Day: March 3, 2022

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Match Fixing on the Rise as Global Sports Betting Turnover Surpasses €1.45 Trillion for the First Time

Sportradar Integrity Services detect record number of suspicious matches in 2021

Suspicious matches by sport.

Image provided by Sportradar AG.

LONDON and ST. GALLEN, Switzerland , March 03, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The detection of a record number of suspicious matches exposes the serious, ongoing threat match-fixing presents to the integrity of global sport at all levels as the amount of money bet on sports reached record heights in 2021. This is a key finding of a new report, ‘Betting Corruption and Match-fixing in 2021’, prepared by Sportradar Integrity Services, a global supplier of sports integrity solutions and a division of Sportradar (NASDAQ: SRAD), a leading global sports technology company.

Sportradar’s bet-monitoring service, the Universal Fraud Detection System (UFDS), uncovered suspicious activity in 903 matches last year, across 10 sports and in 76 countries worldwide. It is the highest number of suspicious matches recorded in Sportradar Integrity Services’ 17-year history — a 2.4% increase on the previous high of 882 suspicious matches recorded in 2019.

The increase in suspicious activity arose alongside record levels of global sports betting turnover, which Sportradar now estimates at more than €1.45 trillion. According to the report, in 2021 approximately €165 million was generated in match-fixing betting profit. Organized crime syndicates are funded by revenue generated from betting fraud, which can in turn finance other illicit activities. The overall sum generated through betting corruption last year may even be greater, as this figure does not include any other potential financial schemes such as money laundering.

While the number of suspicious matches detected in 2021 reached a record high, Sportradar underscored its commitment to protecting the integrity of global sport by working with its partners to support 65 sanctions: 46 sporting sanctions, 15 criminal sanctions and four sanctions that were both sporting and criminal. These were delivered in 11 countries across football and tennis, with lifetime bans handed down to eight athletes.

Andreas Krannich, Managing Director, Sportradar Integrity Services, said: “There is no easy short-term solution to the match-fixing issue, and we’re likely to see similar numbers of suspicious matches in 2022, if not more. As the market has developed, so the threat of match fixing has evolved. Now, would-be corruptors take an increasingly direct approach to match-fixing and betting corruption, with athletes messaged directly via social-media platforms.

“We can take what we observed in 2021 and ask ourselves as fans of sport, what lessons can we learn? At Sportradar, we believe in adopting a progressive approach to integrity protection, through bet monitoring and intelligence gathering. This has been proven to deliver sanctions against those involved in match-fixing. Preventative measures, such as educating athletes and stakeholders, are also crucially important in the long-term fight against match-fixing.”

Other key findings within the report include:

  • Soccer has the highest frequency of suspicious matches at a rate of one in every 201 fixtures. It is followed by esports with one in every 384 and basketball at one in 498.
  • Lower-level competitions in soccer are significantly affected. It emerged that 50% of suspicious cases in domestic leagues came from the third tier or lower, including regional and youth soccer.
  • The months of September and October saw the highest number of suspicious matches detected with 105 and 104, respectively. This corresponds with the start of the traditional soccer season.
  • Sunday is the most common day of the week for suspicious sporting fixtures to occur, accounting for 22.5% of cases, followed by Wednesday at 16.8% and Saturday at 15.6%, reflecting the large number of soccer matches played on these days of the week.

Assessing the year ahead, the report forecasts a further increase in the number of suspicious matches set to be detected in 2022.

Sportradar Integrity Services’ report into match-fixing and betting corruption serves to highlight the extent of match-fixing and the damaging effect it has on the industry. The intention is to publish the report annually in order to raise awareness of the latest and most extensive data and trends.

The company used its UFDS to monitor more than 500,000 sports matches in 2021 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.

Sportradar has made the UFDS available free of charge to all sports globally since October 2021 in an effort to ensure clean sport and to support all sports at all levels with their integrity measures and the system is now used by more than 120 sports organisations globally. Current partners include large international federations such as FIFA, UEFA, ITF, and ICC through to smaller organisations representing an individual sport in a single country.

ABOUT SPORTRADAR:
Sportradar is the leading global sports-technology company creating immersive experiences for sports fans and bettors. Established in 2001, the company is well-positioned at the intersection of the sports, media and betting industries, providing sports federations, news media, consumer platforms and sports-betting operators with a range of solutions to help grow their business. Sportradar employs more than 2,300 full-time employees across 19 countries around the world. It is our commitment to excellent service, quality and reliability that makes us the trusted partner of more than 1,600 customers in over 120 countries and an official partner of the NBA, NHL, MLB, NASCAR, FIFA, UEFA, ICC and ITF. We cover more than 750,000 events annually across 83 sports. With deep industry relationships, Sportradar is not just redefining the sports-fan experience; it also safeguards the sports themselves through its Integrity Services division and advocacy for an integrity-driven environment for all involved.

