SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) have confirmed that they received 48 alerts to suspicious betting and match-fixing during the first quarter of 2016. The figure is up by 31 from the same period in 2015, and includes one case from the Australian Open.
None of the matches or players involved were named, but the TIU did confirm that one alert came from the Australian Open and one from the WTA Tour; the other 46 cases were from lower ranking tournaments at Futures or Challenger level.
The TIU, an organisation dedicated to tackling the threat of fixed matches in Tennis, published the first of what will be a quarterly series of reports last week, but insisted that alerts are not always an indication of wrong doing. Irregular betting can be triggered by incorrect odds setting, player fatigue or injury and playing conditions.
The alerts arrive from contacts in the betting industry, and trigger a TIU investigation into whether any corruption or illegal activity is taking place. There have been 24,110 professional matches played around the world this year, meaning only 0.2% of them have been flagged by betting companies.
The TIU commented: “Every alert received by the TIU is assessed and followed up as an indicator that something inappropriate may have happened. The total of 48 alerts received during the quarter should be seen in the context of the 24,110 matches played around the world in that period, representing a tiny percentage of 0.2.”
