The world of betting and match-fixing is huge and operates silently. The numbers generated, however, speak for themselves, or should we say, shout out? We can go on and on about this, but hey, let the numbers speak for themselves.
The Basic Numbers
- A record total of 1,212 suspicious matches were detected across 12 sports in 92 countries across five continents.
- Compared to 2021, this is an increase of 34%.
- 775 suspicious matches were detected in football, whereas Basketball witnessed 220 such instances, an increase of 250% against that of 2021.
Cricket & Match-Fixing
- 13 suspicious cricket matches were found, but none of them were played in India.
- In terms of overall betting turnover, IPL is the 4th biggest competition in the world with an estimated turnover of €135 million.
- Overall, cricket stands at number five in terms of sports with an estimated betting turnover of €67 billion.
Suspicious Matches By Area
- Europe: 630
- Asia: 240
- South America: 225
- Africa witnessed a rise of 82% in match-fixing, while South America saw an increase of 72%
- Lower levels of competition were significantly affected in both football and basketball with more than 50% of such activities occurring in these competitions.
- Football in 2022, had the highest number of suspicious matches as the game accounted for 64% of the total data.
Increased Betting In Other Sports
- 2019: 130 instances across nine sports
- 2022: 437 instances in 11 sports
Top Competitions by Overall Betting Turnover
- UEFA Champions League - €225 million
- English Premier League - €202 million
- Indian Premier League - €135 million
- NFL - €138 million
- Spanish La Liga - €95 million
- Italian Serie A - €89 million
- German Bundesliga - €85 million
- UEFA Europa League - €91 million
- NBA - €70 million
The Outlook
- The number of suspicious matches are likely to rise in 2023 due to economic uncertainties and a lack of integrity protections.
- Europe will continue to be the number one in this regard, while South America and Asia will be at the second spot.
- Players nearing retirement may be tempted to engage in match-fixing after the disruption of their regular income stream. This will be one of the biggest challenges in terms of match-fixing & corruption.
*All data used in this article is sourced from a report of Sportradar Integrity Services titled as Betting, Corruption & Match-Fixing in 2022.
Note From Sportradar: Figures and date in this report are not wholly representative, since Sportradar Integrity Services does not monitor every sport in the same way. For instance, some are not officially and systematically monitored and covered in a complete way in the UFDS. The data are therefore a strong indication of the true rate of match-fixing issues, but not a complete picture.
