Is Match-Fixing Happening More Today Or Is It Just Policed Better?

If you believe what is in the news, it seems as though match-fixing is taking place every other week. It feels as though it is very much on the rise, but is that actually the case?

It is likely that the policing of the likes of match-fixing is better than every before, but at the same time the number of things that can be ‘fixed’ is also on the rise. In the past, the likelihood is that the only thing that could be bet on was the outcome of a match, meaning that the need to fix something was massive. Nowadays, however, you can bet on the likes of the ball being put out for a throw-in in a football match.

Spot-fixing, as it is known, has become easier to do because people are able to bet on more things than they were in the past. This proliferation of possible fixing of things means that there is a larger requirement for things to be policed more successfully.

It is something of a perpetual cycle that will almost never stop and the clarity around which is difficult to find. The truth is that it is probably six of one and half a dozen of the other, given the fact that the move to betting online has simultaneously allowed for bets to be placed on more stuff whilst also being easier to monitor.

What Is Match-Fixing?

In organised sport, any incident in which something within the event taking place has been set beforehand, as opposed to taking place naturally.

An obvious example would be a player deliberately kicking the ball out for a throw-in at a certain time in a football match because they know that people will have place a bet on that outcome. The most egregious example of a match being fixed would involve a player scoring an own-goal or a goalkeeper failing to save an easy shot because there have been bets placed on the outcome of the game overall that they need to help become winners.

Match-fixing can be as big as that or as small as a cricketer intentionally bowling a no ball or tampering with the ball. These smaller spot-fixing moments are just as bad as a decision that alters the overall outcome of the match, even though they might not seem like it.

Anything that gives some people an advantage over others in terms of betting is obviously against the idea of ‘fairness’. There are numerous reasons why a player might agree to fix a match, up to and including bribery, blackmail and simply because they are bored and want to do something more exciting during a match.

It Is A Big Problem

According to a report carried out by Sportsradar, match-fixing has become a major problem. Around 500,000 matches were monitored over ten different sports, with one in every 201 football fixtures being flagged as a problem. Whilst they are more likely to be in lower-level competitions and obscure leagues from around the world, it would be untrue to dismiss the possibility of it happening in the biggest tournaments.

There was an incident in a Premier League match involving Arsenal in which a bookmaker received $420,000 worth of bets on a player being booked, which they were.

The incident was flagged to the International Betting Integrity Association, but the Football Association decided to take no further action. That is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the sort of thing that happens in football, especially when it comes to the lower leagues where there is still plenty of interest on an international stage and the players are paid much less. This makes them susceptible to the offers that are likely to come in from organised crime groups, given that they could do with adding money to their coffers that they don’t get directly from the sport.

More Things To Bet On

One of the biggest problems for those that are trying to crack down on match-fixing is the fact that bookmakers are constantly looking for more and more markets for people to be able to bet on.

It isn’t just that the number of sports that punters can place a wager on are increasing, it’s that the sports themselves contain more markets than they ever have before. As a result, it is more difficult for the authorities to police possible match-fixing than it has ever been. Whilst sports like football are an obvious one to look out for, other, less obvious sports have also been targeted.

The work from Sportradar highlighted that table tennis saw an increase in suspicious activity, for example. Similarly, basketball matches in Thailand became noteworthy for the manner in which they seemed to be a lot more suspicious than in previous years. The emergence of organised crime in China certainly increased the number of Chinese players that were guilty of match-fixing, with some choosing to fix a match after finding out that their families were being threatened if they didn’t do precisely what was asked of them by those looking to make money from certain events.

On one level it is harder to fix some sports than in the past.  Take an elite footballer now, they will be paid millions each year and are not likely to be open to fixing a match for a five figure sum.  Sports have also grown, however, now with more leagues, events and competitors than ever.  While some sports at the top level are much cleaner than they were before the proliferation of sports and the ability to bet on them at much lower levels and in much finer detail means the problem has not gone away, it has just shifted.

It Is Policed Better Than Ever

Whilst the evidence is absolutely there to suggest that match-fixing is on the increase, it is also important to acknowledge that it is also being policed better than it ever has been.

The use of online betting means that monitoring large bets or suspicious betting activity is much easier than it was in the past. Previously, it would be all but impossible for the police to know how many bets will have been placed on a specific outcome when they will have been placed at different bookmakers up and down the country. Now, however, that is much easier to monitor.

The result is that match-fixing will appear in the news on a more regular basis, giving the impression that it is happening more than it has in the past. The truth is probably a little bit of one and a touch of the other. The ability to monitor suspicious activity has gone up, so this is reported more and it seems as though it is happening more often.

At the same time, the sheer number of things taking place and able to be fixed has gone up, so there has definitely been more such fixing going on that we perhaps don’t even know about. Either way, it is unlikely that sporting outcomes are as fair as they should be in some instances.