More than two in five British sports or esports bettors say match-fixing influences what they bet on, according to a new YouGov Direct poll that looks at how the issue affects betting behaviours and viewership.
Data shows 26% of Brits who have bet on sports or esports say match-fixing – where the outcome of a match is fixed in advance to ensure a particular outcome – has some influence on what they place money on, while 17% say it has a lot of influence. Three in ten of this betting group say it has no influence at all (31%).
YouGov ran an identical survey in the US, which lets us look at differences between the UK, a mature sport betting market, and the US, in which sports betting is becoming more widespread thanks to cascading state-level law changes. Among US sport gamblers, 33% say the issue has a lot of influence, while 22% say it has some. A quarter say it has no influence at all (24%).
Survey results show Britain’s sport gamblers are most likely to think match fixing happens in boxing on a regular basis (47%), followed by horse racing (43%), and football (42%). Other sports on our survey list include cricket (30%), tennis (21%), esports (19%), Formula 1 (17%), rugby (15%), and golf (12%).
In the US, boxing also appears in the top spot (35%), followed by American football (27%), and horse racing (26%), baseball (23%) and mixed martial arts (22%).
Recently, Sportradar Integrity Services found 1,100 suspicious matches and the firm suggests it is a rising issue since the COVID-19 pandemic started. This may be a result of the commercial hit sports organizations took in the last year and a half thanks to government-mandated closures, as well as an increase in the use of digital communication, making it easier for fixers to recruit officials.
The rise of esports and betting around it has also made it an increasingly popular target for fixers. More than 70 suspicious matches across five different game titles have been detected by Sportradar since April 2020.
And few British sport gamblers think the issue is going away. A quarter say the amount of match fixing in professional sport is increasing (24%), while a third think it’s staying the same (33%). Just 8% think it’s decreasing.
Who should be responsible for addressing the issue?
Half of bettors say it’s up to sport governing bodies to tackle match fixing (49%), while 15% say it’s the responsibility of government or law enforcement. In 2020, a Sport Integrity Forum was launched with the backing of The Department for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport. Relatively few sport bettors in Britain think it’s up to the teams (13%) or leagues (5%).
Gambling aside, this issue affects general viewership, our survey finds. A healthy majority of Brits in general say match-fixing would turn them off watching the sport (71%), while 9% say it would not. One in five say they're not sure (20%).
Methodology: YouGov polled 1,200 British adults online on October 20, 2021 between 4:27 p.m. and 11:17 p.m. BST. The survey was carried out through YouGov Direct. Data is weighted by age, gender, education level, region, and social grade. Results are nationally representative of adults in Great Britain. The margin of error is 2.8% for the overall sample. YouGov polled 1,200 US adults online on October 20, 2021 between 11:28 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. The survey was carried out through YouGov Direct. Data is weighted by age, gender, education level, political affiliation, and ethnicity. Results are nationally representative of adults in the United States. The margin of error is 2.8 for the overall sample.
