Match fixing is the predetermined outcome of a competitive event, often associated with gambling and illegal. It can take many forms, including point shaving and horse racing. Those caught may face criminal prosecution, and severe consequences are imposed on violators. The sports most vulnerable to match-fixing are those with underpaid participants, and college sports are especially susceptible. The Black Sox scandal and professional soccer clubs are examples of fixed matches throughout history.
Match fixing is the practice of staging a competitive event, usually in organized sports, with a predetermined outcome. Often associated with gambling, both legal and illegal, match fixing is usually illegal and those caught may face criminal prosecution. However, some corrections occur for other reasons, such as when players or teams deliberately keep score in sports where aggregate scores affect seeding or tiebreakers. In sports where a league’s end-of-season position determines the order of draft picks before the following season, with the team finishing last to get the first draft pick, it has been argued that some players have caused the loss of their teams to increase those chances.
Match fixing can take many different forms. In boxing, for example, the only outcome that can be fixed is victory itself, and the losing fighter must participate in the correction, by agreeing to feign elimination or “make a splash”, often in a particular round. Nearly all cases of match-fixing have been initiated by gambling interests, which have also been central to match-fixing in other sports.
Point shaving is a popular form of match-fixing in which the difference between teams’ scores, or “spreads,” is maintained by the winning team. The point reduction is more significant for gamblers in sports where bets are based on such a spread: if a player bets that one team will win by 10 points and the team wins by fewer points, the bet is lost. In some sports, such as soccer and hockey, the total number of goals scored by a team in a season is used as a tiebreaker in determining rankings; some teams, near the end of a season, may try to influence a league’s final standings by keeping their point totals low. There are also cases of teams cooperating on the playing field if a certain outcome is beneficial to both teams.
Horse racing is especially vulnerable to fixation because horse racing gambling is generally legal. If the jockeys riding the favorite horses to win a race can be persuaded to hold back their mounts, even slightly, it may be enough to win a long shot, enriching those players who bet on the long shot. Horse racing venues and racing associations constantly monitor videotapes of racing for any indication that a jockey is not demanding his mount’s best performance. In many cases, however, it is impossible to prove that a horse race was rigged.
There are countless examples of fixed matches throughout history. One of America’s most notorious scandals was the 1919 Black Sox scandal, in which a gangster paid eight members of the Chicago White Sox to lose that year’s World Series game to the Cincinnati Reds. When the scandal was uncovered, the eight players were banned from baseball for life. Fixing charges are often leveled against professional soccer clubs, and if proven, similar consequences are meted out to violators. Such severe consequences are usually imposed on anyone under the jurisdiction of any sports organization, professional or amateur, who is involved in any way in fixing matches.
In most jurisdictions, match fixing is not only a violation of the rules of the sporting organizations involved, it is also a criminal offence, because spectators who pay for tickets have been promised honest competition. When the fixation allegations are substantial enough to warrant an investigation, government investigative powers can be called into play, usually by enhancing the fact-finding process. Involving law enforcement in the process can also result in the punishment of those outside the sports jurisdiction, such as gamblers and their associates.
The sports most vulnerable to match-fixing are those whose participants are relatively underpaid. The Black Sox scandal is widely blamed on team owner Charles Comiskey’s notorious stinginess. Baseball salaries have grown considerably since then, and it’s nearly impossible to buy even the lowest-paid player; instead, gaming interests looking to fix games are more likely to seek out bribable referees. College sports in the United States are especially susceptible to attempted match-fixing because players receive no monetary compensation, and college athletic governing bodies are very vigilant and quick to ban players for match-fixing. Players banned from college sports for match-fixing lose their athletic scholarships, are frequently expelled, and usually find the door closed to any professional athletic career.
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