GMB - Rei do Pitaco participated in a pioneering initiative in relation to combating match-fixing in sports and in defense of integrity. What led you to participate in the foundation of Abradie?
Rafael Marcondes - The world of entertainment in Brazil is very focused on sports. Rei do Pitaco is a company focused on increasing fan engagement with sports. Our products are based on different sports. In view of all this direction and in the face of corruption scandals that have happened not only recently, but over the years, the company found itself obliged to contribute more actively to preserving the national sport. Thus, we met with other players, monitoring companies and lawyers, in order to align practices and develop studies that can help public and sports authorities in preserving the integrity of sport.
How do you view sports integrity especially by offering a differentiated, daily fantasy game product?
Thinking about our product, having the result of a competition affected by manipulation issues is terrible, as it harms the experience of the sports fan who is on our platform. Rei do Pitaco focuses its energy on the customer and everything that hinders their journey concerns us. Championships with constant manipulation scandals tend to drive away consumer interest. For all these reasons, we consider it relevant to collaborate with the creation of an organization for the integrity of the sport alongside Genius Sport and Entain.
How did this idea of creating an entity to defend sports integrity come about?
The proposal was to bring together the strength of players from various sectors of the entertainment industry: big data companies, operators and law firms, to help the Public Power and sports organization entities through education, data supply and studies to in order to allow a clearer direction for decision makers. Abradie also seeks, through its affiliated members, to create self-regulation, in which the private sector is the protagonist and voluntarily adopts measures that help authorities in combating match-fixing.
What can each Abradie founder do to contribute to the development of policies to combat match-fixing in sports and guarantee security for bettors?
A very basic idea whenever there is a common objective of companies in an association is the exchange of information and knowledge. Everything we've learned from our operations, whether you're an operator, a law firm or a data company. Cooperating with data and information will give us an idea of where to prioritize efforts.
How has the repercussion of Abradie's creation been since it was announced?
Some market players have already shown interest in participating in the association. Have you ever been approached by sports betting companies to join Abradie?
There was a very positive first response, as expected and, of course, some players have already shown interest. We are still at an early stage of setting up and organizing the first steps to later analyze the entry of new players who really have an interest in supporting our guidelines and contributing to the integrity of the sport and the market as a whole. More than that, they are willing to self-regulate in order to adapt to minimum standards of preventing manipulation of results.
How can Abradie contribute to the Brazilian market continuing to grow, even if there is no regulation or control of the sports betting activity?
First, Abradie strongly believes that the best path is the regulation of the sports betting market in Brazil, combined with this factor, it encourages self-regulation in the sector. These are important steps that we hope to bring to the debate with players committed to creating a strong, healthy and upright market. From this, the association is willing to contribute to any action to monitor suspicions of match fixing and ready to provide technical subsidies to the Government to help it in the construction of a regulation that meets all the needs of market integrity.
Some studies point to the growth of the practice of match fixing in sport and, in Brazil, the CBF detected an increase of more than 50% in suspicious games in 2022 compared to the previous year. Why does suspicion still grow even with the market fighting to combat the practice?
More than growing suspicion, what happened was an increase in monitoring and, consequently, an increase in the detection of cases. Match-fixing is not a new issue in Brazil, we have always heard about the ‘Whistle Mafia’ case, black suitcase, white suitcase, etc. It is worth remembering that, in 2005, the Brazilian Series A Championship had no less than 11 games canceled due to fraud. The increase in case detection is actually a good first step in the right direction.
What we need to do is to combine monitoring with a regulation that foresees appropriate punishments for those involved, whether in the administrative sphere with the imposition of fines and other measures, up to the main point, which are sports punishments for athletes and clubs that are proven to be involved in manipulation schemes.
How can Rei do Pitaco and now, Abradie, contribute to the government and Brazilian sports organizations to reduce the attempt to manipulate results?
Combating match-fixing depends on joint action by all those involved in the sports ecosystem. Rei do Pitaco, through Abradie, sees an opportunity to foster this collaboration in the sports and entertainment sector, creating a safe and conducive environment for the emergence of ideas and studies aimed at combating the manipulation of results. Abradie's purpose is to generate data, studies and information that contribute to mitigating fraud.
Brazil is immense and with countless championships of different formats. How to fight match-fixing attempts, especially in categories with less national impact?
In addition to monitoring actions, focus should be placed on initiatives such as prohibiting the provision of events for minors, the imposition of sporting penalties on those involved, actions to raise awareness of athletes with lectures and events, protective measures by clubs (for example breach of contract forecast for proven cases of manipulation). All this is part of a series of actions that can mitigate the risks of match-fixing, even in games with less attention from the media and the general public.
Do you believe that the regulation of sports betting in Brazil should contain consistent programs to guarantee sports integrity?
For sure. The regulation must bring the basic guidelines and operators, when entering the regulated market, must maintain constant relationships to share new concerns, information and cooperate to increasingly mitigate the presence of match-fixing in Brazil.
How can you contribute in this regard?
Abradie, also due to the undeniable relevance of its members, can be a strong communication channel with the regulatory bodies, taking the main concerns and suggestions of its members to the public debate and creating a greater connection between the government and the day-to-day operations of sports betting. And, especially, contributing with knowledge: data, studies and relevant information.
What should companies that wish to join Abradie do and contribute to the fight against results manipulation?
The main point is to demonstrate an effective interest in contributing in practice to the development of solutions to prevent match-fixing and not just the desire to associate with a cause due to the positive repercussions that this can generate. Basically, it is important for applicants to demonstrate, with concrete data, how they can contribute to the debate and actions for the integrity of sport.
Source: Exclusive GMB
