SPORTS BETTING
Brazil – Inquiry into match fixing to go ahead
By James - 18 March 2024
A parliamentary inquiry commission (CPI) into match fixing in Brazilian football has been approved by senators. The President of the Federal Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, announced the opening of a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) to investigate match-fixing in Brazilian football last week.
The CPI of Sports Betting is in response to a request filed by former football player and lawmaker Senator Romário who said that he wanted to open a parliamentary inquiry commission into the matter. The CPI will investigate facts related to allegations and suspicions of manipulation in the sport involving athletes, officials, and betting companies.
When filing his request the senator highlighted a report from Sportradar to justify the need for the inquiry. Sportradar Integrity Services, a unit of Sportradar recently published its annual report, ‘Betting Corruption and Match-fixing in 2023’. It reported that compared to 2022, there was a notable decline in suspicious matches detected in Brazil (-44), although it still retained the top spot globally.
The company flagged 109 matches as suspicious in 2023.
“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,” Romário said.
“It is always important to emphasize that, besides being an iconic and symbolic asset of our country on a global scale, football represents an important segment of our economy. There are tens of thousands of direct jobs and many more indirect ones, with the potential for even more if not for structural problems like this, which centrally affects the credibility of the game. We have a duty to thoroughly investigate the confirmed practice of these crimes, with the prerogative of a parliamentary inquiry,” stated Romário.
The CPI of Sports Betting will be composed of 11 titular senators and seven substitutes who will still be indicated by parties and their leaders.
The deadline for the conclusion of the work is 180 days, which can be extended for an equal period.
