The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) asserts that the factors driving betting-related match-fixing are not unique to Africa. Criminals exploit similar vulnerabilities across the globe, including poor governance, financial instability, a lack of integrity education, and insufficient reporting mechanisms. However, IBIA highlights a key distinction: the rapid development of Africa's regulated betting market and the significant variations in regulatory maturity across different jurisdictions.
According to the IBIA’s 2025 Sports Betting Integrity Report, based on data from H2 Gambling Capital, Africa's total betting gross gambling revenue is projected to rise dramatically from $3.5 billion in 2021 to $19.4 billion by 2030. The majority of this growth is expected to come from online betting, which could reach $16.4 billion by 2030, with $13 billion, or 79%, of that coming from onshore activities.
Khalid Ali, the chief executive of IBIA, views this trend as presenting not just a challenge but also a valuable opportunity. "That growth presents an opportunity as much as a challenge," Ali states. He emphasizes that digital and account-based betting creates valuable insights that licensed operators can utilize to identify suspicious activity early.
Globally, football is the top betting product, with 90% of IBIA's football alerts involving customer accounts from outside the jurisdiction where the sporting event occurs. Ali explains, "This underlines why integrity threats cannot be addressed solely at the national level. Our approach combines global monitoring with local partnerships, enabling rapid sharing of suspicious betting patterns with the relevant authorities."
When discussing the alert figures, Ali cautions against misinterpretation, stating, "It is impossible, and potentially misleading, to conclude that more alerts automatically mean more match-fixing." Between 2021 and 2025, IBIA recorded 117 alerts related to African sporting events, including 31 in 2025, a year when Africa accounted for about 10% of all alerts globally. In the first half of 2026, 17 additional alerts were noted, a number Ali considers consistent with previous rates rather than indicating an upturn. He attributes the increase in alerts to more betting activity, the entry of Africa-facing operators into international integrity monitoring networks, and the enhancement of data generation through regulated online betting. "Improved monitoring naturally increases the ability to detect suspicious patterns that may previously have gone unnoticed," he remarks.
Ali emphasizes that alerts should be viewed as intelligence requiring further investigation rather than definitive proof of manipulation. In many cases, increased alert numbers demonstrate that integrity systems are becoming more effective," he states. The real test, according to Ali, is whether authorities can quickly identify, share, and investigate suspicious activity effectively.
IBIA's data shows that the majority of alerts concerning Africa are concentrated in football and tennis. In response to a question regarding this concentration, Ali believes it reflects the areas where suspicious activity is being detected rather than where manipulation is primarily located. He clarifies, "An alert is not proof that a match has been manipulated but indicates that suspicious betting activity has been identified and should trigger an investigation by the relevant authorities."
He notes that the betting behind flagged matches often occurs outside the country hosting the events, highlighting the international nature of betting integrity. Ali stresses the importance of global monitoring, stating, "By combining account-level intelligence from operators across multiple jurisdictions, IBIA can identify cross-border betting patterns that would be difficult to detect through isolated national monitoring alone."
Some African federations have opted to restrict betting on their domestic competitions due to integrity concerns. While Ali recognizes the motivation behind these decisions, he questions whether such restrictions eliminate the betting activity or simply shift it to poorly regulated or unregulated markets. "Protecting sporting integrity is the right objective," Ali says. Yet, he argues that regulated betting offers necessary visibility that is often absent in unregulated environments. This visibility allows licensed operators to monitor account activities and report any suspicious betting through established integrity frameworks.
According to Ali, the most favorable integrity outcomes arise from well-regulated, competitive markets that maximize visibility and facilitate the detection of suspicious activity. He asserts, "Regulated betting should therefore be viewed as part of the integrity solution rather than the problem."
Ali believes that the critical issue now is not the detection of suspicious betting but the response that follows. "An alert is just the starting point of an investigation, not the conclusion," he explains. While IBIA can identify suspicious activities using provided intelligence, successful responses depend on a collaborative integrity ecosystem, which encompasses regulators, law enforcement, and sports governing bodies along with the necessary legal frameworks and investigative capabilities.
He acknowledges that the international nature of betting complicates matters. Alerts related to African events may involve accounts and operators from different regions, requiring cooperation and information sharing across multiple jurisdictions. To bridge this gap, Ali suggests improvements in legal frameworks, cross-border information sharing, and specialized investigative capacities.
Furthermore, Ali is optimistic about holistic partnerships, such as the one between IBIA and the African iGaming Alliance, which fosters collaboration with regulators, operators, and policymakers across over twenty African nations. He advocates for integrating integrity into licensing and regulatory frameworks across the continent. Emphasizing the current momentum, he believes that Africa's developing regulated markets provide an excellent opportunity to embed integrity measures in regulations from the start, which would promote confidence in both sports and regulated betting long-term. He cites Ontario and Alberta as benchmarks for best practices in requiring licensed operators to engage in integrity monitoring frameworks and promote collaboration among stakeholders.
