Bitcoin Forum

I recently watched an interesting video where the author claimed that in many cases it is not that difficult to predict the outcome of a sports match, because bookmakers are interested in a certain outcome of the match and implicitly influence the outcome of this match. I will not publish a link to this and other similar videos here, so as not to engage in free advertising.
What is important is something else. In the video, the author claimed that modern bookmakers are so powerful that they are actually the source of players' salaries. Most of the games that are included in the bookmaker's line are not completely honest, although this is not customary to talk about. According to the author, the team as a whole is hinted at how they should play so that the team's funding continues. This mainly concerned football.
By the way, as the author claims, if we take teams from lower divisions that are subsidized by local budgets, then there too it is often easy to predict the outcome of a match. There are local teams that at certain times stop being financed by local municipalities (in poor countries) and the teams simply "dump" the match. After all, what is the point of playing for a victory for a professional team if it understands that the money for financing it was either not allocated or was sharply reduced?
And what do you think - does the bookmaker influence the outcome of sports matches?
Is this situation different for different sports? Is football unique in this sense?

I will not believe the author that bookmakers influences the outcome of a match because football is not gambling and every team and coach is fighting hard to see that they win the title at the end of the season for profit. Bookmakers are the ones to calculate the odds of an upcoming match which they are using some analysis on the clubs performance, head to head, the players playing and the strikers involved in the match if they are in form or not.

This is why I don't see any connections between the bookmakers are a match to be played. It might be so for a very poor country local match but not in a professional match that the players are not allowed to gamble. You should also note that football has a lot of players involved making it difficult for such to happen.

Yes bookmakers cannot influence football matches. I think they can influence a boxing match, because it involves just the boxer and his coach.

The big leagues are not influenced by betting sites.

This can be true for big leagues like the English Premier League, La Liga and other big leagues but it is not true in some lower leagues that the outcome can be manipulated. They are manipulating the outcome of the match because of something connecting to betting.

For me, it sounds like a sick fantasy of this analyst talking about bookmakers' dictates. I will not talk about world football, hoping that there can be no rigged games there. But if we talk about the championship in my country, then even there the bookmaker can only guess about the outcome of the game, making up the odds of the teams based on their position in the tournament table. But yes, I have heard such stories when coaches can agree with the opponent so that his team, for example, wins or plays a draw on his home field, promising to give the next game to the opponent's field. Local championships are guilty of such things, but again, this is not announced everywhere, and disqualification can follow for this.

It's hard to believe that this sort of thing plays out in a setting like football where you can see some level of trends where big clubs consistently show thier dormainnace over weaker teams and don't waste opportunities to score goals in most of her games. If this is true, then we will be seeing more rotation of top four contenders in the EPL and champions league rather than the regular names we are used to who stands on those spot based on merit and not through the influence of any book maker.

Thier might be other ways they influence certain teams decision to buy certain player if they are sponsoring that team and that's just normal and purely business based. If it happens that's this is anywhere close to what's the current reality with our sports, then we've lost another interesting sports just like what's now the case with wrestling. The effect of things like this is that players can't give in Thier all while playing because the match has already been prefix and the outcome pre determined before the start of the game. I don't think it has gotten to this level.

I stay with you here, I think it mostly happens in locals, rather than on big events.

If for lower division sports betting then it is still very possible that the bookmaker can influence the outcome of the match, this is usually easier to manipulate for small tournaments or the lowest division, while for the Big League I don't think this will be influenced by the bookie, now it's very tight.

Not really paying attention to other sports, but clearly what I understand about football is unique, but whatever the bookies can influence it I have seen several cases that happened before.

come on... this is one of the stupid theory relating gambling I have heard in the last 50 years (more or less my age).
More over, the author of the video clear ignore or doesn't understand how it works business in gambling and how bookmakers earn money.

The only case (of course without any kind of evidence) where a bookmaker can have this interest is in a small competition (maybe created by them). Otherwise is just an impossible thing and nothing else.

Remember with crypto, anyone can make a bet even in new created maket "ad hoc". If anyone was able to made any influence it was something pretty clear and easy detectable.

