Specialists from the three companies highlighted that the prevention of cases of match fixing, as has recently occurred in Brazilian football, depends on the education of the sports ecosystem and the regulation of sports betting. To address this matter, the federal government is expected to issue a provisional measure shortly.
These measures were pointed out as solutions during a debate organized by Confut Sudamericana, held from Wednesday (12) at the Hilton Barra, located in Barra da Tijuca (west zone of Rio de Janeiro).
“When we talk about sport, one point needs to evolve. Until five years ago, from 2018 to now, the manipulation was of result, victory, draw or defeat. Now, manipulation is stock. We even need a new nomenclature”, points out Guilherme Buso, senior executive of sports and betting accounts at Genius Sports.
“We can clearly see in the testimonials of the Maximum Penalty Operation that, in the player’s mind, taking a yellowinho, conceding a corner kick or the first move of the game will not influence the result. But now you can bet on these stocks. And when you take the unpredictability out of the game, you are manipulating,” added Buso.
Education is key to mitigating match-fixing
To combat this problem, João Santos, from Stats Perform, points to an important path: education. Players must first know that they are betting when they intentionally do something, whether or not it interferes with the outcome of the match.
On the other hand, the fact that they, their family and friends cannot gamble is still not deeply ingrained in the minds of professional athletes in the country.
“This boom of Serie A players involved in manipulation [in Brazil] has already existed in other countries. The athlete thinks it’s something simple, he didn’t play to lose”, says the Portuguese João Santos, Stats Perform executive.
“Regulation brings rules for bookmakers and protection for bettors. On the other hand, even without regulation, any football federation can start educating its athletes, coaches and referees. It’s something new in Brazil: you need to educate about match fixing”, adds the Portuguese.
Severe punishments and broader enforcement
In addition to education, there must be exemplary sanctions to limit match-fixing and betting, and sports integrity testing companies play a key role in limiting the type of action.
“It is necessary to make it very clear to the player that he will be caught, that the system is so well created that sooner or later he will be caught”, says Robson Silveira, sponsorship director at Sportradar in Latin America.
The company recently signed a contract for audio and video rights, as well as betting data for major Conmebol competitions such as Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana. This sports integrity company even uses artificial intelligence tools to identify patterns and try to detect irregularities.
“For you to have an idea, this system managed to catch 40% of the manipulations of bets that we had last year. There were more than 1,200 in all sports. Obviously, the system does not act alone: it points out a suspicion, which the analyst will examine”, explains Silveira.