“Match-fixing is terrible for any sport. But you can't put everyone in the same basket. The manipulation was being handled by the Ministry of Finance and is now with the Ministry of Sport, and it will only bring benefits to all modalities,” predicted José Francisco Manssur.
According to him, only when the regulation is complete can everything be minimized “and the entire ecosystem – betting houses, Parliament, Government, and sports entities – will need to be cohesive and working for the good of the activity.”
Manssur stated that match-fixing in sports “is the conjunction of two aspects – the behavior of the athlete plus some advantage that he or some group will have. It is necessary to control both sides and have adequate systems to monitor. Manipulation is tackled with technology concentrated in one place.”
When asked if the delay in regulation brings problems to the sport, Manssur confirmed that the whole process is long, and that the time it has taken from the beginning of last year until now is normal, but that everything is moving towards the organization of sports betting and online gaming activities.
“It is acceptable [this time], as many details are thought out to bring security, responsibility, and transparency to the sector,” he said.
The former advisor to the Ministry of Finance reiterated that betting houses are victims of manipulation and that all representative entities of the sector, such as ANJL (National Association of Games and Lotteries), IBJR (Brazilian Institute of Responsible Gaming), and AMIG (Association of Women in the Gaming Industry), approached him when he was in charge of regulation to contribute to combating manipulation.
Complaint
Regarding the complaint published last year by Veja magazine that federal deputy and rapporteur of the Sports Betting CPI in the Chamber of Deputies, Felipe Carreras, had requested a bribe, he stated that he received such information.
“I was approached by Wesley Cardia, then president of ANJL, to report that he received a bribe request from the office of deputy Felipe Carreras to ‘ease the pressure on sports betting houses’. I recommended that he go to the police.”
Regarding Carreras, he said that he only had “republican” debates and that he never received any request or even any indication that there could be any insinuation in this sense.
Senator Kajuru, who presided over the session, stated that he had heard behind the scenes that Wesley Cardia would be an “unreliable” witness and questioned Manssur about this sentiment. The former advisor stated that “at many times, I considered the testimony dubious.”
As expected, some absurdities were said by parliamentarians opposed to gaming about the performance of sports betting houses and online gaming, and Manssur made it clear that they work seriously.
“They seek in every way to comply with all the requirements that have been pointed out by the Prize and Betting Secretariat of the Ministry of Finance and want the regulation,” he concluded.
Source: GMB
