FIFA+ livestreams fuel global in-play betting markets for illegal operators

An investigation by Play the Game has revealed that illegal betting companies are using FIFA’s own in-house streaming platform to offer risky betting on swathes of low-level matches, which provide easy routes for match-fixers to make money.

FIFA+ offers live-streams of thousands of games from around the world. Typically, these are low-level games where the organisers are unable to find a commercial buyer for the broadcast rights, and instead allow FIFA to stream them. 

Play the Game’s investigation found in-play betting on the websites of illegal betting operators on a host of low-level games on FIFA+ from Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Curaçao and Dominica to Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania and the Seychelles. 

These games are amateur or at best semi-professional, and federations and leagues typically do not have robust mechanisms to monitor the betting markets, conduct investigations, and impose proper disciplinary action on anyone suspected of match-fixing. 

Hundreds of matches are offered by illegal betting companies

Over a fortnight in late October and early November 2025, Play the Game used a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to check if low-level games being streamed on FIFA+ were available for in-play betting and found over 100 fixtures. 

Most of these games were being offered by betting companies, which are considered illegal according to Article 3 of the Council of Europe’s Macolin Convention, as they offer bets in jurisdictions where they do not have a licence.

In-play bets cover events during a game, ranging from the number of goals during a specific period to yellow or red cards. These types of bets are easier to manipulate than an entire result. When illegal operators offer the bets, they pose an integrity risk. 

“There is no doubt that the inclusion of this content significantly increases the chances of manipulation,” said Ben Patterson, an iGaming, sports data and sports betting integrity expert, who has previously worked in senior integrity roles at SportRadar, Genius and IMG over the last 15 years.

In places where in-play betting is being offered on low-level games that are also being streamed, suspicions exist. There has recently been concerns about unusual occurrences during games on one Caribbean island, where club fixtures are regularly streamed on FIFA+ and Facebook.

One former senior official at the association told Play the Game: “I have always had suspicions about this especially some of the decisions and results in some local games in recent times. If this is happening I wish all could be unmasked. We may very well have to look at some coaches and match officials for answers.”

FIFA+ will be relaunched with Saudi backing

FIFA+ is an appealing option for smaller national associations looking to attract more interest in their domestic football matches, and it is about to get a major commercial boost.

FIFA takes on the cost and responsibility for streaming their games on FIFA+, and the football federations are typically promised future revenue. Smaller federations that Play the Game spoke to have yet to receive any money, but FIFA+ is about to be relaunched following an agreement that will increase the influence of Saudi Arabia, the 2034 World Cup hosts. 

FIFA+ will be turned into a ‘Global Home of Football’ in a deal between the world body and the streaming and on-demand platform DAZN, which in February 2025 sold a 10% stake in the business to Surj Sports Investment, the sports investment unit of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund (PIF), for a reported 1billion US dollars.
 
According to FIFA’s website, the new platform will ‘combine live and on-demand top-tier football content, highlights and exclusive behind-the-scenes access from more than 100 men’s and women’s national teams and club leagues.’

Betting operators need scouts to collect live information

Offering bets on games being broadcast on a live stream is risky for betting operators because these streams are typically 10 seconds behind the actual action, and often significantly longer. This delay means anyone at the actual matches can cheat the betting operators by getting a bet on before their markets have been updated.

To avoid this problem, betting companies buy up-to-date data from commercial companies, which send scouts to the actual games to collect live match information. The in-play betting on low-level games identified in Play the Game's investigation is facilitated by data from these data companies.

Without data scouts at the actual games, these matches would not be available on betting markets, as betting companies would not take the risk of offering games where there was a large time delay between the action and the livestream. 

Ben Patterson adds: “In the absence of these live data collectors, it would not really be feasible to offer betting. So, yes, this actively significantly increases the threat.”

FIFA+ streams are used for betting all over the world

Play the Game found low-level games from Africa to Asia and the Caribbean on FIFA+  available for in-play betting. In some cases, streams of games from FIFA+ were also being used directly on the betting operators' websites.

In Aruba, for example, games from the Division di Honor are routinely streamed on FIFA+. These matches are also offered on legal and illegal offshore betting websites around the world. 

1xBet, a Russian-controlled, Cypriot-based offshore operator, banned or unable to obtain a licence in numerous countries around the world, including Australia, Belgium, France and Morocco, regularly uses the same livestream as featured on FIFA+.

Screenshot from a club game from Aruba on offer for in-play betting on 1xBet, including a stream of the game being used on FIFA+. 

The United Kingdom's gambling authority kicked 1xBet out in 2019 for operating a ‘porn hub’. In 2024, 242 1xBet brands were banned in Colombia for operating illegally, and the operator continues to work with adult film actress Eva Elfie as a brand ambassador.

