SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The International Betting Integrity Agency (IBIA) has enhanced its global reach and presence via the addition of Gaming1, a prominent Belgian gaming operator.
Part of the Argent Group, Gaming1 maintains a large portfolio focusing on the European and American markets, including both retail and online sports betting brands such as Circus and Zamba.
Gaming1’s brands will feed into the IBIA’s global monitoring and alert platform, joining a range of international firms operating in regulated markets.
“I’m very pleased to welcome another leading name in the regulated betting sector into our association, further strengthening IBIA’s position as the largest customer transaction-based integrity monitoring system in the world,” said Khalid Ali, CEO of IBIA.
“The inclusion of Gaming1’s diverse range of sports betting brands significantly enhances our monitoring capabilities.”
The IBIA’s members currently account for around $173 billion of annual global betting turnover, and nearly 50% of all regulated commercial gambling activity.
Additionally, the association will maintain its longstanding information sharing partnerships with sports and gambling regulators, utilising data to prosecute those involved in betting related corruption, and representing the industry’s integrity activities to the United Nations, Council of Europe, European Commission and the IOC.
“Betting integrity is increasingly becoming a central part of the licensing and regulatory process in markets around the world,” added Sylvain Boniver, COO & Co-Founder of Gaming1.
“We believe that it is vital that betting operators work together to harness their unique market data and intelligence gathering capabilities to meet the concerns of regulators and to protect consumers and sports from corruption.
“IBIA, as the leading global body on integrity for regulated operators, is the perfect partner for Gaming1 and the achievement of our market and player protection aims.”
The integration of Gaming1 follows the February’s announcement that integrity and corruption threats to betting, as well as sports in general, had increased significantly throughout 2020.
Speaking at the time, Khalid Ali described 2020 as a ‘turbulent year for many sectors, including the betting industry’, both due to the COVID-19 pandemic but also the rise in the number of suspicious alerts, with a total increase of 48%, whilst football alone recorded a 25% rise.
Tennis and football accounted for the largest number of alerts for the year, at 98 and 61 respectively, representing 59% of total suspicious activity warnings, although this was actually a decrease from the 2019 figure, which Ali attributed to emergence of ‘new sports tournaments and competitions’.
