The Brazilian government has announced the formation of its new Working Group designed to tackle match-fixing across sports countrywide.
The Working Group will consist of representatives from Brazil’s Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Sports and Ministry of Justice and Public Security.
Fernando Haddad, André Luiz Carvalho Ribeiro (known as André Fufuca) and Ricardo Lewandowski are the state ministers from each respective department who cosigned the interministerial ordinance announcing the group’s formation.
The Working Group’s purpose is to develop a national policy for combatting match-fixing in sport.
This will consist of establishing an “integrated and collaborative flow for receiving and handling complaints, avoiding overlapping administrative bodies and proposing national guidelines based on international best practices, prioritisng local realities”.
The Ministry of Finance said the group is an “an effective response by the federal government to growing concern over allegations of match-fixing in sports”.
Brazil’s National Secretariat for Sports Betting and Economic Development of Sports, a subdivision of the Ministry of Sports, will serve as the executive secretary for the Working Group’s activities.
The group’s initial term of office is six months, with a view to renewing it for a further six months.
Its first initiative will be a national meeting whereby 27 civil police delegates and 27 delegates from federal police superintendencies will be trained in spotting and tackling match-fixing.
Regis Dudena, secretary of prizes and betting at the Ministry of Finance, said: “The risks of match-fixing in sports are a threat to the credibility of sports as they affect something that is very central to it: unpredictability.
“Such illegal actions have the potential to negatively impact the various aspects of this activity and society as a whole, thus requiring special attention from the state.
“Hence the importance of a forum like this one being created. I am very pleased to collaborate with the ministries of sports and justice in this fight.”
Brazil’s regulated sports betting market went live on 1 January 2025.
The market’s licensed operators reported combined gross gaming revenue (GGR) of BRL17.4bn (£2.4bn) for the first six months of the year.
The International Betting Integrity Association’s (IBIA) Q2 report showed there were 69 suspicious betting alerts recorded during that time period, with 12 coming from South America.
From those 12 alerts reported from the continent, five originated from Brazil.
Three alerts were related to football betting, one concerning basketball and the fifth from snooker variant sinuca americana.
Sports minister Fufuca noted: “This measure reinforces, once again, that the government understands the urgency and need to address such a complex issue that impacts the lives of so many people.
“Therefore, joint action at the national level is essential, moving efforts in the same direction to combat competition manipulation.”
The post Brazilian government forms task force to tackle match-fixing first appeared on EGR Intel.
Working Group to consist of representatives from Brazil’s Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Sports and Ministry of Justice and Public Security
The post Brazilian government forms task force to tackle match-fixing first appeared on EGR Intel.