The Ministry of Finance of Brazil, through the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA), signed Technical Cooperation Agreements (ACTs) with four monitoring and integrity organisations in the sports betting sector this Tuesday (29): Genius Sports, International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA), Sport Integrity Global Alliance (Siga and Siga Latin America) and SportRadar. By formalising these partnerships, the SPA strengthens the safety net focused on preventing and combating the manipulation of sports results in the country through betting.
The Secretary of Prizes and Bets of the MF, Regis Dudena (pictured above, on the left), explains that these four organisations are globally recognised for monitoring the sector, operating in countries such as Canada, England and Australia. They have highly qualified expertise to identify suspicious betting movements, helping to identify and contain attempts to manipulate results.
Based on the signatures of the ACTs, these organisations will provide information on the betting market to SPA. This partnership also paves the way for assisting in the qualification of SPA teams, with the training of those responsible for monitoring movements in the sports betting sector. “They will train us so that we can identify possible cases of manipulation and related fraud; in addition to sharing information. It is a two-way street”, explains Regis Dudena. In other words, both SPA and the participating integrity organisations are simultaneously strengthening their monitoring capabilities.
In the formation of these partnerships, through ACTs, there are no transfers of resources or payments from either party. The initiative’s focus is to strengthen the security of the entire system and protect the betting market, sports and society as a whole.
Dudena emphasises that this monitoring network protects bettors, athletes, teams and fixed-odds betting operators from malicious actions by fraudsters. This is due to the fact that there will be greater availability of data on movements in the sports betting market and even more detailed analyses of manipulation attempts. “We can and should share the information so that all operators can be aware of suspicious cases”, said the secretary.
The agreements have a duration of 60 months (5 years) and new similar mechanisms may be established in the future. “The SPA is open to talking to other organisations that work on betting integrity”, he points out. The ACTs were signed this Tuesday, in Brasília, in a ceremony at the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance.
Giovanni Rocco Neto, the national secretary of Sports Betting and Economic Development of Sports in the Ministry of Sports, was also at the signing ceremony. He said “The main focus is football because there is an excessive amount of advertising in this sport, and it is the passion of Brazilians. We cannot and will not play around with such an important topic.”
What the international organisations said
Graham Tidey, IBIA representative (pictured above, on the right), said currently, IBIA monitors 125 brands and over USD 300 billion annually, making it the largest independent monitoring and integrity entity in the world. “By 2025, we will have around 70% of the market as members of IBIA, representing the result of Brazilian regulations, which require companies to be part of monitoring and integrity entities for the good of the sector in the country,” he said.
IBIA operates through a voluntary platform of operators. It was founded by operators in 2005 and has since grown to defend the rights and interests of operators, the betting population, and regulators.
“This service we will offer to the Brazilian government, free of charge, provides access to our insights on the betting market in Brazil, on fraudulent bets, and on our best practices and suggestions on how to increasingly improve the sector in the country,” said Tidey.
João Amaral, senior business development manager of Genius Sports in Latin America, said: “At Genius Sports, we take integrity very seriously. We have 160 partners around the world, including entities, leagues and federations, with whom we share data, information and technology, always intending to prevent any type of manipulation and fraud in sports that could tarnish the credibility of the sport.”
Sergio Floris, managing director of SportRadar in Brazil, said this Tuesday (29) was a milestone in Brazilian sports as a whole. “We published this on SportRadar and we believe that this year Brazil will finally lose its leadership as the country with the most suspicions of manipulation in the world. We publish an annual report at the end of the first quarter, and this year everything indicates that we will finally no longer be the leaders of this unwanted ranking.”
Emanuel de Medeiros, founder and global CEO of Siga, said: “There are no divisions here; we are all on the same side of the barricade. Let’s roll up our sleeves to work together, that’s what we do every day. You can count on us.”
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