Brazil focused operator galera.bet joins betting integrity body IBIA

August 2, 2023

Galera.bet, a sports betting brand of Match Time Solutions B.V., has joined the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA). The online operator is primarily focused on Brazil and this decision fulfils its regulatory obligation, under the recently published Provisional Measure, to join an international body for monitoring sports integrity. Galera.bet is an official sponsor of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the Brazilian Basketball Confederation and Brazilian 3×3 Basketball Tour. The operator joins nearly 50 companies and over 125 leading sports betting brands in IBIA, further strengthening its position as the world’s leading operator-run integrity monitoring body.

IBIA announced its expansion into Brazil earlier this year ahead of the expected regulation of the market. The Brazilian government’s subsequent Provisional Measure, published on 25 July, includes a requirement for licensed operators to be part of an international body for monitoring sports integrity.

According to H2 Gambling Capital – the leading independent authority on global gambling market data – IBIA members are estimated to already account for over 60% of the Brazilian remote gambling market. That leading market position will enable IBIA to provide a highly accurate analysis and effective deterrent against betting related fraud, making it uniquely positioned to support a crack-down on match-fixing in Brazil.

Galera.bet is committed to working in partnership with IBIA to prevent and detect corruption in sport, and to offer a reliable product to its customers. Marcos Sabiá, CEO of galera.bet said: “We are honoured to work with IBIA and to be able to reinforce our purpose of developing business with integrity as our priority. We believe that collaboration between partners is extremely important to protecting the integrity of sport and betting markets from corruption. We hope this is the beginning of a long and successful partnership.”

Khalid Ali, CEO of IBIA, said: “We welcome galera.bet’s decision to join IBIA which further strengthens IBIA’s position ahead of the Brazilian market opening. It recognises the unique benefits of IBIA’s operator-run integrity monitoring network and its ability to track members’ individual consumer transactional activity, rather than just analysing simple odds movements. No other sports integrity solution provides access to this data which covers over US$137bn in annual betting turnover, making IBIA the largest and most effective integrity network of its kind globally.”

IBIA is a not-for-profit body that has no competing conflicts with the delivery of commercial services to other sectors and is run by operators for operators to protect regulated sports betting markets, especially for sports and consumers, from match-fixing. IBIA’s global monitoring network is a highly effective anti-corruption tool, detecting and reporting suspicious activity in regulated betting markets. Through the IBIA monitoring network, it is possible to track transactional activities linked to individual customer accounts.

Responsible regulated sports betting operators have a significant incentive to help crack-down on match-fixing and IBIA intends to be at the forefront of that preventative action in Brazil. As part of that process, IBIA has signed a sports betting integrity protection agreement with the Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gaming (IBJR). IBIA will be providing integrity services for its members licensed in Brazil and is open to membership applications from other operators seeking to be active in this and other markets.

All IBIA members are required to pass a strict due diligence process and commit to its code of conduct. The association recently released its Q2 integrity report detailing 50 alerts reported in the quarter. IBIA reported 268 alerts to the authorities in 2022, with successful sporting or criminal sanctions against 15 teams, officials or players where IBIA had reported suspicious activity on their matches.