Bookmakers do not influenced match result as far as i can remember especially the international league are hardly to be influenced, okay how much do you think a bookmakers would pay a team to lose their matches over the opposite team like how is this even possible?
If talking about local team matches or a sub-divisional matches then we can say those clubs has no options to receive pays from bookmakers where they got paid from those marker for inclusion, like having their clube being added to the site where people do bet on them and there matches are being determined by those makers.

No, I do not think that bookmaker has influence of the outcome of an sport matches, I mean they are the one making the odds 'fair' for gamblers with their modelling and maybe AI to help them analyze any matches.

So how will they influence the outcome? maybe they can be paid through the odds that they made, but I don't understand the people making them and then saying that they want to this team to win specially if they are the underdog? That will totally break their modelling system if they do that, and with all the eyes of them, perhaps the Vegas gambling commission, it's very hard to do that and trick everyone.

In local sports, that is possible but I doubt it could happen in professional sports, I mean the big leagues.
I don't think it's just football that is being affected by this kind of influence, any other popular sports could also have a bookmaker that is funding them and could easily sway the results of the game. Most of the time it's to throw the game away.

You are right. Why do they need to play hard and gain victory if it's always just about the money? Then, they will just follow whatever is said to them and obey it so that the payment will be continuous. This is where most rigged games do happen but to spot them is the difficult part.

You won't publish it because there is no such thing or the material is written by someone who clearly doesn't know a thing!
It's the team that influences the odds bookies have, not bookies influencing the outcome of a match with their odds, how could that even be possible? Rigging the outcome, yes, that's one thing, but just because they would make Osasuna 1.05 favorite against Barcelona it doesn't mean suddenly Barcelona will play like a 4th rate team because a bookie said so!

This is one of that tinfoil hat theories spread across for clicks, if he had had any proof we would have seen the greatest scandal in history, but as usual, nothing. Any such thing would be easily detected by bots and betting arbitrage would kick in the moment one bookie tries to manipulate the odds, just as players gambling on exotic matches with wrong odds are caught easily so would gamblers easily detect something is fishy about the odds.

I don’t believe on this speculation simply because bookmaker is just a 3rd party that use the game for gambling. They will have profit regardless of the result because of the house edge while players is just betting against other players money too.

A sports is heavily sponsored by different brands and they have tickets sales that generate the profit. Bookmaker is not needed to run a sports game so I don’t why they will have power to influence the match that will cause for a potential questioning about the fairness of the game.

There’s no one control the outcome of the game except for the players itself.

This is a serious allegation. Been thinking about this and it's hard for me to believe that nothing is impossible, which means there are chances that these things can actually happen especially between smaller teams in local leagues who not have much international attention and need to be bankrolled so badly. Anyone can be used to influence the outcome of a match. It could be the coach, the referee, a particular player or the technical team to either rig the match or underperform. The chances of these things happening may be very slim and rare, but it doesn't rule out the fact that it can actually happen.

This is just a conspiracy theory, and while it might happen in the real world, we have no evidence to prove it. Bookmakers simply offer gamblers a chance to bet and make money regardless of the outcome of the game. It wouldn’t make sense for them to influence the outcome, as it would put their reputation at risk and potentially harm their profitable business if caught. I think those syndicates are the ones betting against the public; they take the public's money, who usually bet on the clear favorite, but as I mentioned, bookmakers still make money in the end.

I guess if it's lower-end tourneys or small-end ones? I highly doubt bookmakers have THAT much influence. Otherwise the sports industry would be a pretty dogshit place already, which it isn't as far as I know. I don't think this happens in the big tourneys and even if it did, pretty sure most people who watch aren't THAT dumb. They're able to see if a match is actually fixed or not.

Plus, whatever video you watched is probably just spouting nonsense. Probably didn't have any proof as well either.

We could also say it this way: "The chance of them getting caught is very slim." This suggests that major leagues are indeed rigged; it’s just hard to catch them since they are protected and their business must continue. There’s a saying in sports betting: don’t be fooled by public perception, as it is usually wrong. The side where the smart bets or whales are placing their money is often against the public perception.

