Unfortunately, manipulated games are not uncommon in professional sports. When manipulating bets, players are approached by people behind them and in the end they deliver the “desired” result. In this article we will look at how betting manipulation works in professional football and how it affects sports betting. Spoiler: their effect on sports and bookmakers is extremely negative. We also address the question of whether the average bettor can somehow protect themselves from this.
How does betting manipulation generally work?
In principle, betting manipulation can have several purposes. In addition to purely commercially manipulated games, there are also other types of games with a predetermined outcome. This type of contract cannot be called a contract in the classic sense. The situation may arise due to the tournament structure. For example, there is a group in the World Cup or European Championships, in the Champions League or somewhere else, and there are two teams.
If they draw against each other or the favorite loses to their opponent, then both advance. Both teams can feel sympathy for each other, but at least not open hostility. Everyone can see the balance, everyone understands everything. So it is by no means possible to accuse them of collusion.
It should be noted that this is the only type of rigged games that tipsters can detect on their own, without resorting to outside information. However, when it comes to betting manipulation with the intention of winning, it is difficult to recognize it. Let’s imagine that a certain group of people want to make money by organizing a betting game. You can find a few players or a referee or preferably all at once to be safe.
Motivating players to quit the game can occur in a variety of ways. Of course, it is difficult to do this with the leading stars of world football. These people are already making millions and are constantly in the media spotlight. There are too many people watching games like this. Things are completely different for the smaller clubs. The referee can also be bribed if he is personally interested in the money. There are also other possible variants of blackmail.
Betting manipulation and betting business
But what are the consequences of the manipulated games for sports and the betting business? The main victims of these frauds are not only the athletes, but also the bookmakers. If the bookmaker has no idea about the betting manipulation, he has to expect high losses. In addition, modern fraudsters are very subtle in this area. They build an entire network in which various accomplices deposit moderate amounts into various offices, thereby covering smaller bets on other events.
In this way, the total winnings from a betting game are high and do not raise suspicion. Even well-known bookmakers find it difficult to detect betting manipulation. And of course the bookmakers are interested in taking action against match-fixing. They “single-handedly” organize investigations and shed light on such situations.
What can a bettor do to prevent betting manipulation?
As already mentioned, even the bookmakers often have no idea about rigged games. Therefore, do not try to find information about rigged matches on the Internet, it will not help. Even if you suspect that a game might be bet-rigged, it is better not to bet on it in the first place. If the agency investigates, you could end up on the suspect list as a potential participant in the wrong people network.
There is therefore a risk that your betting account will then be temporarily blocked, which the betting providers are entitled to do due to their rules, which only a few people read. So be very careful with it and just avoid betting on “suspicious” games. And when you bet on major league games, the chances of bet manipulation are lower.