On the left, the letter that the mother entity of the South American football made sign to the four semifinalist clubs of the Libertadores Cup. Point number 4 commits them to "reject corruption, drugs, racism, violence, GAMING and other dangers for this sport." On the right, the agreement that Conmebol has with the Brazilian betting house Bumbet for two years to be one of its main sponsors of the Sudamericana Cup.
It is absurd and unprecedented for an association to attack the main product of one of its sponsor. And even more retrograde is to place gaming at the level of true scourges of society. To make it clearer, there are no good or bad drugs, no good or bad racism, no good or bad corruption. But there is legal or illegal gambling. And the legal one generates thousands of genuine jobs all over the world under strict controls and regulations.
In that line of the letter, the global gaming industry is placed at the same height. Is it the same betting if Boca beats Palmeiras or Gremio to River in a legal site that cocaine, corrupt a leader to grant this or that seat of a tournament, or discriminate against people because of their skin color? It seems that for the Conmebol, yes.
Gaming, and sports betting especially, is a legal activity in most countries, with operators subject to controls and generating millions of dollars in taxes. Then, there is also clandestine gaming and delinquents that favor the arrangement of matches, among other things. And to combat that illegal side, there are companies that investigate those cases. The market itself invests in these controls to keep the industry healthy.
Conmebol never clarifies and puts in the same bag the whole industry without separating the legal from the illegal. That is to say, for the main entity of South American football its sponsor Bumbet is the same as any clandestine bookmaker in the world. It would be logical that some Bumbet manager call Conmebol’s authorities to ask for explanations, an apology and immediate retraction
Can you imagine FIFA signing an article attacking beer or fast food being Budweiser and McDonald's, just to mention two examples, two of its main sponsors who pay millions of dollars to sponsor the World Cup?
Gaming is attacked while in the current season of the Spanish League, 19 of the 20 teams of the Santander League have some agreement with legal betting companies. British Premier League has 16 teams that have bookmakers as a sponsor. In addition, unlike Spanish clubs, English teams have the sponsorship of houses as the main sponsor wearing it on the front of most shirts. Even the German football league, the Bundesliga, signed a sponsorship contract with the sports betting company Tipico for its two main categories.
This year two other news marked the future of this industry. The US Supreme Court empowered each state to decide if they want to have sports beting and generated an impressive boom that multiplies the market reach with benefits for bettors, operators and the leagues themselves. On the other hand, Formula 1 has signed an agreement to sponsor betting houses, which represents a radical change by Liberty Media with respect to the previous policy. This opened the door and set the stage for the automobile betting market to grow.
After discussions and arduous processes, Colombia, member country of Conmebol itself, opened its betting market through Coljuegos and already has 16 authorized operators whose income will generate to the country's coffers money in taxes to invest in security, education and sport. The same will happen with Peru, which law has already been drafted and endorsed, and it is expcted that the same will take place in Brazil by the end of this year or the next one.
Precisely, the Copa do Brasil that ended last night and that awards millionaire prizes superior to those offered by the Conmebol tournaments, is sponsored by betting house Bodog.net. The same company sponsors the Copa Libertadores matches on the TV Fox Sports signal.
No less curious is to see that one of the signatories is the president of popular Argentne team Boca Juniors, Daniel Angelici, one of the most important gambling entrepreneurs in Argentina. Even his empire led him to be head of the Argentine Chamber of Bingos and Annexes. Its activity is legal, it pays taxes for its profits and generates several jobs. However, he signed that letter from Conmebol where the gaming is attacked. Angelici rejects the activity that led him to be who he is.
It is really a shame such a step behind taken by the organization that rules the South American football. It is a throwback and an obsolete way to consider gaming. The world does not dispute whether the bets are positive or negative. They are a lucrative business like the one carried out by any of the other Conmebol’ sponsors. It deserves the same treatment and respect since its money comes from legal activities, regulated, and not spurious.
Source: GMB
