GLMS Released Its Third Quarter Alerts & Reports Statistics

The Global Lottery Monitoring System (GLMS) released its monitoring and intelligence report for the activities during the third quarter of 2020, recording a significant increase in the number of alerts for the period. The global lottery alliance against sport competition manipulation tracked 452 occasions where an alert had to be generated.

King Football Rules

The GLMS revealed that during Q3 44 matches were reported to partners of the alliance, with 41 of them being football games. The monitoring body alerted global football governing body FIFA on 11 occasions, the European football association UEFA on 15 occasions and the Swiss gambling regulator COMLOT on 15 occasions, and 19 analysis reports have been prepared upon further request from partners.

Alerts issued to members of the alliance for the three-month period ending September 30, 2020, were 452, a 116% rise year-on-year. Out of them, 400 were sent before the match start, 10 were based on in-play odds change and 42 alerts were triggered upon game completion. Some alerts were sent to more than one partner, GLMS outlined in the report.

GLMS Methodology and Classification

GLMS explained each time an irregularity in betting patterns is being detected, it generates initially an alert, which leads to thorough consultations with members of the alliance and a deep investigation for the reason that would explain the irregularity in the odds changes. If no such justification can be found and the information received from members regarding the flow of money further indicates irregularity, GLMS issues a report.

Alerts are being classified into three groups, according to the severity of the irregularity detected. A green alert is being created in cases of team-related news, motivation, same owner/sponsor, farmer club, member info, minor odd changes, and wrong starting prices. Green alerts for Q3 2020 were 307.

The yellow category is the next in terms of severity of the irregularity and it encompasses cases of member info, betfair volume, unexplainable odds changes, structure of tournament, and rumors of match-fixing. Yellow alerts during the third quarter were 89.

The third category for alert classification, red, is being activated by member info, suspicious odds changes, rumors of match-fixing from a named source, and betfair volume/patterns. The third quarter of 2020 witnessed 35 occasions of red alerts generated, 11 of which were generated pre-match or in-play, and 7 out of these 11 matches ended as expected confirming the suspicious odds movements.

Geographical Distribution of Alerts

Alerts distribution by type of sport show football games dominate all 7 global jurisdictions, Europe leading the pack with 259 out of 298 total alerts, followed by Asia with 55 out of 71, and South America, where all 26 alerts were regarding football matches.

Second ranked sport, basketball, was nowhere near football, with 13 and 15 alerts for Europe and Asia respectively, followed by North America with 7. Third place, tennis, generated 13 alerts in Europe and 7 in North America. In Europe, ice hockey also posted 13 alerts for the three-month period.

The most common reason for triggering an alert was team related news, 158, followed by significant odds change, 78, and wrong opening price, 68.