Where there is gambling, there is corruption. Why would it be any different in sport? – 04/19/2023 – Juca Kfouri

Going back to enumerating the cases of corruption in sports, especially in football, because of betting, whether legal or illegal, is tiring, perhaps idle, but necessary.

An entire generation of Brazilians was marked by the so-called “Tragedy of Sarriá”, when the Italian Paolo Rossi scored the three goals that eliminated the best Brazilian team since the three-time world champion in 1970.

Rossi had been punished with three years of suspension for participating, although he always denied, in Totonero, illegal betting scheme in Italy.

His sentence ended up being eased so that he could compete in the World Cup in Spain and he was consecrated as the great hero of the conquest.

In the same year, 1982, the magazine Placar denounced more than a hundred people, including athletes, coaches, referees and officials, who participated in gangs manipulating the results of the Brazilian Sports Lottery, regulated in March 1970 by the dictatorship and administered by the Federal Savings Bank.

No one was punished, the journalists who made the allegations faced endless lawsuits and Loteca fell into deep disrepute.

The case became known as the Sports Lottery Mafia.

Years passed and, in 2005, it was the turn of Veja magazine to denounce the Edilson Pereira de Carvalho scheme, the referee responsible for the annulment of 11 Brazilian Championship games that culminated in the disputed title of Corinthians. It was the Whistle Mafia.

There was also the scandal of bingos, in 2004, which culminated in their ban, association of gambling with sports clubs, partners with huge debts, because they never received the part that should have been allocated to them.

What we see now, upon reaching the national Série A, was more than predicted and announced, not because of premonition or excessive perspicacity on the part of its authors, just because of the observation of the obvious.

This is not the place to enter into moral discussions about gamblers, the taste for gambling, gambling addiction, none of that.

Whoever wants to gamble, who wants to go to casinos, who can and cannot enrich the bank, the right to be a sucker is sacred.

The rub is when it involves the sport and causes harm to those who practice or enjoy it merely as a fan.

Because it jeopardizes the credibility of the results, even more so when you see bet ads on club shirts — and former players and even journalists as their poster boys.

I bet with the rare reader that there is no sports program in the main vehicles in the country without the sponsorship of any bet.

Including those with critics of gambling, because the straight face is immeasurable and conveys the idea of ​​freedom of expression.

What to do?

First, to regulate the practice in Brazil, something that incredibly has not been done until today.

Tax as much as possible the extraordinary earnings of the newsstands, exclude those that eventually live from money laundering and monitor extravagant bets to guarantee the minimum security on the transparency of the results.

In plain English, a new ice-drying exercise, such as combating drug trafficking, etc.

Because the human being is this project that hasn’t worked out yet: greedy, adept at slipping, clinging to a mamata and to this day a victim of pyramids and such.

It would be nice to see the CBF prohibit sponsorship.

PRESENT LINK: Did you like this text? Subscriber can release five free hits of any link per day. Just click the blue F below.