With the evolution of the betting market in Brazil and in the world, we have also seen an increase in the number of cases related to manipulation of matches and results. Unfortunately, this is a problem that exists and that needs to be tackled by society, bookmakers and the entire sports betting and iGaming industry.
The manipulation of results hinders the integrity and evolution of the segment, in addition to generating unfair results for all sports fans and fans. UOL recently published a report that explains in detail this problem and how it affects the entire betting scene.
Read the full news about match-fixing in sports betting
With the rapid and strong growth of bookmakers around the world, one of the biggest problems to be tackled by the sports industry has certainly become the manipulation of results. According to data from its latest report, the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA), considered the leading entity on integrity for the licensed betting industry, pointed out that regulated online sports betting operators lose something close to $25 million (R) $131 million) a year because of this harmful and criminal practice.
The number frightens and serves to reinforce the thesis that, in addition to sports, sports betting companies are also greatly harmed by manipulation.
“Contrary to popular imagination, bookmakers are the biggest victims when a sporting event result is manipulated. When a criminal manipulates the result or event of a match, it is common for them to inject high values into the odds (quotes). offered by the houses for such result/event to occur. Thus, if the final result sought by the handler materializes, the bookmaker (which is not aware of the manipulation) must pay the corresponding premiums for the settlement of the bet to the handler – and that, in In the long term, it can represent a millionaire loss to the coffers of bookmakers”, explains Udo Seckelmann, a lawyer specializing in international sports law.
“The manipulation of results generates losses for several players. The most immediate, such as the sports fan who begins to question the integrity of the game. The clubs, which sometimes see the whole year’s project damaged. sport, as they face corruption accusations over which they may not have any interference. But in addition to them, there are other less obvious stakeholders, such as sports betting operators”, says Rafael Marcondes, a lawyer specializing in sports law and columnist for Lei em Campo.
Marcondes explains that when there is manipulation of results, all the work done by bookmakers in relation to pricing goes down the drain.
“Bookmakers invest a lot of resources in data analysis and studies to correctly price a bet (odd), so that the risk is correctly compensated. explains.
“For these reasons, bookmakers are very interested in investing in the integrity of the sport and in combating match-fixing. If there is no uncertainty in the results, there will be no sports betting”, emphasizes Seckelmann.
One of the main challenges for the sports community and the professionals around it is to eradicate the activity of mafias or organized crime, where they use payment and/or extortion methods to influence the results of matches.
In its latest document, IBIA reported 76 suspicious betting cases to the relevant authorities during the third quarter of 2022. During this period, alerts covered eight different sports, namely: 33 tennis cases; 16 of eSports; 13 football; 10 with table tennis; 1 badminton; 1 snooker; 1 basketball; and 1 horse racing.
Geographically, Europe was the continent responsible for half of the suspected cases reported in the third half of this year, with 37, followed by Asia (8), South America (7), Africa (7) and North America (1). Oceania did not have any alerts during this period.
“Alerts for the quarter are at the higher end of the scale compared to previous years, but should be viewed against the substantial growth in membership of the association during the year. This served to increase global market coverage and identified alerts.” and reported, highlighting the beneficial impact of a global, multi-operator betting integrity network,” IBIA CEO Khalid Ali said in the report.
“IBIA continues to work closely with its members and external stakeholders such as sports and regulators to ensure proper risk management processes are in place and encourages a zero-tolerance approach to handling sporting events and associated betting fraud” , he added.
Compared to the second quarter of this year, there was a 60% decrease in football alerts and in 29 countries the number of reported alerts dropped. Spain, Hungary and Poland recorded the most alerts in one country, five.
Finally, Marcondes says that manipulation is a very serious problem and that it ends up affecting the great potential that this market has in terms of revenue for countries.
“Without forgetting that the bad practice of agents who corrupt the sport, tarnishes a legal activity with great collection potential for the country, also harming Brazil. Not only for the clubs and institutions that organize the sport, by taking the credibility of competitions, also affects, in a drastic way, the sports betting companies”, concludes Marcondes.