This is actually interesting because, based on my experience, when I easily judge a match and am very confident that the better team will win, so I take the spread, I often end up losing. The favorite might not cover the spread or, even worse, could lose the game entirely.

If you think bookmakers can manipulate the results, regardless it's small or big league, it should be same because in big league like Premier League, more than 50% of shirt sponsors are from gambling. This mean gambling is really big for Premier League.

Personally, I don't believe bookmakers can influence to manipulate the results, they're just promoting their brands.

If they get caught, it will be disaster for them since it would ruin their reputation.

https://imgvb.com/images/2024/08/30/04422b3edf361ab97307ed9978a97014.png
https://www.scoreandchange.com/overview-of-the-2024-2025-premier-league-sponsors/

They surely can. If they want for example a certain game to end like they want they have the meaning, resources and inside people to make this happen and no one can stop them, have you people not wondered if you check the results of the Serie A for example in the year 1990-1995 you can see that the amount of surprise results have been at a bare minimum where the strongest teams used to win always or at least 90% of their games. This is something does not happen anymore as we have to find a miracle for example if all the top major 5 leagues of soccer in Europe would show a weekend without a single surprise result, yesterday we had Real draw again and with the super star players they have they surely have the capability to beat a team like Las Palmas or whoever did they play yesterday. So bottom line yes and that is the reason surprise results happen every week now.

Maybe the chance for this situation to happen is so low since for sure that their marketing deals with certain teams or in the league might be in trouble if they try to pull those manipulative techniques towards each team they are having a deal. And usually the common thing what we see from their participation on those leagues is they just want to market their brands. To many casino do this and so far I didn't hear any issue that book maker influence the result of the game since so far there's no one complaining towards this matter.

Lots of people maybe got curious about the possibilities especially they know that there's huge money involve on the deals they made from those team. But they need to understand that for sure manipulating the team is not included with every sponsorships deals they made.

I usually believe that bookmakers can influence the outcome of a football match, and that is why we have what is called games fixing, because at some point, those bookmakers are big resource point for some of the league and in prep match their may want to influence the outcome of those match based on the direction that most of the bets are going, take for example, when Manchester City and another weaker club like Chelsea are having a match, the bookies already know that most of the bets that will come in this regard will be in favor of Manchester City for a straight winning, so for sure their may likely want to influence the match outcome so as to cash out all the gamblers bets.

As long as long as there is an house edge on in house games, same will go with sport bets because there is no way the casino will survive with revenue generation without such an act.

Nothing is impossible in this world that is ruled by greed and materialism. Although I have not had any experience with bookmakers influencing the outcome of games, I don't doubt the possibility of such happening. There have been cases of players and referees engaging in match-fixing, who knows if they were influenced by bookmakers? Major football leagues will be very difficult to influence since it will be expensive and difficult. These top leagues are highly regulated and such a crime can be dictated easily.

Sports that involve single participants like boxing, cycling, tennis, etc can be easily influenced by bookmakers, since it will be easy to influence a single sportsman. Football will be hard to influence because it involves a team and is under strict regulation. A football match that was influenced will be easily dictated.      

What I think is that the people saying this don't have any prove but they're just saying what they feel for major tournaments. Bookmakers can influence local Sunday league games that people don't care about and don't know anything that is happening over there. They can influence a collage game but not international tournaments that is being watched by many audiences. If something is fishy in a game, there are organizations incharge of investigating and when there's a team that is being influenced by a bookmarker, it'll be discovered. They have being uncovering players that are helping their friends and relatives to win hence finding teams that are doing so for the bookmarkers won't be challenging. Sportsbook and casino sponsoring clubs can't interfere with how their matches turn out too because they'll be caught.

The way statement reads, bookmakers funding players salaries can lead to players getting blackmailed and have them play the way bookmakers want them to play, some may give in due to their financial positions and some due to greed.

That's made up. They influence it how? Why would they do it? Bookmakers make money regardless of the outcome. In fact, they make the most money when the total value of bets is the highest, so it's in their interest to look legit, attract the most people, make the cash pile up because they get % of that pile. If they get involved in shady business they get less people to trust them and earn less.