For more information about Sportradar, please visit www.sportradar.com
Source: Sportradar Group AG

Sportradar Press Contact:
Sandra Lee
comms@sportradar.com

Sportradar Investor Relations Contact:
Rima Hyder
investor.relations@sportradar.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/47ea7711-fd52-447e-92fa-8d41e98725d2

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Western Australia Finally Opens Border After COVID-19 Closure

After almost two years, Western Australia has lifted the nation’s toughest COVID-19 border controls. Double-vaccinated international and domestic travelers are now allowed in, as the so-called hermit state reconnects with the rest of the world.

For almost 700 days Western Australia was cut off from the rest of the country and the world.

Most international visitors were banned, as Australia’s largest state, which is 10 times the size of the United Kingdom, tried to isolate itself from the pandemic.

The state premier, Mark McGowan, said the tough policy had “avoided needless deaths,” but he acknowledged the pain felt by separated families and businesses.

The tough measures did keep infections low, but they were unable to stop a recent surge in omicron cases.

A total of 1,770 cases were reported Wednesday — a new record for Western Australia — but the number of hospitalizations remains relatively low.

With almost 99% of the eligible population double-vaccinated, authorities have insisted that the time is right to end border restrictions.

Dr. Mark Duncan-Smith, president of the Australian Medical Association (Western Australia), told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that the tough border strategy appears to have worked.

“What is happening here in WA [Western Australia] right now, with omicron at 1,000 cases a day, is a social experiment that has never been done in the world, and so what we are hoping for is that we will get a very, very soft landing and hopefully our hospitalization numbers will stay very low and that will be testimony to the effectiveness of those borders over the last two years, buying us that time,” he said.

Western Australia’s tough stance on border closures led to it being dubbed a “hermit kingdom.”

McGowan was compared to the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un by Alan Joyce, the CEO of Australia’s national airline, Qantas, last month. Joyce later apologized for his comments.

Other Australian states and territories imposed internal border closures during the pandemic, but those restrictions ended last year. Australia reopened its international borders to all vaccinated international travelers on Feb. 21, but Western Australia maintained its restrictions.

Passengers on the first flights from Sydney and Melbourne into the Western Australian state capital, Perth, were welcomed with gifts of toy quokkas, a small marsupial said to be the “world’s happiest animal.”

Tourism officials in Western Australia have said the reopening of domestic and international travel into the state would bring “joy” to the industry.

Australia has recorded about 2.9 million coronavirus infections since the pandemic began. More than 5,200 people have died.

Source: Voice of America

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UN Environment Summit Adopts Historic Agreement on Plastic Waste

The United Nations Environment Assembly, meeting in Nairobi, has adopted a resolution detailing what to do about plastic pollution. It calls for two years of negotiations toward a comprehensive, international treaty on the full life cycle of plastics.

Delegates from 175 countries endorsed an agreement Wednesday that addresses plastic waste.

The United Nations says 400 million tons of plastic is produced every year, and that figure is set to double by 2040.

Rwanda is one of the countries that banned plastic in its territory and is pushing for a plastic-free world.

Rwanda’s environment minister, Jeanne Mujawamariya, said her country would benefit a great deal from global regulation of the use of plastics.

“If adopted, the creation of a legally binding instrument would be greatly significant for countries like Rwanda, where we have made good progress,” she said. “Systematic global change is needed if we are to clean up the current mess, develop sustainable alternatives and make them affordable.”

The debate surrounding plastic pollution has been on the U.N. agenda since 2012.

Recycling has remained one of the effective ways of reducing plastics. The Environmental Investigation Agency, an environmental nonprofit organization, said the existing method of managing plastic is not sustainable.

Less than 10% of plastic that has been produced is being recycled, 76% is discarded into landfills, and experts warn its production will triple by 2050.

Amina Mohammed, the United Nations deputy secretary-general, told the meeting attendees not to fear a future without plastic.

“While we have learned to recycle plastic, we need a far more robust approach to tackle this enormous problem and ensure systemic change through strong action upstream and downstream,” Mohammed said. “We must be ambitious and move faster to win this battle. This is going to require genuine collaborations and partnerships with a shared vision.

The fight against plastic pollution aims to reduce plastic going into the oceans by 80% by the end of the year 2040 and create 700,000 jobs by that time.

Jane Patton, the plastic and petrochemicals campaign manager at the Center for International Environmental Law, told VOA the agreement will mandate that companies producing plastics manage the waste being emitted.

“The resolution specifically calls for a legally binding instrument, which is good, as we have seen the companies that are producing this plastic waste and putting it into the environment, they don’t follow through commitments unless they are legally bound to do that,” she said. “And so, we are excited to see that the treaty will have both a mandatory and voluntary commitments by government, and that will affect companies to address this problem.”

The head of the U.N. Environment Program, Inger Andersen, said adopting the plastic treaty is the most important international environmental agreement since the 2016 Paris climate accord took effect.

Source: Voice of America