Sports betting in Argentine football makes the ghost of match-fixing fly

Sports betting has been quietly installed in Argentine football. They would go unnoticed were it not for the fact that some gaming platforms have their branding printed on their t-shirts. River has a Code Y Velez next to Students a bplaythe same that accumulates among the sponsors of the Argentina soccer team. In television broadcasts, two more –bet warrior Y bet365– they win the tricks with a QR code to go directly to the cashier, with the idea of ​​making easy money. Neither more nor less than the old PRODE, with greater diversification to put a price on intuition.

But not only because of advertising, betting becomes visible in football: a series of suspicions, inquiries and myths hover over the possibility that the subjects involved (footballers, referees or even technical bodies) interfere with something more than the essential role: football play – so that an irrelevant play action such as a side is a profitable business.

At least two of the online bookmakers focus on the absurd and advertise exacerbated emotional states from a side never so celebrated. A five-minute corner kick can pay off more than a goal. An expulsion before 10 minutes, like that of Agropecuario defender Milton Leyendeker after kicking Exequiel Zeballos out of context, it can be worth a lot of money.

A red card at the right time can award a 80 percent profit of the bet. Not even Ponzi schemes promise much. But the volume of money generated by betting allows it. This is the dairy cow that Argentine football leaders identify to improve income.

It is that football betting is nothing new. They were a wish Giulio Grondona, which spoke of “banked Prode”: a system with more options than the old “local, draw or visitor” with which the predictions that found the winner were marked on the card that had had the most hits at the end of the date. Banking, because this is the name of bets that do not have a predetermined pool. Hence, the president of the AFA hoped to find more income from betting than from television rights.

The problem was that the body that regulated the game in the country, the National Lottery, set the rules and did not allow Grondona to realize his dream. In 2018 – four years after the death of Don Giulio– The institution was dismantled and each province – and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires – had no problems in granting the new licenses.

In Buenos Aires alone there are 12: seven in the territory of Buenos Aires and five in the CABA. The rest, inside Tucumán, Chaco, Misiones, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, Mendoza, San Luis, La Pampa, Neuquén, Río Negro and Santa Cruz. Some are local companies – bingo or casino – associated with others based in tax havens. However, beyond the commercial deals for advertising, the football business does not receive a peso for every dollar wagered.

What is the bet? Of everything.

With all the cameras in the world focused on the World Cup, the match between Argentina and Saudi Arabia which will debut on Scaloneta in Qatar 2022 ha 112 betting possibilities. A paid triumph for Messi – at the end of this note – 17 cents per dollar wageredwhile the other possibility is juicier: 14 to 1.

With just one camera streaming, at best, the same platform allows you to bet 12 situations of the Reserve match between Lamadrid and Laferrere of the First C (fourth category of Argentine football) scheduled for this Thursday afternoon. A tie pays more than another outcome.

The match between Boca and Central, which on Wednesday closed the match slot for the 14th date of the Professional Football League, paid off, on one of the platforms, 101 dollars for each you bet on who hits a unexpected forecast: that there have been no more corners in the last half hour of play. You can bet which team will have the most angles …

Who wins then? In addition to the bank, the bettors who make their predictions well. From the simplest – who wins or in case of a tie -, to a series of combinations that include when accidents occur – goals, teams, corners, cards or other actions -, the accuracy of a result, who will be the authors of the goals and other possibilities. Each bet will pay off, depending on the odds of it happening. Is it unusual for there to be three corners at any given point in the game? So whoever plays and guesses right, will win good money.

“One of the boys was offered a huge sum of money to take a penalty and three corners. All this is a piece of paper”, speculated the president of El Porvenir -of Prima C-. Enrico Merela, who also filed a complaint at a police station in Lanús. The leader sent off eight players who were part of the squad and who charged commissions for making the predictions of some bettors possible.

For this, the first red in Leyendeker aroused suspicions of adjustment. Was the player associated with a capitalist who had bet that, for example, within 10 minutes a footballer would be sent off? “This is completely unreasonable”said the footballer when he was consulted by the newspaper Brand. And it can be, but not entirely: in addition to El Porvenir, in Communications -of the First B- the managers suspect that some players of their team have returned to the last date of the 2022 Opening. Delivery man was the winner of the tournament and lost – suspiciously, according to its leaders – to South docktrying to get out of the last positions.

Evil is not just Argentina

In the 2011-12 season the Italian football experienced a rising match-fixing scandal: 17 teams of different categories were sanctioned with the removal of points and economic sanctions of between 20 thousand and 50 thousand euros, in addition to 22 players with the prohibition of “being part of the football activities” from one to five years, depending on the responsibility.

This year, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) imposed fines ranging from $ 15,000 to $ 250,000 for seven tennis players in the ATP ranking – six born in Spain and another in Kyrgyzstan -, for fixing matches that coincided with great prizes paid in bookmakers at least between 2018 and 2019, the period under investigation.

According to the world union representing footballers, FIFPRO, the legal and illegal spectrum betting market moves around one billion dollars worldwide. “Criminals usually have people working for them, who contact players, coaches, referees or club managers to help them fix a match. These people can be other criminals, but also former footballers or footballers’ agents,” develops the thematic organization.

In May, a joint operation between Interpol and Europol dismantled an organization that ran football matches in the regions of Cadiz, Badajoz, Seville and Almeria. The lower the exposure of the meetings, the better the opportunities for solutions. On many platforms it is possible to bet not only on Promotion categories, but also on Reserve matches.