Bookmakers powerful? If they're so powerful why don't they bet themselves with unlimited cash. They can for instance invest their own bankroll if they know the match is fixed and earn 100 times more than they would in normal circumstances.

In this case, the player may get the usual salary or a little more but the real beneficiaries will be the bookmakers because they know the outcome of the match beforehand and they will give odds according to that and manipulate this betting business to a greater extent. Also, it depends upon whom they influence because if the player is top-rated and is a star, he won't settle for anything less because he (the player) will have to perform below his ability to lose the game and it will impact his career too.

Also if this is known anytime in future that the player sold himself to the bookmaker, that will be the end of the career for him. You can get a lot of fame and money over time with good performances but only the greedy ones will risk this for quick money.

One of the most famous scandals in Serie A was Calciopoli which occurred in 2005-2006. I don't know whether the bookies are involved in this case or not, but what is certain is that match fixing really does exist. Match-fixing scandals are much easier to happen in a country's smaller leagues, but I think the same thing would be very difficult to happen in Europe's top leagues because of better oversight.

Of course it's not surprising that top European teams have been involved in such scandals, but I never know who financed it regardless of whether it was a bookmaker or an individual. Cases like this can involve one team, several players, or even the referee who officiates at the match.

I may see this happening on local leagues in which a local bookmaker had great influence within the community, but I do not see this being true when it comes to the most famous leagues around the world, and the reason for this is simple, such a conspiracy will need thousands of people being aware of what is happening, and in this age it is almost impossible to keep such secret for so long, and sooner or later someone will talk more than what they should and the conspiracy will become public knowledge, and since this has not happened, I can only assume it is not possible to do at all.

Logically with a large enough amount of money in the big league of course it will not be allowed, justice will not be taken away by any amount of money from any bookie, because we know that they have a lot of money than bookies in the big league and big teams in a league.

Small leagues that are included in gambling are certainly a more easy target if they have a low level of justice, they will be easily influenced by money from bookmakers that make a match manipulated, the possibility of small leagues is greater to be influenced by bookmakers.

I disagree with you the bolded statement. We all know that Manchester City is stronger than Chelsea which most people will bet on City winning and the bookers will give City the lower odds because it is clear that City has a higher chance of winning than losing. I don't see that as influencing of the match. As long as it is gambling that you are predicting the outcome of an event that has not taken place, you might lose or win and that is where the bookmakers make their funds because the game might turn out to be the opposite. Another thing is that gamblers are so greedy that they don't like betting on small odds. If you talk about casino games, I can understand that the casino algorithm influences the outcome of your bet.

The concept that bookmakers fix matches is ridiculous. They're no secret cabal dictating game outcomes. They're businessmen. They set data-driven odds. They study teams, players, and history to forecast the future. Its excellent business to have financial ties to teams and leagues. It doesnt mean they're in charge. Thinkers like that are looking for a conspiracy where none exists.

Lets discuss lower-division teams. They're struggling. Sometimes desperate people make desperate choices. People are like that. Its not the bookmakers' fault. It reflects the clubs' severe economic conditions. We should stop blaming and start seeing the big picture. Complex and unfair, sports are an ecology. That doesnt mean foul play. Nearly all athletes and officials are honest, industrious, and desire to win fairly. Lets credit them.

Well since I said this just an example, I may likely be wrong for n my assumptions, so I accept your opinion also, but if you want to contribute based on my comment and to be on the topic as related to bookmakers influence on the outcome of football match then mentioning gambler greed is somewhat off topic to this discussion.

Since what we are talking about is bookies and not gamblers greed level or patterns of games selection following the odds, between let me ask you, do you know or ever hard the term, match fixing?

You made a lot of point here. I am not going to dismiss it because I have never heard of this once. This is my first time. But some questions that came up as I read this are if bookmakers are so powerful that they are able to influence the outcome of a football match, the would we say that it will most likely be bookmakers that are the most popular in a region where the clubs are based or are even sponsors of the club? Because it isn't possible for them to have a worldwide reach on all games played in the different championships. How about other bookmarkers? Gamblers don't patronize one bookmarker. Are these other bookmarkers also involved in this influencing?

