The urgency is to regulate betting sites in Brazil. Very urgent. The manipulation scandal in Serie B matches shows the consequence and irresponsibility of four years of websites acting with authorization, but without regulation.
The law sanctioned in December 2018 said that websites could not have their headquarters in Brazil or fixed points of sale. There were two years to regulate. Never happened. Football is at risk. The whole sport is.
Three games from the last round of Série B are investigated: Vila Nova x Sport, Sampaio Corrêa x Londrina, Criciúma x Tombense. Midfielder Romário, who at the time played for Vila Nova, admits to having been sought after by gamblers. All three games were to have penalties taken in the first half. Romário was not included in the game and only in that match the referee did not give a penalty.
If 30% of a round is under suspicion, it is obvious that 30% of the championship is as well. If Série B is a target, if there have been scandals in the second division of Rio de Janeiro and Amazonas, it is clear that Série A is also on the larceny map.
Football is not the villain; it is the victim — as are the websites. This also happens in tennis, basketball... It is possible to bet on the number of missed serves, fouls in the first quarter, whether a player will receive a yellow card. Bet on everything.
Before the Cup, Arsenal's Swiss midfielder Xhaka was investigated for taking a long time to take a free kick in midfield and receiving a yellow card in the final minutes of the match against Leeds United. There was a bet of BRL 321,000 that he would be booked. He was.
In June of last year, this column dealt with the topic. It didn't even need to prophesy, as one TV spot says, which has the former midfielder Hernanes as a poster boy. It was easy to guess that the next scandal would come from betting.
Regulation does not solve everything. It helps in two ways: 1) it requires sites to indicate unusual volumes; 2) It makes the money stay in Brazil. As most of the houses are abroad, the money doesn't stay in the country. The government loses billions in taxes.
The text of the Provisional Measure was written by José Francisco Manssur, advisor to the Special Secretariat of the Ministry of Finance. This Thursday (16), Manssur had meetings at COB and CBF. He took proposals such as removing all investigated championships from the menu. If the reports are confirmed, the tournaments will be removed from the menu.
Manssur is one of the fathers of Sociedade Anônima do Futebol (SAF - Football Anonymous Society), along with lawyer Rodrigo Monteiro de Castro.
All manipulation scandals in world sport are related to betting. The Tottonero, in Italy in 1980, Mafia da Loteria Esportiva, denounced by the magazine Placar, in 1982; Whistle Mafia, by Edílson Pereira de Carvalho, in 2005; Wimbledon tournament games investigated in 2021.
Without giving a damn about it, the football industry licks its fingers with punters' money.
Eight months ago, Santos fired the physical trainer of its women's team for alleged involvement in an attempt to bribe the Bragantino goalkeeper, by the Brazilian women's team. The Pixbet brand is still stamped on the Santos shirt. There are 19 Serie A teams sponsored by betting sites.
TV and radio shows have advertisements from bookmakers. The entire football industry is betting that nothing serious will happen. They are all losing.
Source: Folha / GMB
