Experts heard by R7 also point to the regulation of the sector as a way to confront and prevent similar cases
Sports betting websites are a phenomenon of the digital world. However, what should be just a moment of leisure has become a police case. On Tuesday (9), the courts accepted the complaint filed by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Goiás (MPGO) against a criminal group that operated to manipulate games of the Brazilian championship series A and B.
In this second phase of Operation Maximum Penality, 16 people were denounced, among them Eduardo Bauermann, Santos' defender, and other players, such as defenders Victor Ramos and Paulo Miranda.
But what can actually happen to the athletes allegedly involved, if their participation in the criminal scheme is proven? Can they be arrested?
According to Marcel Belfiore, a sports law specialist and partner at Ambiel Advogados, cases of this type are covered by the Fan Statute, with penalties ranging from two to six years of confinementand the payment of a fine. Even so, it is difficult to talk about prison, because each case has its own particularity.
"To say that the athlete can be arrested depends on his particular situation, such as primariness, mitigating or aggravating factors, which can increase or reduce the penalty. If the sentence is less than four years, for example, it can be substituted by a sentence that restricts rights. The player would not necessarily stay in prison. He can also be sentenced to open regime. Saying that he will be arrested is a bit complicated, but he can be sentenced," he explains.
In sports, the penalties to be applied, if participation in game manipulation is proven, also depend on the particularity of the case, such as recidivism, whether there are aggravating or mitigating factors, etc.
"The Brazilian Code of Sports Justice has a very express provision regarding this type of infraction and provides for a penalty that ranges from 180 to 720 days, and then it depends on the situation, on mitigating factors, aggravating factors, if he receives a financial advantage or not to cheat the result. And, if there is a recurrence, it can, yes, lead to the athlete's banishment from soccer", says the expert.
The accused athletes were charged with the following articles of the Fan Statute:
Art. 41-C. Soliciting or accepting, for oneself or for others, an advantage or promise of a material or non-material advantage for any act or omission intended to alter or distort the result of a sports competition or event associated with it.
Art. 41-D. Giving or promising a material or non-material advantage in order to alter or distort the result of a sporting competition or event associated with it.
The match-fixing scandal in the Brazilian Championship's Serie A also shed light on another hotly debated issue in recent weeks: the regulation of bookmakers.
"Since sports betting was legalized in Brazil at the end of 2018, we haven't had a regulation of the law. When you don't have regulation of the law, you become fertile territory for this kind of thing, because there is no proper enforcement. The betting sites operate almost without any rules," comments Belfiore.
He points out that the betting sites are not responsible for the manipulation of results, but that the platforms are used for this purpose because, in an environment where there are several sites offering this service, it is easier to "pulverize these frauds".
"With the regulation, you will first have revenue for the state, so there will be more money for the government to equip the agencies and supervise better. And also those sites that are licensed, they follow rules, they have paid for licensing, so they also have means to check suspicious bets; it's all a chain that I think will improve this situation," he adds.
This is the same analysis made by Games and eSports market specialist and Barcellos Tucunduva Advogados partner Marcelo Mattoso. "Those bodies will be able to audit that data and see possible anomalies, high numbers of unusual bets, for unusual amounts. When you have access to the data, you start to create mechanisms to track who are the people who make unusual bets, and it becomes easier to identify these anomalies," he explains.
According to Mattoso, since the companies that operate the betting sites are not in Brazil, "a mechanism that would be essential, or at least complementary, to be able to map this kind of problem" is lost.
Another front to avoid the cases of manipulation of results in soccer is prevention. Mattoso says that it is necessary to transmit to the players themselves that the manipulation of results essentially harms the product, which is soccer.
"What's cool about soccer, about sports, is the excitement of you not knowing what the outcome is going to be. Anything can happen. From the moment you generate a fragility in that integrity, you will never know if the guy made a foul because he made a mistake or because he is being paid for it. You generate an impression that it is a theater," says Mattoso.
"I think that, to change this scenario a little bit, first you have to have a work of continued education, of all those involved, players, referees, coaches, regarding what in fact is what they are doing and the consequences that this can lead to. A process so that they understand, by penalizing those who are involved now, that there is no impunity in this market and that the consequences are catastrophic for an athlete. He can be arrested, he can be banned or suspended for a long time," adds Belfiore.
Source: R7 Esportes.