An older Sportradar Integrity Services’ Betting Corruption and Match-Fixing report revealed a massive 34% year-on-year increase in 2022 in the number of suspicious matches across 92 countries. The report highlighted that gambling-driven match-fixing is a persistent threat for the sports industry. Such occurrences have a direct impact on the integrity of the event and the overall sport. This article breaks down why the integrity of sporting events is critical and how can it be upheld.
The State of Match-Fixing
Illegal betting-related violations of sports integrity are mostly orchestrated by organised crime groups. The Europol says that these group operate internationally and are not just perpetrating match-fixing but also other crimes, such as drug trafficking and money laundering. Football is the sport that faces the greatest threat from these criminals, with one in 10 players being approached on average during their career.
The crime groups have built a huge network of sports connections, whom they use for match-fixing. They have people working for them, called runners, who contact referees, coaches, club executives and players to fix a game. Lower-level competitions are targeted more often since high profile games entail greater risk of being caught. Also, players in the smaller competition usually receive lower salaries and might be more susceptible to bribes.
Can Legalisation of Betting Help?
Although some regions, like Florida, are taking measures to legalise sports betting, it entails a lot more than is visible on the surface.
For instance, the Alabama baseball gambling scandal in May 2023 highlighted that legalisation, without stringent measures to follow through, may lead a game into a battleground for high-profile gamblers. These gamblers can go to any extent to gain a financial advantage in betting. Also in May 2023, the Brazilian Congress opened a probe into football matches held in the latter half of 2022. This marks the third investigation into alleged wrongdoing by football players, which had rocked the nation. These players are accused of getting bookings and giving away penalties in exchange for bribes.
Both have deeply affected sports fans. If such instances continue, it could lead to sports enthusiasts losing their love for games. And without fans, revenues will be a severe problem in the seasons and leagues to come.
Sports betting is a multi-million-dollar industry and the stakes on every match are sky high. So much so that the illegal gamblers contact players, clubs and even referees to turn a match or even a league in their favour. They have gained expertise in identifying weak links, such as those who have gone unpaid for a while, those who need money or those who are easy to influence.
Changing Fan Demographics
The sports industry is working hard to make itself attractive to investors, immersive for fans and more supportive and transparent for athletes. As the fan demography shifts from millennials and Gen Z to Gen Alpha, viewership is transitioning from stadiums to homes. Therefore, blending physical and digital experiences for fans has become the most important task for the sector. This involves leveraging the latest technologies to broadcast sports events, create new functionalities and better experiences for both home-based viewers and fans at live events. As a result, streaming platforms have taken centre stage in sports broadcasting. But with high dependence on technology in sports broadcasting there’s a risk of illicit betting and streaming piracy.
As Declan Hill, the pioneer of the first online anti-match-fixing education course, said, “Leagues are dancing with the devil.” Once a match or even a yellow card is questioned, the fundamental credibility of the game and league comes under scrutiny. The legal betting era has created a complex dynamic of harnessing a game's popularity and tampering with its integrity to facilitate illegal gambling.
Sports leagues heavily depend on the credibility of their execution. If fans start questioning integrity, they might abandon the league due to the loss of trust and disillusionment. If this happens, the worst-case scenario might even be that the league or even a competition could get cancelled. Next to betting, the most common sports integrity issues include manipulation, gift giving, corrupt conduct, trading inside information and failure to report or cooperate. All these originate from illegal gambling and culminate with jeopardising the essence of fair play.
Monitoring Sports Integrity
For sports event organisers, league managers and broadcasters, leveraging technology to stay ahead of criminals is the only course of action. There is a dire need for swift identification of illegal activities and prevention in real-time. Monitoring the legal sports betting market to spot irregularities or large sums being wagered on events can be easily done with technology tools.
The sustainability of the industry depends on the extent to which it can prevent illegal sports betting from within to maintain the trust of all stakeholders and sports fans. But monitoring legal betting avenues is far easier than digging out the corrupt and illegal ones. This is why Greece’s National Platform for Sports Integrity (EPATHLA), created by the Hellenic General Secretariate of Sports and the Ministry of Culture and Sports, has partnered with Mediastalker.
EPATHLA believes that the manipulation of sporting events has been increasing exponentially in recent times, making it one of the primary threats to sports and its core values. Through its partnership with Mediastalker, the regulatory body intends to harness the power of cutting-edge technology tools and algorithms to monitor sports events and implement the provisions established by Macolin Convention on the manipulation of sports competitions.
Mediastalker’s proprietary technology solutions offer superior tools for private and public organisations to protect sports integrity, support legal online sports betting and casinos, uphold online privacy and safeguard intellectual property associated with digital content. The highly customisable solution offers real-time tools to identify criminal activity and analytics for effective tracking and monitoring.
Contact the team to learn how this cutting-edge solution can protect your business.
