Matches are fixed in order to gain advantages in tournaments or for betting companies to earn money.
The parties in a fixed match can be the teams, athletes, coaches or referees in sports where they can influence the match outcome, for example, order a penalty kick or send a player off.
How are fixed matches found?
Unusual match participant behaviour and strange bets help determine match fixing.
- Unusual behaviour may include systematic unexplained mistakes by athletes or referees. For example, an attacker unexpectedly misses when they have an easy shot on goal, a defender hands an opponent the ball passively and lets them shoot, or the referee consistently issues warnings to just one team. Unusual behaviour also makes it difficult to determine a fixed match because without reliable information, strange behaviour might be explained by fatigue or inattention. In this case, it is impossible to prove any bribery or conspiracy.
- Strangebets include a heavy stream of large bets on uncommon events. For example, in a South America championship, the average is EUR 150 per bet, and the number of bets for each match does not normally exceed 1,000. Then in one match, betting companies notice some unusual activity. The number and amount of bets increases by several times, with half of them on the same outcome, even though there are no prerequisites for such growth. In this case, betting companies consider the match suspicious, cancel the bets on it and contact supervisory organisations.
Who sells information about fixed matches?
Scammers.
In reality, they do not know anything about fixed matches, as this information is kept secret by a very tight circle of people. If an outsider obtains information about a fixed match, then all the participants will be disqualified and suspended from the sport for several years. It's unlikely that anyone involved in match fixing will offer to sell information to a stranger for next to nothing and risk their career.
This scheme is a favourite among scammers, who sell information about one selection to half their clients, and another to the other half. After the match, the scammers contact the half of the clients whose bet won and repeat the scam. In the end, a couple clients win several bets in a row on supposedly fixed matches, when in reality they just got lucky.
How does Fonbet handle match fixing?
Fonbet's bookmakers track on sporting events. If anything suspicious is discovered, the company sends this information to regulatory organisations for investigation.
suspicious bets
Match fixing is a violation of the rules of any sporting event. Monitoring organisations operate incollaboration with betting companies tocombat match fixing.Fonbet is a member of Sport Integrity Team, aninternational organisation fortheprevention ofmatch fixing.
Is it legal to bet on fixed matches?
Ordinary betting company customers will not face any consequences if they bet on a match that turns out to be fixed. If the outcome of the event was planned in advance, all bets on it will be cancelled and the money will be returned.
However, organisers and direct participants are liable for match fixing.
Direct participants can be fined, suspended from playing or punished with community service.
How common are fixed matches?
Fixed matches are uncommon. For example, in football over the past few years, the number of suspicious matches has not exceeded 1% of all matches played. Potentially fixed matches are monitored by several international organisations, including the Sport Integrity Team, Europol, Stats Perform and Starlizard.
According to Europol's 2019 reports, match fixing was most often organised in football matches, mainly in lower sports leagues and smaller countries. In tennis, the number of fixed matches is growing, from 25 detected cases in 2016, to 136 in 2017 and 191 in 2018. According to Europol, in 2019, organisers earned EUR 120 million from match fixing, but this number is underestimated due to the impossibility of establishing the real number of fixed matches and number of bets on them.
Analysts Stats Perform and Starlizard released a 2019 soccer match fixing report in 2020 spanning nearly 81,000 matches, with 456 suspicious events (0.56% of the total). This is less than in 2018 (0.61%) and 2017 (0.73%). Contrary to the Europol report, analysts at Stats Perform and Starlizard believe that match fixing is being more often organised in the major leagues, with 290 out of 456 suspicious matches taking place in the first and second divisions of national championships.
Why fix matches?
Most often, match fixing is pursued for profit, and the organisers are players themselves. Profit is made from bets placed by third parties. For example, friends or acquaintances bet on the predetermined outcome, then share the profit with the direct organisers.
Fixed matches are also organised for the sake of tournament results. For example, a team is fighting to make it out of the elimination zone and bribes the referee, players or entire opposing team to secure the points they need. In this case, collusion is organised at the level of club management. Fixed matches for the sake of tournament results are difficult to track, as most often they are not accompanied by a large number of bets, so the strange result can easily be explained by completely legal reasons, for example, the opponent wasn't concentrating hard enough or the winning team just tried really hard.
Famous examples of match fixing
Match fixing starting at the same time as professional sports competitions. In 1915, Manchester United faced Liverpool. Manchester United was on the verge of being eliminated, while Liverpool was sitting comfortably in the middle of the standings. Players from both teams, 3 from Manchester United and 4 from Liverpool, agreed to fix the match. They decided on a United win, and bet on the outcome in order to make a profit. The match ended with MU winning with a score of 2:0. Manchester United coach Jack Robson realized the collusion during the match, and was so upset with what was happening that he left the field before it ended. After an investigation, all players were disqualified for life, and the clubs avoided punishment.
Another major example of match fixing was Calciopoli in the Italian Serie A. From 2004 to 2006, the presidents of Juventus, Milan, Fiorentina, Regina and Lazio bribed referees and ensured they worked certain matches. Following an investigation, Juventus was stripped of two league titles and exiled to Serie B, and the other clubs got off with a loss of points in the new season.
Fixed matches also occur in esports. In 2013, during the StarLadder Dota 2 championship, RoX.KIS played against outsider zRage. RoX.KIS captain Alexey "Solo" Berezin suggested the team have fun and not try too hard. Ultimately, RoX.KIS lost, and betting companies recorded a large number of bets on the outsider's victory. During the investigation, they also discovered a USD 100 bet placed by Berezin for his team to lose. All bets on the match were eventually cancelled, and Berezin was punished with a lifelong ban on playing in the championship. If no one had noticed the bet, Solo would have won USD 322 , and this number has since become a meme in the Dota 2 community.