Sportradar issued its second annual report, 'Betting Corruption and Match-fixing in 2022'

2024-12-22 11:35:57 Sports

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New Delhi, India 23 March 2023 ? Sportradar Integrity Services, a unit of Sportradar (NASDAQ: SRAD) and a global supplier of sports integrity solutions, has today issued its second annual report, 'Betting Corruption and Match-fixing in 2022', revealing the company identified 1,212 suspicious matches in total in 2022, within 12 sports and in 92 countries from the 850,000 matches the company now monitors across 70+ sports globally.

While reflecting an increase of 34% from 2021, the total number of suspicious matches indicates that match-fixing occurs at a low percentage within global sport. Overall, the data confirms that 99.5% of sporting events are free from match-fixing, with no single sport having a suspicious match ratio greater than 1%.

Advancements in Sportradar's Artificial Intelligence (AI), integrated with the Universal Fraud Detection System (UFDS), has helped to detect 438 of these matches. The application of this technology in the system has increased the amount of data points processed for every single match the company monitors to 500+ including odds, turnover, and statistical data related to the game state. This processing is happening continuously through the life cycle of a match's betting markets, from the moment it is first offered to the moment it ends. Annually, this equates to analysing 30 billion odds changes from 600+ betting operators.

AI also analyses account-level betting data to help confirm otherwise undetectable micro-level suspicious betting activity. The model is periodically retrained on the latest data to ensure it can evolve and detect new methods of match-fixing. When all markets are settled, the model computes a prediction as to whether the match is potentially suspicious or not ? providing our expert analysts with all the necessary information required to make an informed decision.

In addition to advances in technology, in 2022, the number of criminal and sporting sanctions the company supported its partners with also increased from 72 to 169, up 135% from 2021, reflecting a focus by leagues and federations to address the threat that match-fixing presents to the integrity of sport. Using Sportradar Integrity Services' findings as evidence, sanctions were imposed by sport federations or criminal courts on those deemed guilty of cheating sport and breaking the law.

Key findings from Sportradar's integrity report are as follows:

The AI model developed by Sportradar for its UFDS in 2022 directly identified 438 suspicious matches (36% of annual total), leveraging the vast amount of data the company already has on suspicious betting activity and reflecting the important role that technology can play in the monitoring process.
Soccer continued to have the highest number of suspicious matches (775), but one of the key trends of 2022 was the sharp rise in suspicious basketball matches (220), which increased by approximately 250% compared to 2021.

Europe continues to see the highest number of suspicious matches (630) followed by Asia (240) and South America (225) in total across all sports. Compared to 2021, the number of suspicious matches has risen in each region except North America and Oceania.

The trend from 2021 of lower-level competitions being affected has continued. In 2022, 52% of suspicious soccer matches came from the third tier or lower, including regional leagues and youth competitions.

Andreas Krannich, Managing Director, Sportradar Integrity Services, said: "We've taken an even more pro-active approach to uncovering match-fixing in 2022, from implementing a new AI model to developing more formal working relationships with bookmakers through the launch of our Integrity Exchange, which resulted in more than 300 alerts.

"Our technology enables us to monitor more matches on a deeper level, providing more precise and accurate insights to help aid partners, clients and the wider sports industry in efforts to safeguard sporting events from corruption. We look forward to supporting even more sports federation and law enforcement partners in 2023."

Sportradar Integrity Services used its UFDS to monitor more than 850,000 sports matches in 2022 and to provide an in-depth analysis of the match-fixing landscape. As a large representative sample size, it can be taken as a strong indication of the true rate of match-fixing globally. The annual report serves to highlight the extent of match-fixing and raise awareness of the latest and most extensive data and trends.

ABOUT SPORTRADAR INTEGRITY SERVICES:

Sportradar Integrity Services is a leading supplier of monitoring, intelligence, education, and consultancy solutions for sports organisations, state authorities, and law enforcement agencies to support them in the fight against match-fixing and corruption. Trusted and relied on by more than 150 sports organisations and state authorities around the world and staffed with executives who have both implemented betting policies for the world's largest sports bodies and provided large-scale consulting services to leagues in the integrity space, we are firmly established as the unrivalled market leader in the field of sporting integrity.

ABOUT SPORTRADAR:

Sportradar (NASDAQ: SRAD), founded in 2001, is a leading global sports technology company creating immersive experiences for sports fans and bettors. Positioned at the intersection of the sports, media and betting industries, the company provides sports federations, news media, consumer platforms and sports betting operators with a best-in-class range of solutions to help grow their business. As the trusted partner of organizations like the NBA, NHL, MLB, NASCAR, UEFA, FIFA, Bundesliga, ICC and ITF, Sportradar covers close to a million events annually across all major sports. With deep industry relationships and expertise, Sportradar is not just redefining the sports fan experience, it also safeguards sports through its Integrity Services division and advocacy for an integrity-driven environment for all involved.   