Other illegal companies, including 22Bet, also offer in-play bets on Aruban club football, as do many other larger operators with applicable licences to offer bets in the country where they operate.

Screenshot showing a club game from Aruba on offer for in-play betting with illegal operator 22Bet (left) and other licensed operators around the world (right).

The Arubaanse Voetbal Bond confirmed to Play the Game that it did not know that betting was available on these games or that the stream was being accessed by illegal betting companies for use on their websites.

The same problem was evident in the Seychelles, where matches in the local Premier League are routinely offered on 1xBet with a livestream taken from FIFA+. The Seychelles Football Federation had no idea betting was available on these games and told Play the Game they “did not have a clue what this is all about.” 

Screenshot from a recent club game from the Seychelles on offer for in-play betting on 1xBet with the option for a livestream of the game.

In South East Asia, Laos has had regular problems with match-fixing, including 45 players banned in 2022, yet FIFA+ streams large numbers of domestic league games, which are also offered on illegal betting websites. At some matches, hoardings and FIFA+ stream adverts were even sponsored by a leading data company, Genius Sports, but Genius Sports did not respond to requests for comment.

Screenshot from FIFA+ showing how a recent club game from Laos included advertising from data company, Genius Sports.

The safety of live streams is notoriously weak

Football associations with matches on FIFA+ that were approached by Play the Game had no idea that FIFA+ streams were being hijacked, but the security of live sports streams is notoriously weak. 

Live streams are controlled by a system known as the Content Delivery Network, but the network can be easily hacked unless it is protected by encryption. This hacking is a process known as CDN-leeching. 

“Where there are security vulnerabilities, the pirates will just steal directly from the CDN,” says Chris White, chief architect at Friend MTS, which works with companies to protect against web piracy. 

“Most decent OTT [over-the-top] platforms will have digital rights management to encrypt the broadcast. There are levels, and the pirates will pick the one with the weakest security and the biggest holes.”

Positions as data scouts have proliferated

Illegal betting companies have been hijacking streams of live football since federations first began streaming live games on Facebook or YouTube. 

For example, matches from the Solomon Islands’ S-League were made available on the Solomon Islands Football Federation’s (SIFF) Facebook page in 2022. Asian-facing bookmakers began to offer the games for live betting on their websites, accompanied by a hijacked stream from the SIFF’s Facebook page. Play the Game’s new investigation also found matches from the SIFF Super League in the Solomon Islands in-play on 1XBet. 

Screenshot from an Asian-facing illegal betting website with a hijacked stream of club football in the Solomon Islands.

As more sports began streaming their games for free, data companies soon realised that betting companies needed information faster than the livestream and began looking to recruit scouts in countries from where lower-level sport was freely streamed. 

One short-lived Danish company, SportsModule, sought to recruit scouts for sports ranging from football in the Solomon Islands and the British Virgin Islands to cricket in Chile and Finland, which were all being streamed live. SportsModule ceased trading, but other data companies are widely recruiting scouts.

The expansion of matches on FIFA+, which live streams thousands of games a year, has exacerbated this problem but also created opportunities for data companies.

Last year, Genius Sports advertised a vacancy for a ‘sports statistician’ in Honiara in the Solomon Islands. The job description described the company as “driving the connection between sports, betting, and media on a global scale.” The sports statistician was entitled to a base pay of 50 euros per match. 

The leagues identified by Play the Game typically do not have any agreement to sell their data rights, and do not appear to know that scouts are attending their games. However, Sportradar, Genius Sports and Stats Perform, the three leading data companies, have recruited scouts in every corner of the world, including many territories with livestreams freely available on FIFA+.

Play the Game found that Stats Perform has a vacancy in Mauritania; Genius Sports recruits ‘football data collectors’ or ‘sports statisticians’ in Burundi, Malawi, Liberia, Tanzania and Curaçao. In the past, Genius Sports also hired scouts in Ethiopia, Niger and Burundi. 

Screenshots of excerpts from adverts for football data scouts in countries where club games are being streamed live on FIFA+

Earlier this year, a data scout known to work for Stats Perform placed an advert on Facebook seeking to recruit scouts in the Seychelles to cover football, futsal, basketball, volleyball and handball. The pay was 30-40 Euros per match, depending on the sport and league. A source at the Seychelles Football Federation told Play the Game it had no knowledge of scouts attending SIFF club games.

Sportradar denies supplying 1xBet with FIFA+ streams

FIFA+ also streams games from Italy’s third-tier Serie C. There have been regular problems with corruption at this level. In September 2025, Crotone was placed under judicial administration after being infiltrated by the mafia and in October 2025, a Serie C referee was arrested for heading up an illegal betting scheme.

