“Match-fixing is a huge issue, not only for the sports side of the business but also for sportsbooks,” commented Guilherme Buso, VP for Brazil at Genius Sports in a press conference during recent SBC Summit.
Brazil’s sports scenes have a huge commercial opportunity on the horizon with the launch of the country’s national regulated betting market set for early 2025, but as with other countries, this will inevitably raise the spectre of match-fixing.
Sharing information to keep sports safe
As Brazil’s betting market emerges, protecting sports integrity is a process that will require multiple elements, Buso emphasised at SBC Summit held in Lisbon last week.
“We always say there are three very important factors,” he responded to a question about integrity. “Number one, use technology, monitor bets worldwide and share information, because we have our system.”
Buso shared the stage at Lisbon with Fellipe Fraga, Chief Business Officer at EstrelaBet, one of Brazil’s leading domestic betting operators. Referencing the company’s business, he noted that the firm is “receiving bets with amounts of money that we might not be able to see, so we’re sharing that information with sportsbooks.”
He continued: “The second pillar is education. Education is really relevant. There are cases, very famous cases, where athletes claim that they didn’t know a yellow card was a betting market, or a red card, or corners, or in basketball for instance where you can bet on player performance. Education is really important".
“The third aspect of it is policies. We help organisation’s develop and improve their policy, so in a case of match fixing they are ready to react, ban a player or give them a fine. These are the three most important pillars, we’ve been doing that worldwide, and Brazil is a big focus now.”
With the industry eagerly awaiting Brazil’s market launch, various firms, both betting operators and suppliers, are keen to gain a foothold. In the tech and data side of things, Genius has secured a strong standing, having partnered with the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) and the Liga Nacional de Basquete (LNB).
This access to data is further complemented by its partnerships with sportsbooks, like the aforementioned EstrelaBet, giving the firm a unique role – and hefty responsibility – in protecting sports integrity. It is not the only stakeholder involved in this though, as the companies which directly facilitate betting, shoulder some heavy responsibility too.
Fraga noted that as EstrelaBet is a sponsor of several clubs and leagues, he has a direct line to these teams to help organise player education sessions. For integrity to be adequately protected, he said it is vital for operators to “be part of this movement, to discuss and promote integrity in general, and help education.”
“It’s very important to take care of this for each moment and to keep exchanging this information,” he continued. “We can recite the bets, we can check to see if something is strange – we don’t usually have betting on that championship, that game or team, why is the amount so big?”
Standing out from the crowd
Many words have been used to describe the industry’s expectations of the Brazil market. Crowded is not often one of them, but it is hard to deny – over 134 companies including bookmakers and gaming developers have expressed interest in joining the market, which will be governed by the ‘Bets’ regulatory regime.
If even half of these operators are successful in securing a licence and launching, it will mean high competition. To stand out from the crowd, companies will need to look for new and innovative ways to engage sports fans.
This was actually the main subject of Genius and EstrelaBet’s conference in Lisbon, not integrity, though the latter topic was of particular interest. A major project underway within Genius-EstrelaBet’s partnership is the development of a new streaming service, which will enable betting and viewing on sports at the same time.
In a market as vast and passionate for sports as Brazil, the duo are confident that offering sportsbooks as a platform for viewership will become a winning factor with customers. This is particularly the case when you look beyond football.
Football is without a doubt the most popular sport in Brazil. However, other sports have a foothold in the country, the NFL and other American sports in particular, with the league holding its first ever match in Brazil between the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers on 6 September, 2024.
Fraga explained: “If we include not only football but also NFL and other sports, you have the same challenges to find where to watch, and we offer this at the same time. You can do it at the same time, you can have streaming and do your bets."
“Streaming is entertainment, you can just watch your game and maybe have the opportunity to bet. Our idea is to offer opportunity to our customers, offering new features and something new.”
Lastly, a final talking point on the agenda was the unique nature of the Brazilian market. This is nothing new to most observers – the need to personalise and localise an international offering to Brazil is an accepted part of every competent operator’s strategy.
Genius has been active in Brazil for some time now, giving the company a solid understanding of the local market. Buso explained that Brazil is “completely different from (the rest of) Latin America” resulting in the firm segmenting its approach to South American markets, with Brazil on one hand and the Spanish speaking nations on the other.
Fraga noted a different element: the sheer size of Brazil. Home to over 220 million people and covering more than eight million square kilometres, Brazil is a country with diverse local cultures, customers and requirements.
“The distance between the Eastern and Western points of Brazil is higher than the point (between Brazil) and Africa,” he explained, summing up the country’s vast size and geographic differences.
"Companies wishing to get involved in Brazilian sports should take this in mind, and perhaps even use it as a metaphor for the scale of the task they are taking on. The opportunity is there, but seizing it will not be straightforward.”
Source: GMB