Definitely not, bookmakers has no way can influence the outcome of the match. Remember bookmakers are getting profit from the bets of people.  They have this algorithm that produce an odds that exceeds probabilities, with that they can earn a profit margin if the said odd probability exceeds 100%.  Bookmakers also have a system that can try to balance the bet of both side, if that happen then the bookmaker lessen the risk of paying out more than what they earn. And there are lots more.

With several options for the bookmaker to earn an income from matches, I do not think they have to resort to manipulating the game in order to have the result on their favor.  If there is someone manipulating the game is, it might be the people who are involved directly on the sports, like the athletes, coaches and more. 

It's possible in smaller, more corrupt countries, but do you believe something like that can happen in the UFC for instance, or FIFA world cup. I wouldn't be surprised if in second league in Zimbabwe someone was pulling the strings, or in local town leagues, junior leagues and such, but if you're afraid of it don't bet on them, put money on the big boys NFL, NBA, FIFA, UFC, NHL... There's so many to choose from, you can be betting all day and never touch suspicious games.

Bookmakers don't need to rig anything in order to make money. Nor would they even bother getting involved in anything illegal when they can make mountains of money by doing things legally. There will be rare exceptions to this rule, just like there are criminals in every walk of life, but there is no grand conspiracy the bookmakers have some sort of insider knowledge. No, they have public knowledge and historical information to go on, with vast banks of super computing power able to analyze statistics better than any individual person is likely able to pull together. With that information and even comparing against other bookmakers doing the same thing independently, they can formulate odds which will make them a profit - and gamblers flock to hand over their money thinking they know better.

In some cases it might be plausible especially on lower ranked sports where the players don't make much money.  But in the bigger sports I dont think it's all that much doable.  The books are fine they will make their share of money from people chasing loses or overheating because they won.  It's probably not that big of an issue.

Bookmakers do not influence the outcome or result of matches, it is basically not possible and people just like to come up with bullshit stories for PR, the bookmakers are making enough money through their platform and they are not involved in match fixing. How can the bookmakers even benefit from match fixing, is it going to affect how they set the odds? For example, if City is playing against Brentford and the bookmakers influence is for Brentford to win, do they give them a smaller odd than City? Lol.

I believe the casino have limits to which they can influence a game depending on the team and league. If it's in big international league where all the team are battling for their own victory, I don't think their is anything the casino can do to influence such match. Casino might have other local leagues that they can easily influence or can possibly influence a player secretly so that the player can form badly, either ways, as demanded.

I believe the casino have limits to which they can influence a game depending on the team and league. If it's in big international league where all the team are battling for their own victory, I don't think their is anything the casino can do to influence such match. Casino might have other local leagues that they can easily influence or can possibly influence a player secretly so that the player can form badly, either ways, as demanded.
[/quote]

We cannot rule out your opinion that major leagues are rigged. What we see as football and entertainment is a totally different thing entirely to the owners and management of the clubs. Football right now is a real business and politics, the owners of these businesses will not let their businesses crumble. They can do anything to influence matches to make sure that the money keeps coming in. This is why after a careful thought, I came to a conclusion that  it may actually be possible for bookmakers to influence matches because we have more businessmen now than real people who have sincere passion for sport.

I can't buy the idea that bookmakers influence the outcome of a match. The match can be fixed quite alright, but not from the bookmakers. They can get a tip of the fixtures and try setting the odds in the to reduce the exploits of the whales that do the fixing . Fixing is done quite alright, but not by the bookmakers, it's done in the lower leagues that are not properly checked by FIFA. It's a seldom activity too.

The top bookmakers probably have the money to influence matches in the lower leagues. Even though they have what it takes to shift the tides, I doubt they'll do it because from what i've seen bookmakers tend to have low betting limits whenever you bet in the lower leagues.

I also have the same thoughts, the bookmakers don't have to rely on fixing matches when profit is going to flow regardless of the outcome and as long as their users keep placing bets.