Sportradar holds the data rights to Serie C exclusively. Clubs at this level are encouraged to help SportRadar protect the exclusivity - and value - of the data by rejecting applications for media accreditation by foreign media. In some cases, journalists are even asked to provide passport details, yet they are still rejected due to fears that some are collecting and transmitting match data for betting that breaks the exclusivity of Sportradar’s deal.

A Sportradar notice about data collection at a Serie C stadium

Serie C games broadcast on FIFA+ appear on illegal betting websites, including 1xBet. 

In response to questions for this article, SportRadar says: “Sportradar has not supplied 1xBet with any Serie C data.” 

“From your research, you will no doubt be aware that while Sportradar holds the exclusive rights to this property, other market participants actively collect data from this competition. Furthermore, Serie C matches are publicly live-streamed, and multiple open sources exist from which data can be obtained. Sportradar has no knowledge of how 1xBet is sourcing its data for these competitions.” 

Data companies have dubious dual roles

Sportradar is FIFA’s own integrity partner and, like all the data companies, works with sports to protect the game while also selling data from lower-level games. 

At the 2025 Play the Game conference in Tampere, Finland, Nick Raudenski, the former head of integrity at both FIFA and UEFA, addressed the dual role of data companies in offering integrity services while also enabling betting on lower-level games and collectively labelled these companies as “data wolves in sheep’s integrity clothing”.

Raudenski said, “Should they be at the table for enforcement and oversight? These entities won’t burn down their own house. They will simply put out enough smoke to make it look like they have a comprehensive, robust integrity programme.” 

Speaking to Play the Game after the conference, Ben Patterson added: “If you consider these integrity companies simply as an integrity organisation there to protect sports and athletes, then no, they should not be undertaking any activity which clearly increases the threat of match-fixing. “

“Unfortunately, these companies are not there solely to protect the integrity of the sport – they are data companies whose primary activity is the provision of data and services to the betting industry, obviously for profit. The live data from these events is likely sold to hundreds of bookmakers across the globe, and it appears that the integrity of these events is a secondary consideration.”

Like Genius Sports, StatsPerform did not respond to questions for this article either, but Sportradar said: 

“Sportradar would not be able to offer integrity services to detect suspicious matches and support investigations, without being able to conduct its data business. The company’s role as a betting and integrity services provider uniquely positions Sportradar to combat not only match-fixing but also online abuse and doping as well as other integrity issues in sports”

The statement continued: “Sportradar’s business model relies on clean and fair sports, aligning its interests and its dedication to maintaining trust, with those of regulated betting operators and sports organisations.”

FIFA declines to answer questions about the protection of streams

FIFA+ is being commercialised, and streams of games are sometimes preceded by adverts ranging from singing star Céline Dion promoting make-up brand Charlotte Tilbury to commercials for coffee giant Starbucks. However, Play the Game’s investigations suggest that the platform is providing more opportunities for illegal betting companies than opportunities for the small federations whose games are being broadcast.

Screenshot of an advert for Charlotte Tilbury make-up on FIFA+.

To protect streams of games on FIFA+ from piracy, sports actors need to tighten their own protection, but sport lags behind other sectors in terms of protecting its intellectual property.

Chris White of Friend MTS explains that the big Hollywood movies have been at the forefront of this technology for years. 

He says: “Live sports rights owners are slowly catching up, but they are not where the Hollywood studios are. The studios are good at making you follow the rules.”

Associations whose games are being streamed should also be educating clubs and players. 

Ben Patterson adds: “I would hope that the inclusion of their competitions in these streaming packages would lead the relevant associations to run properly designed educational courses for all of their participants.”

However, federations from the Caribbean to Africa confirmed to Play the Game that they did not know the consequences of FIFA+ streaming their games, including the presence of data scouts at matches and the games being offered for betting on illegal markets.

Play the Game put a number of questions to FIFA for this article, including how FIFA+ is protected from pirates and the awareness among associations of the consequences of FIFA+ streaming their games. FIFA declined to address these questions directly and said that FIFA+ is “bringing new eyeballs to our game and in turn, helping us to develop football globally.”

In a statement, FIFA said: “FIFA takes the risk of match manipulation very seriously, and it continues to work with its member associations with a view to protecting football as a whole while further developing its integrity strategies and awareness activities.

“FIFA is also working closely with the UNODC [United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime] to eliminate criminality in football. We also kindly refer you to the recent FIFA Integrity Task Force meeting, which was attended by all six FIFA confederations as well as our global partners, including the FBI, INTERPOL, UNODC and Sportradar, who were also in attendance. The task force, established by FIFA to safeguard the integrity of all competitions, continues to work towards preventing and sanctioning match-fixing, corruption and other unethical practices.”

1xBet were contacted for comment.