SPORTS BETTING
Brazil – Inquiry gains momentum after Sportradar places Brazil in top spot for suspicious matches
By James - 11 March 2024
In a speech in the Senate Plenary Senator Romário announced that he will begin collecting signatures to open a parliamentary inquiry commission (CPI) with the aim of investigating the alleged manipulation of football match results in Brazil.
According to the senator, the creation of the CPI is necessary in light of the emergence of numerous allegations about the practice. Romário highlighted that after the scandal of alleged player recruitment in the state of Goiás, investigated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, new facts have come to light. The senator highlighted a report from Sportradar, which points to 109 matches suspected of manipulation in Brazil only last year.
“This places us as the country with the highest number of matches analyzed under these circumstances. After years of a completely unregulated market and due to the enormous amount of money that the sector moves, we can no longer turn a blind eye to what is happening to the integrity of our sport, which is the number one and most popular sport on the planet, the passion of everyone, not just Brazilians,” he said.
The senator emphasized that the betting market in the country lacks regulation and “we can no longer turn a blind eye” to the situation that affects the integrity of the sport. He requested support from his fellow senators to open the CPI.
“I am sure that our Senate president, Rodrigo Pacheco, will give a positive response, will open this CPI, and we will bring to this Congress, especially to the Senate, individuals who are fully connected, and entities as well, players, managers. And, of course, it couldn’t be different, even these betting houses, for us to definitively understand, know, and find out what is behind all of this,” he concluded according to the Brazilian senate news agency.
According to the report published by Sportradar Integrity Services compared to 2022, there was a notable decline in suspicious matches detected in Brazil (-44), although it still retained the top spot globally.
“During the year, Sportradar monitored 118 soccer competitions in Brazil, overseeing approximately 9,000 matches. Among these, 109 matches, constituting 1.21% of the total, were flagged as suspicious. In terms of competitions affected, 15 matches were played in competitions organized by the Confederação Brasileira de Futebol (CBF) and 94 matches were played in competitions organized by state federations. Overall, there was a 29% reduction in the total number of suspicious sporting events in Brazil from 2022 to 2023, marking the first decline since 2020,” the report found.
