The 2nd Brazilian Sports Integrity Summit took place this Thursday (11), with a direct focus on the current moment the country is going through, with numerous accusations of manipulation of results in Serie A and B of the Brasileirão and in State tournaments.
The event is organized by GovRisk, a British organization working on projects related to sports integrity, risk and governance, in partnership with Genius Sports, official data, technology and broadcast partner that strengthens the global ecosystem connecting sports, betting and media. Also supporting the event are Entain, Rei do Pitaco, Bichara and Motta and ABRADIE – Brazilian Association for the Defense of Sports Integrity.
Upon welcoming those present, the President of the Superior Labor Court (TST), Minister Lélio Bentes Correa, stressed the “importance of the government's partnership with industry in the discussion of such an important and current topic.”
When opening the doors of the TST to the sports and betting industries, the minister stated that “it is necessary to respect the rules as the determining factor of the ludic activity. If sport is the expression of entertainment, it must stick to fair and clean aspects, discarding fraud and manipulation, which violates sports ethics and integrity.”
For him, “denunciations grow and governments, civil society entities and sports organizations must work for integrity, promoting an ethical and functional ecosystem for the world of sports.”
Best opportunity for discussions
Dominic Le Moignan, executive director of GovRisk, commented that Minister Lélio's welcome speech “is very current, given that the accusation of match-fixing has been happening and Brazil is very attentive to combating this practice.”
For him, “there has never been a better opportunity to track what is happening, especially given the regulation of betting in Brazil. This will ensure sporting integrity.”
Chris Dougan, director of communications for Genius Sports, said: “We are here because we love the sport. For more than a decade we have been delivering reliable data to the most important sports organizations around the world, and we have the necessary expertise to contribute with all our knowledge and the various tools we have to contribute to Brazil.”
Law enforcement
According to the Genius Sports executive, “Brazil is in an indisputable process of evolution. The sport is tainted and in crisis because of the lack of trust, but this gives us the opportunity to change course, applying the law.” For Dougan, “everyone should get involved: government, sports entities, regulatory entities and bookmakers.” According to him, these were the concepts adopted by Genius Sports and its partners in the founding of ABRADIE.
Integrity is key in regulation
Le Moignan took advantage of Chris Dougan's comment about the entity created a few months ago, to give the floor to Rafael Marchetti Marcondes, legal director of Rei do Pitaco, and one of the founders of ABRADIE.
Rafael said that the founding of ABRADIE was necessary for important world players to discuss what could be done in Brazil based on successful experiences abroad. “We are discussing this and we have to do something different for the sport, promoting ideas and initiatives to provide transparency and ensure sporting integrity.”
One point that Rafael highlighted was the unity of all in the fight against corruption in sport. “Private initiative, public authorities, sports entities and bookmakers must be united and that is how ABRADIE was born, which will work cooperatively and open to ideas.”
For him, “sport is a means of social and cultural inclusion. It needs to be secured collaboratively. Sport creates values for the individual and therefore must be shielded against the manipulation of results.”
Martin Lycka, SVP American Regulatory Affairs and Responsible Gaming at Entain, attended the Summit virtually, but stressed that “sports integrity is one of the most important elements of any sports betting regulation. There is a direct connection between sports and betting and the industry is looking in every way possible to prevent manipulation.”
According to him, Entain itself is part of ABRADIE with the aim of preventing match-fixing in sports and in football in particular, in addition to relying on internal teams to work on preventing criminal practices. “We have to close the doors to risks and we have teams that are always attentive to curb the manipulation of results. That's why I defend that integrity should be the focus of regulation, society as a whole and sports organizing entities."
National integrity agency
Juliana Picoli Agatte, executive secretary of the Ministry of Sport, shared the Ministry's important opinion on match-fixing. “The fans are also affected by the practice and need to understand what is happening, because what motivates us is passion and nobody better than the fan for that.”
According to her, the fight against criminal practices, which tarnish the sport, needs to be encouraged and dealt with by all those involved. “On the part of the government, we have a solid, purposeful and open dialogue with all initiatives that benefit sport and that aim to combat the manipulation of results,” commented Juliana.
According to the executive secretary of the Ministry of Sport, “the artificial intelligence of Genius Sports, for example, which I had the joy of knowing, is a very useful tool for identifying integrity risks and it can certainly contribute to this moment we are going through with so many reports of match fixing.”
Integrity from grassroots level to high-performance sport must be present “and the Ministry of Sport is integrated and committed to ensuring public policies that treat sport as a vital activity for society. Integrity and the fight against manipulation involve athletes, fans, federations, private initiative and academia."
Juliana added that as part of the government's internal discussions regarding the regulation of sports betting, in which the Ministry of Sport also participates, the creation of a national integrity agency is planned.
“It is a proposal that is included in the agenda for the regulation of sports betting. We hope that it will be able to regulate the whole issue of integrity, which involves anti-doping and anti-racist actions, promoting gender equality, opportunities and combating match-fixing and ensuring the unpredictability of results,” she concluded.
Source: GMB
