Sportrader Integrity Report Shows US Games Among Safest

The latest Sportrader Integrity Report was good news for bettors of US sports. The company’s annual look at potential match-fixing showed few games played in North America were flagged as suspicious.

Despite the rise in sports betting globally, the Sportrader Integrity Report stated more than 99.5% of sporting matches monitored showed no suspicious betting activity.

The company did note 1,329 suspicious matches in 2023 out of nearly 850,000 matches monitored in 70 sports. The events that were flagged came from 11 sports taking place in 105 different countries.

The No. 1 sport for potential match fixing was soccer, with 880 suspicious matches, followed by basketball (205) and table tennis (70). Soccer also had the highest percentage of possible fixed matches, with one out of every 160 matches. Basketball saw .41% of games labeled as suspicious, with Esports showing at No. 3 with .16% of games being flagged.

Any sports that can be wagered on is a potential target for match-fixers, so Sportrader showed suspicious betting on tennis, handball, snooker and cricket, among others.

Europe saw the highest number of suspicious matches with 667. Asia was second with 302 and South America had 217. Only 35 matches played in North America were labeled as suspicious.

Live Betting Remains Popular For Match Fixing

The Sportrader Integrity Report mentioned live betting as the dominant method used in suspicious soccer matches, occurring 95% of the time. Nearly 70% of the time the bets were made in the first half. The most common type of potential fixing saw the final margin of defeat tied into the over. The second most popular type of suspicious bet involved just the over.

That’s a contradiction to basketball, where spread betting is the preferred method. The report said teams losing by a minimum margin was the most-frequent method of betting manipulation. This is where an underdog would try not to cover the point spread.

Point shaving was the second most popular, accounting for 18% of all suspicious basketball games in 2023. Shaving points still has appeal to players as they can win the game, but not cover the spread.

The report also mentioned totals, which made up 45% of potentially fixed matches. Since totals manipulation can be influenced by either team or the officials, it can be difficult to tell who was responsible for the match-fixing. That has made totals fixing an appealing proposition to some involved.

The most-used method in fixing tennis matches is bets on a particular game. These are frequently used when a player is serving. Bets for a single game make up 46% of suspicious tennis matches. They are more appealing to a player, who does not have to throw the entire match. They just have to lose a single game and can go on to win the match.

Sports Betting Basically Safe

As long as there is money to be made, there will be some fixed matches. But the gambling news from Sportrader shows sports betting is extremely safe. Each sport monitored showed fewer than 1% of matches were labeled as suspicious and just .21% of all matches were flagged for suspected manipulation.

The betting odds calculator shows that is just one out of every 467 matches taking place.

North American sports showed even a smaller percentage of problem matches than that. So you can feel safe when placing a bet that you’re getting the best the participants have to offer.

For sports news, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.

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