Basically every team will have an owner or investor who holds some shares in the football team, not only for the national team but also the lower division teams there must always be financial support behind them to finance and develop the team.
But what makes the difference is the amount of money that is circulated for this investment, for big team there are clearly rich people and maybe foreign investors but for lower teams it is likely only small investors and from here it can be concluded that the influence of the inadequate state or government budget is not problem.
And if it is about bookies influencing the results, it may be for several matches in certain competitions considering that now football is also part of business that is utilized by investors or team owners so that they can take the opportunity to work together for the results that have been agreed upon.
This is like making predetermined result or kind of bribe to make one particular team gain an advantage and win, the small league will be very easy to influence.

Betting sites don't really care which side is winning because they win no matter what.
If one side gets heavy bets they just adjust the odds and make sure their vig stays the same for them.

Sure sometimes they still have a site where the sports book would make more money if it wins but they won't lose money if the other side wins normally. They already charge us a hefty % due to the vig so there is plenty of room for them to move the line/odds accordingly.

I doubt that that is the case. Most of the time bookmakers are making their many anyway by matching the various outcomes with odds accordingly. They can influence their overall outcome by adjusting odds and limits that someone can place. And I think the more professional the sport, the higher the league and the more elite the participants, the closer to zero is the chance that they literally influence the outcome.

As you said lower leagues might be rather prone to any kind of manipulation, but serious bookmakers won't engage in that as they are already sitting on a goldmine and if it comes out, that goldmine would be closed for them immediately. Doesn't sound like a good deal to me.

They don't influence, their job is to released to the public and for the casinos to used their odds based on several factors, like winning percentage of the team, the standing and others. And as far as I know, they used modeling system to be at least fair when releasing the odds.

So there's no way that they an influence the outcome and I haven't heard any glitch or mistakes by any bookmakers are far as the odds are. So they double check everything before giving it to the casinos and then us bettors used that odds to stake our bets.

An interesting question that I've been thinking about too. I often bet on weak teams, where their unexpected victory is beneficial to bookmakers (although bookmakers profit from any outcome). Well, I noticed that such paradoxical match outcomes happen almost every season, their share is sufficient to at least cover losses on other bets.
Can bookmakers be that powerful? In football, it is possible. This is the most popular game on the planet, and revenue, for example, when broadcasting matches, directly depends on the number of viewers, and the number of viewers strongly depends on whether they place bets. There are many relationships here.

Is there a sport in which it is almost 100% possible to exclude any influence from the outside on the results? Boxing - well, it's extremely doubtful. There are a lot of specially selected opponents. Most likely, there is the strongest influence from the outside.
So gradually, I came to the conclusion that Formula 1 is the least susceptible to manipulation. For reasons of too powerful opposing rivals. Well, obviously the bookmakers are too small in scale to influence the teams that contain automobile corporations. Multiply this by the ego of the pilots of the first magnitude.

How long will the bookmakers keep influencing a club's match outcome and how long will the coach of the team be willing to allow his career to be continually to be dumped by bookmakers interest ? That's a big question to ponder on, which is why I would agree with you Frankolala  that bookmakers really don't have influence on the outcome of football matches, it could be in other sports but definitely not football.

Every coach want to be at the top of his career by winning matches which amounts to winning trophies and titles and this also is mutual inclusive to the players in the team. If such things are happening I do believe some sought of a whistle blower would have alarmed it. Perhaps, the said man in the purported video wasn't referring to elite leagues but those average leagues which public eyes has no much attention and interest on.

How much of that is even true? I don't think they should have that kind of power knowing that they don't even play or probably knows a lot of statistics (which is not bad but it shouldn't be a factor in the outcome of a match)

I will believe it if it's in some small-time competition or probably a school thing, but I don't think there would be many bookmakers there as well.

Do you have any specifics, OP?

There is some truth in this, but this certainly does not apply to top clubs or athletes. If we talk about the second third leagues and various dubious divisions, then yes, this can happen there, since matches can be negotiated with their referees, I think that this is big for someone secret, but accordingly, there are enough risks there, since the commissions can stop this (or maybe not) Much depends on the country where the bookmaker’s office is located.

