The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA), All-In Diversity Project (AIDP), Entain, Flutter and Stats Perform are set to unveil the results of a new study on women's sports at iGB Live this year.
The 2023 edition of iGB Live will take place from 12-14 July in the RAI, Amsterdam.
The study is entitled Breaking Barriers: Assessing Women’s Sports Growth, Betting Trends and Integrity Challenges. It was conducted by the German Sport University Cologne.
The results will be presented by Henry Steinfeldt, professor at the German Sport University Cologne on 12 July at the event. This will then be followed by a discussion with Vasileios Bountzouklis, commercial manager of betting at Stats Perform and Silvia Paleari, director of public affairs at IBIA, which will be chaired by Christina Thakor-Rankin, co-founder of the AIDP.
The study examines economic developments across five women’s sports – soccer, cricket, tennis, basketball and volleyball. It also looks at betting trends across women’s sports, as well as integrity measures.
Rise in women’s sports
Khalid Ali, CEO of IBIA, said that the study is essential to understanding the rise in women’s sports.
“Women’s sport has moved from the margins to the mainstream – it is the future of sport and sports betting,” he said. “That is why understanding the transformation of women’s sports and what it means for the sports betting market and sports integrity is so important.”
“With the Women’s Football World Cup due to start in July, this is a great moment to kick off the conversation about women’s sports, betting and integrity. We look forward to presenting the results of the study at iGB Live.”
Thakor-Rankin said that the prevalence of women’s sports has major implications for all areas of the industry.
“The rise in women’s sport is bringing in a new, younger and more female generation of sports bettors whose attitude and approach to betting is very different to male bettors,” she said. “This has implications not just for sports integrity, but also trading practices, market making and safe gambling.
“By understanding what this new and rapidly evolving landscape looks like we put ourselves in the best possible position to keep customers, sports betting operators, athletes and sport safe for all.”
Dr Sören Dallmeyer, professor at the German Sport University added that the study aimed to identify key aspects of growth and integrity threats.
“As women’s sports continue to gain popularity, so does the expansion of sports betting within this domain,” said Dallmeyer. “One of our roles as a research institution is to study this rapid growth closely.
“Based on existing scientific evidence and data, we aim to identify where threats to the sport’s integrity may arise and determine the most effective strategies to counteract these challenges.”
