Brazil's constitution and justice committee (CCJ) of the chamber of deputies has passed a bill that seeks to make the penalties for those found to have manipulated matches harsher.
The bill is looking to amend Brazil’s General Sports Law. It was originally authored by representative Bandeira de Mello before representative Orlando Silva drafted a revised version.
Current penalties for those guilty of match-fixing are a prison term of between two and six years as well as a fine. The substitute bill would increase that penalty from a third to a half should the person involved serve as a referee, player, coach, bettor or agent as well as a manager, director or representative of a sports club.
Additionally, the amended bill includes a prison sentence of between two and six years for those who solicit or recruit people such as referees, athletes, coaches or directors to commit manipulation.
The sports committee had already approved the bill. The chamber of deputies’ plenary will now analyse the bill. However, it will have to be approved by the senate before it’s enacted into law.
Silva believes the amended bill is necessary to try and maintain sporting integrity in Brazil.
“Unfortunately, match-fixing in sports is an old problem,” Silva said. “What we have to do, therefore, is propose changes, especially by imposing more severe sanctions than the current ones.”
Paraná lottery reinforces ban on athletes betting
The Paraná State Lottery (Lottopar) has published an ordinance banning those who can influence the result sports from betting.
Article 24 of Ordinance No 67/2024 bans athletes who play in competitions organised by Brazil’s National Sports System. This also applies to coaches, referees and members of sporting administrative boards from betting.
With Brazil’s legal market set to launch in January 2025, Lottopar stated it was following “best international practices” from other countries worldwide who have had regulated markets for a long time and were looking to stamp out match-fixing.
Does Brazil have a match-fixing problem?
The upcoming regulation of sports betting in Brazil has been clouded somewhat by fears of ongoing manipulation in the country’s most popular sport of football.
A parliamentary inquiry commission (CPI) on sports betting was recently set up after a storm ensued following allegations from American businessman John Textor, who owns Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas.
Textor accused São Paulo players of match-fixing in a game against Palmeiras. He also claimed to have evidence of a referee being bribed. In response, Palmeiras owner Leila Pereira called for Textor to be banned if he failed to provide evidence. CPI president and senator Jorge Kajuru also said he should be expelled from Brazil altogether if his accusations weren’t found to be truthful.
In the International Betting Integrity Association’s (IBIA) 2023 Integrity Report, Brazil ranked third for suspicious sports betting notifications with 11. All were produced by football games.
However, Sportradar’s integrity partnership manager for Brazil, Felippe Marchetti, believes steps such as the CPI’s launch and the evolution of technology available are helping to stem manipulation in the country.
“So far, we have good news,” Marchetti told iGB. “In the first half of 2024 there was a 60% reduction in the number of cases compared to last year. We hope our work and awareness of those involved will contribute to the growth of these positive numbers.
“Politicians are showing that they are concerned about the problem. They want to collaborate to protect one of the cultural heritage of the country, football. Moreover, increased visibility of the topic and deepening investigations tend to ward off manipulators from the country.”
