Recently, the news that the General Administration of Sport and the Ministry of Public Security will join forces to crack down on gambling and match-fixing has sparked heated discussions. In fact, in the past year or two, the problem of gambling has become more and more serious around the world, but it has been difficult to crack down.
The action of the General Administration of Sport and the Ministry of Public Security joining forces to combat gambling and match-fixing is not too surprising. In the last year or two, the problem of gambling has become more and more serious around the world.
According to Sportradar Integrity Services, a professional sports betting agency, there were 903 sports competitions worldwide in 2021 with more obvious suspicions of gambling, involving up to 165 million euros of illegal gains. Considering that the "gambling suspicion" is only based on the analysis of data such as odds, betting volume, and result, the actual number of suspected matches and the amount involved may be much larger. 903 games including 10 sports and 76 countries are the highest in the last 17 years and 2.4% more than the 882 games in 2019.
In 2021, global soccer betting will reach €745 billion, accounting for 51% of global sports betting.
Although the agency does not indicate specific events, it is certain that this phenomenon exists in all levels of competition. Many people think that there will be more match-fixing in the secondary and minor leagues, but in fact, gambling-oriented match-fixing exists in major tournaments. On October 3, 2018, the French police even investigated the Champions League match in Paris Saint-Germain's 6-1 victory over Red Star Belgrade, because Red Star was suspected of playing match-fixing and just lost to Paris by 5. But the final investigation did not yield a positive result.
Betting on major events or major league games is much more stealthy for gamblers because of the large flow of funds in these events, such as the global investment of 198 million euros per Game in the Champions League, 178 million in the Premier League and 100 million in Serie A. Players themselves or players' childcare bets on the sidelines will not stand out in the torrent of funds. On the contrary, some small team players face a higher risk of defeat, because the secondary league and small team attention is very small, investing too much capital for profit, it is easy to trigger the vigilance of betting institutions, and even touch the suspect early warning linkage mechanism of mainstream betting institutions, and sometimes even make moves to block accounts.
Global distribution map of suspect matches: mainly concentrated in Europe, followed by Asia and South America.
Of the 903 suspect matches, 694 were football matches, including 525 in Europe and 161 in Asia. Andreas Klanish, chairman of Sportradar Integrity Services, said it is possible that in 2022 their agency will identify as many suspects as in 2021, "the number of match-fixings is increasing now because communication means have improved." Criminal gangs can easily find players and build relationships on social networks. ”
Another problem is with the bookmakers themselves. In the old days, players were involved in gambling in a very simple way, such as asking family or friends to go to lottery stations to place bets and buy real orders. However, after the complete networking of betting, the way the team is involved in gambling has been highly "professional", and it can even be said that it is difficult to distinguish between true and false. For example, some teams will agree with each other to score one goal in each of the first 10 minutes, and the remaining 80 minutes will be won or lost. The option a player buys is to have 2 goals in the first 10 minutes, which is a very high odds option in betting. At the same time, there are many other options, such as the big team let the weak team go first, because the odds of the weak team going to the first ball are much higher than the big team. Put 1 one first, and then really hit it. Of course, there are also giants who self-directed Waterloo, put 1 first, and then how can not be pulled back.
The above is just an example, there are many more ways to actually "professionally bet on the ball", ordinary fans do not know, will see some false content as the truth. For example, seeing a team frequently under the ground on a side road, you will think that the tactic is the main side, in fact, the real reason is that the two teams agreed to brush the number of corners, guess the number of corners, but also a highly rewarding option.
Chart of the upward trend of the number of suspect matches worldwide over the years.
The Ministry of Public Security and the General Administration of Sport wanted to join forces to combat gambling and match-fixing, most likely because they had received relevant reports on the problem and realized the seriousness of the problem. It will be difficult to implement, first, because mainstream bookmakers are outside the territory of China, and it will be difficult to ask them for personal information related to players' participation in gambling. The second is to distinguish the boundary of the match-fixing, today's game is difficult to produce the 11-2 match-fixing of the B-five rats, but the kind of game that is agreed to score 1 goal in the first 10 minutes and the remaining time is really played, gambling behavior has occurred, but the remaining 80 minutes are really played, so is it a match-fixing?
Wen | Wang Qinbo
Edit | from the heart