IBIA records 67 suspicious betting alerts in Q3 2026 and warns on Brazil

The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) recorded 67 suspicious sports betting alerts in Q3 2026, down from 76 in the previous quarter, according to its Q3 2026 integrity report. The alerts covered eight sports. The association also warned that Brazil's betting prohibition could weaken the detection of irregularities by moving demand to the illegal market.

Table tennis accounted for the most alerts, with 20 (30%), followed by football with 15 (22%), tennis with 11 (16%), cricket with nine (13%) and esports with eight (12%). The remaining alerts were greyhound racing (two), basketball (one) and badminton (one).

Three of the 11 tennis alerts were sent as intelligence reports to the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) because they were not related to events sanctioned by the main tennis circuits, although some players involved may still be subject to the ITIA's Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP). All 20 table tennis alerts concerned competitions outside the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) calendar.

Europe accounted for 64% of alerts, followed by global alerts (12%), Africa (10%), South America (9%), North America (3%) and Asia (2%). The 20 table tennis alerts were all recorded in Europe: Poland (10), Czechia (seven) and Ukraine (three). In football, South America accounted for six alerts (Ecuador three, Brazil two and Argentina one), Africa four, and the rest were spread across Europe, Asia and North America. The eight esports cases were classified as global because of the transnational nature of those competitions. Cricket recorded nine alerts, all in Europe (eight in Belgium and one in the United Kingdom).

The report includes a section on Brazil, saying the country built one of the most complete betting regulatory frameworks in the world in 21 months and deactivated it on 25 September 2026. IBIA scored the pre-prohibition framework at 77 out of 100, above Portugal (68) and below Great Britain (86), with 22/30 for regulation, 19/20 for product, 16/20 for advertising, 8/10 for integrity and 12/20 for taxation.

Between 1 January 2025 and 25 September 2026, the regulated Brazilian market had more than 80 licensed operators serving around 25 million bettors, channelled 70% of betting and gaming GGR to onshore operators, reached an annualised size of R$40,000m ($7,460m) and blocked 13,000 illegal sites, in addition to payment-blocking and advertising measures. IBIA recorded 25 alerts in Brazil in 2025, the first year of the regulated market, against an annual average of 11 between 2021 and 2024. Every federal operator was required to report suspicious bets to the regulator and join an independent integrity monitoring body.

According to IBIA, the prohibition removes the regulated offer but not the demand, with a serious impact on integrity. The association said no one is obliged to report suspicious bets on Brazilian sport, the regulator and police lose the trail of betting and account data, and the system of sporting sanctions and convictions supported by operator monitoring is put at risk. IBIA recommended reconsidering the prohibition through the ordinary legislative process, with a published impact assessment, maintaining the integrity framework and directing enforcement towards offshore operators.