domestic soccer competitions from third tier leagues and lower, including youth level – reflecting the fact that fixers have been shifting their attention to lower level matches. 

Andreas Krannich, Managing Director, Integrity Services at Sportradar, explained: “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.”

As esports rapidly gains popularity, it has also become a bigger target for fixers, with Sportradar recording a significant increase in the number of suspicious match reports. In total, more than 70 suspicious esports matches were detected by UFDS since April 2020, across five game titles. 

UFDS also detected suspicious activity in tennis (37 reports), basketball (19), table tennis (11), ice hockey (9), cricket (6), volleyball, handball, and beach volleyball. Geographically, so far this year, UFDS detected 382 suspicious matches in Europe, 115 in Latin America, 74 in Asia Pacific, 43 in Africa, 10 in the Middle East, and 9 in North America. 

Staying with Sportradar, yesterday we reported the company had been named Official Data Distribution and Official Betting Live Streaming Partner of the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Source : Ayo