The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) has identified esports as the largest source of suspicious betting alerts during the second quarter of 2026, as the regulator expands its oversight of integrity risks linked to online competitions.
The Authority’s Sports Betting Integrity Q2 Report said esports accounted for 54% of suspicious betting activity reported by the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) during the period.
The IBIA recorded 76 suspicious betting alerts globally in Q2, up from 70 during the first quarter. Its monitoring network covers more than 90 operators, over 200 betting brands and an estimated $300bn in annual sports betting turnover.
Esports events are generally classified internationally because competitions and participants are frequently spread across multiple jurisdictions. Their digital format can also create different monitoring challenges from traditional sports, particularly where tournament governance, player identities and data standards vary between competitions.
Europe accounted for 24 of the IBIA’s Q2 alerts. These included five football cases in Kosovo, five darts alerts in the UK and four greyhound racing cases in Ireland. Football, tennis, cricket, table tennis and volleyball were also represented across the region.
The quarterly update was published after the MGA instructed licensees to increase monitoring during the FIFA World Cup, which ran from 11 June to 19 July. Operators were required to report suspicious activity without delay through the Authority’s Suspicious Betting Reporting Mechanism and maintain a designated Sports Integrity Point of Contact.
Malta-licensed operators have been subject to mandatory suspicious betting reporting requirements since 2021. The reporting system allows the regulator to filter information before sharing relevant alerts with sports governing bodies, law enforcement agencies, integrity organisations and other regulators.
Sports betting integrity is one of the MGA’s three core supervisory themes for 2026, alongside compliance and player protection. Its planned work includes focused reviews of athletes betting on their own sports and risks connected to esports markets.
The Authority’s 2025 annual report showed that it received 280 suspicious betting reports from licensees, circulated 192 alerts following risk-based assessment and supported 66 investigations globally.
Earlier this month, the MGA reported that it issued 19 gaming licences in 2025 while expanding its supervisory activity across player protection, AML/CFT and sports integrity.
The IBIA’s monitoring platform covers more than 1.5 million sporting events each year across retail and online betting markets
