With good results in European countries, he points out that the case of Brazil follows the international pattern and only a national protocol is capable of strangling gangs. Last week, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) asked the federal government that the body provide advice, via the United Nations (UN), on solving the problem that erupted this year after investigations by the Public Ministry of Goiás and called into question the integrity of the sport in Brazil.
What measures have proven to be effective in combating the manipulation of football matches in sports betting?
Football match-fixing is one of the most serious diseases affecting sport at all latitudes and, like any other disease, like any pandemic, it needs to be tackled through global approaches and policy implementation. and strong national measures.
It is imperative to have capacities to detect, investigate and, most importantly, prevent cases of manipulation, promoting good governance, awareness and values-based education. The most effective measures to combat this are those developed by the Macolin Convention of the Council of Europe (against manipulation of sports competitions) of 2014, an instrument applicable at an international level.
The creation of Sports Integrity Units (clubs), a National Platform (State, regulators, betting operators and sports organisations), along with the regulation of online betting, the criminalization of biased results and training and education programs, constitute critical elements of combating the integrity of competitions.
Which countries have managed to curb games manipulation? What they did?
Spain, Australia and the United Kingdom have been good examples of consistently adopting step-by-step policies – in a mix of preventive and repressive measures. We also have examples of successfully managed complex investigations in countries such as Italy and Germany, and more recently in South Africa. Other jurisdictions are addressing the phenomenon through the creation of their national platforms.
Is there any particularity in the case of Brazilian football? Or does it follow the pattern?
Incidents in Brazil follow the common pattern of criminal infiltration around the world. If we are now talking about fighting game manipulation in Brazil, it is not because the country is more affected than others, but because there is now a great desire to recognize the problem and put an end to it.
In Brazil, as in any country in the world, it is essential to promote multisectoral cooperation and work at all levels, from legislators and government and sports authorities to the grassroots. The ICSS has already expressed its willingness to work with both the CBF and the public authorities to support their efforts through the provision of technical assistance and advanced education certified jointly with the UN.
Is there any way to ensure fair play on the pitch if the manipulation scheme is in place? For example, does the referee have mechanisms to identify a player who is involved in a manipulation scheme and act immediately during the match?
Referees can be informed and prepared to observe possible unusual or suspicious behavior during a match, but we cannot expect a referee to understand and decide in real time on cases of a high degree of complexity. At the moment, it is practically impossible to expect a referee to clearly distinguish manipulation (of a result or an incident during the game), although, if he detects an abnormal behavior of a player, this must be taken to the sport organizers and the authorities of oversight.
How necessary is regulation of the sports betting industry?
In light of the most advanced legal instrument in the world (Macolin Convention), the regulation of online sports betting is a key step towards a consistent fight against the manipulation of sports betting in any jurisdiction. It is possible to detect irregular, suspicious or illegal patterns in sports betting on a given game, and bets may be suspended or prohibited. However, it must be understood that the nature of associated crimes is to hide and conceal, making detection a difficult but critical task.
Would it be effective to delimit the types of bets offered by sports betting sites? For example, banning bets on yellow cards received by a certain player in elite football matches.
Manipulating a match by getting a yellow card at some point during the game is certainly one of the most uncontrolled modus operandi. It works very well because the player doesn't have the feeling of betraying the team. It is possible to set limitations on the type of bets accepted in each jurisdiction and/or certain competition. However, it should be noted that this is the case for legal and regulated sports betting (licensed operators) only. While the highest percentage of sports betting in the world is still illegal and unregulated.
What are the best policies to prevent players from being co-opted by the scheme?
We need to work on prevention, inform players of all ages. They need to understand the seriousness and risks associated with match-fixing, its criminal dimension. There is a consensus understanding that training, education and capacity building are essential to convince athletes to recognize, reject and report (the 3 R's).
Only by calling the attention of athletes to the devastating consequences for their careers (economic, reputational and family) when accepting to manipulate or manipulate a sports competition can this phenomenon be fought. Athletes should be given tools to report, share concerns, if necessary also through reporting or setting up hotlines. At the same time, we need to ensure that players who decide to cooperate are given protection if needed and are able to continue their careers as normal.
Could a single protocol involving the main players in the betting market speed up measures and stop manipulation schemes? For example, the betting site's integrity mechanisms identify something suspicious about a bet. This is automatically passed on to the federation responsible for the game and the referee acts to ensure that this does not happen during the match.
This is substantially the description of what a National Platform, under the Macolin Convention, is capable of doing: bringing together the main actors to prevent, detect and sanction, through the creation of monitoring systems, exchange of information and enabling blocking mechanisms.
Source: O Globo
