The sports betting regulation took place last Tuesday, the 25th. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva edited the provisional measure that regulates the sector in Brazil.
Therefore, Jesper Sogaard (CEO of Better Collective) analyzed the impact of the measure and the news that should be used from now on to guarantee the security and integrity of the sector.
The expert said that some mechanisms for protecting bets based on artificial intelligence (AI) already used in Europe will be brought to Brazil when the regulation is consolidated.
“It’s very common in Europe for ‘big data’ like Sports Radar, Genius to notify UEFA or the local FA if they see anything unusual in the data,” commented Sogaard.
“They are able to detect if the evolution of the odds happens in a strange way and that is how they detect manipulation.
If you have an underground market that is not regulated, the risk is much greater.
This will not be detected because it happens without this monitoring. The new regulation is the way forward,” he added.
According to Søgaard, detecting suspicious movements is easy outside Brazil because of regulations. He believes that the values offered to players will seem ridiculous when the chance of being discovered is so great.
“They will come (big data) when the market is regulated. Sports Radar and Genius are data providers.
That’s how you detect it and from there you can create mechanisms and ways to let players know the risks associated with manipulation. Today, it seems, unfortunately, that things happen without anyone knowing.
To be honest, if they (players) knew this was easy to spot, I don’t think they would think it’s worth doing this for the money they offer with the risk of being banned from the sport.”
How do betting protection mechanisms work?
The mechanisms cited by the expert detect when a strange amount is invested in a bet and trigger an alert. If she continues to receive money, a new alert is issued.
“It will be detected. As soon as a bet is placed with odd numbers, a yellow flag is raised.
If this continues with more money put into the bet and the odd decreases, this becomes a red flag. They can tell if any behavior in the market is strange and report it to the federation. This is already happening in Europe”.
According to the expert, these processes manage to track the player’s behavior through AI, expert evaluation neuroscience to find illegal players before it’s too late. “This is called a gamescanner.”
Sports betting regulation will help curb irregularities
Sports betting regulation will also have a strong impact on integrity.
After all, the country now has specific legislation for the sector, promoting actions to anticipate, combat and punish irregularities and attempts to manipulate results.
“A legalized and regulated sports betting market allows for adequate supervision, monitoring and inspection mechanisms, making it difficult for illegal activities to occur, such as match-fixing”, Sogaard pointed out.
“Brazil is a country that is rapidly adopting the latest digital advances, and our company has consistently shown that digital regulation is extremely useful in monitoring such markets.”
In addition, the use of advanced technology and algorithms would allow real-time monitoring of betting activities, flagging any suspicious activities or possible attempts to manipulate results.
“The legalization of digital sports betting promotes document transparency and facilitates cooperation between betting operators, sports organizations and law enforcement authorities,” he concluded.
