GLMS flag 23 suspicious sporting matches in Q1

Matches were flagged as suspicious if odds movement concerning them appeared irregular.

16 of the 23 match alerts concerned football matches, with seven alerts being sent to UEFA and four to FIFA.

Three alerts were sent to the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU, now the International Tennis Integrity Agency), two to the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) and two to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) – eight alerts were sent to various other governing bodies.

On the whole, 323 alerts were generated, compared to the 135 sent during the same period last year. Of these, 244 before a match started, 69 for post match and 10 in-play.

188 of these alerts were classed as green, which refers to alerts based on suspicious odds movements that later could be explained away. Just 13 were deemed code red, which concern the most serious alerts such as specific allegations of match-fixing.

Football was the sport that triggered the most alerts with 196, followed by basketball with 56 and e-sports with 40.

Team news was the most common cause of triggering alerts, doing so on 125 occasions.

Significant odds changes and requests generated 55 alerts apiece, wrong opening priced caused 30 alerts, whilst odds changes that need further investigation caused 27 alerts.

GLMS managing director of sporting solutions Edward Peace said:

“The past year has presented exceptional challenges which have had a profound impact across the industry. Our response has been guided by a commitment to do the right thing for our people and partners, reflecting a set of company values that long pre-dates the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We worked hard on event and competition integrity, both internally and with external providers, to ensure new content that filled the COVID-19 void was is in line with our high standards.”