Global Lottery Monitoring System (GLMS) has published its Q1 2021 report, identifying Europe as the continent most responsible for suspicious betting alerts.

Overall, 323 alerts were recorded during the first quarter of 2021, with Europe the only continent demonstrating triple figures, accounting for 160 suspicious betting activity warnings.

Asia followed with 66, with South America close behind at 58, whilst North America, Africa and Oceania generated 14, eight and seven warnings respectively. A further 10 alerts were classified as “international”.

Of the 160 European alerts, football was the sport with the most suspicious wagers, reporting a total of 94 warnings, whilst basketball accounted for 30. Ice hockey, esports, tennis and volleyball and handball also witnessed suspicious betting activity.

In contrast, esports saw extensive illicit betting in Asia, with 24 alerts generated for this sector – the same number of warnings generated by football across the continent, whilst basketball also reported the second-highest activity levels at 17.

The statistics demonstrate a noticeable difference from those uncovered by the International Betting Integrity Association’s (IBIA) 2020 report, largely due to the significance of tennis in the latter’s findings.

Of the 270 cases reported by the IBIA – a 48% increase on the 2019 figure – tennis accounted for 98 alerts, with 39 handled by the International Tennis Integrity Association (ITIA).

In total, football dominated the total number of alerts sent to GLMS members at 196 in Q1 2021, followed by basketball at 56, esports at 40 and ice hockey at 15, whilst volleyball and handball generated only one each.

“As sports events globally are starting up again, as seen with March Madness in the US, we believe our lottery sports customers are going to have a great 2021,” Jennifer Welshons, Senior Vice President of Marketing of GLMS member organisation Scientific Games, said.

“We are already experiencing record weeks in Delaware in the US and in Turkey, and we are thrilled to support this with one of the most advanced sports betting platforms in the industry.

“We believe that modernization is the clear path to protecting lottery funding for the vital programs and good causes they support.”

Additionally, the organisation outlined that 188 of the 323 alerts were classified as “green alerts”, relating to factors such as team-related news, wrong starting prices, member information and situations in which a one person or entity owned a sports club and its sponsor.

A further 67 yellow alerts were reported, generated by unexplainable odds changes, tournament structure and rumours of match fixing from news outlets, betting forums and social media.

Finally, of the 323 alerts, 13 were red alerts – warnings supported by rumours of match fixing from a named source as well as unexplainable odds changes, betfair volume and tournament structure.

“The past year has presented exceptional challenges which have had a profound impact across the industry,” Edward Peace, Managing Director of Sporting Solutions, said.

“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.”