But if we think about it why does bookmakers do that? They don't have to do those things since all what they wanted is to get exposure from what they are promoting. Fixing matches will not be their main concern since they cannot earn huge from it. They provably earn more if they can legitimately scatter their exposure so this doubts from some people is actually don't have any sense.

I try to search some information regarding on this possibilities but it it always show up that Bookmakers don't engage with match fixing schemes since it will create a bad controversy on their business and this might create  a big issue to their company. And those possibilities they mention is kinda questionable and so far there's no proven scenario that coach or any personnel  is having a shady deals towards bookmakers.

As much as I do not want to side with the bookmakers, this allegation is senseless, how can a sport that is being viewed by many, with players and managers of the teams having different relationships with the bookies be influenced like that? Will they influence all of them to influence the outcome of a match? Fine, some players may be bribes, we've seen cases like that but they can't bribe everyone, and how will that entirely influence the outcome of the game?

Assuming the allegation is true, we have too many bookmakers, how can all of them influence the outcome of matches at once despite being rivals? That is not feasible.

This salary payment can be somewhat true but there is more to that as the bookies can't take the whole credits. There are other sources of income for the clubs, but indeed, sponsors like the bookies play significant roles in their revenue. Notwithstanding, this can't influence the outcome of matches, it's illegal and their cooperation (both the club and the bookies) is a mutual sponsorship for adverts.

The bookmakers according to that which you have stated above obviously influence the outcome of games because there's no better way to put it than this of like you mentioned they literally dictate to the teams how to play so the expected possible outcome can be gotten. Since this isn't a public disclosure the bookmakers will continue to make good money off it but if it were a publicly disclosed information, then the bookmakers will obviously loose funds where the public knows the possible outcome of a game and spends all their money making a stake in it such that the outcome will be huge after which the casinos will suffer after withdrawals.

I don't think that's possible, I used to think that bookmakers can actually work together and probably bribe those officiating a match to change the outcome but if you give it a little thought you would come up with the realization that it's not possible because it's no legal to do such. If bookmakers can influence the outcome of certain games it would affect the reputation of some clubs, so the possibility of this is very low. The outcome of a match solely depends on what happens in the pitch and how the game is been played and bookmakers have no control over it.

I can't really say that bookmakers influences the outcome of matches %100 but I believe it to be slightly true. Because the way some Match usually ends always baffles most people and makes them believe the Match could have been fixed or controlled by the bookmakers but there is no concrete prove. I have heard many people complain about this kind of situation but who will believe you when there is no evidence? but like I said before, even if it's true how can people believe when there is no evidence? I believe this usually happen in some local team just like @lovemayfamiles said. I think a thread similar to this was created some weeks ago that was related to this.

Bookmakers are, in reality, businesses that attempt to rank races based on wins. You should balance the money spent on each side of the tournament to limit money laundering. Although these are important in ensuring they make a profit. However, the concept of them having a direct influence on the outcome of the tournament can be an exaggeration. This can be the cause of massive cheating in most sports. The biggest part of it is illegal and hard to hide Especially at the highest level

Major leagues and competitions, such as football, have strict rules and controls to prevent match fixing or manipulation. This is primarily because such activities infringe on the integrity of the game. Organizations like FIFA, UEFA, and national federations are investing much in cleaning up the sport. And while scandals like those of match fixing will have happened in the past, well known and penalized severely, The clearer the reaction will be. The harder it will be to analyze the findings missed.

However, more publicity or highly illegal sports sometimes results in monetary pressure or even fraud. But when the club is on its head due to financial problems, then perhaps the temptation might be there to throw matches or to get players involved in betting. It can especially be so in poor countries or lower leagues. The rules are not very tight regarding control.

If this is unique in this way, then the same pressures and potential losses could always be directed to other sports. For example, tennis has not been without its tournament scandals over the years, especially at grassroots competitions where most of its players earn nothing or very little.


I have no doubt that it raises serious ethical and legal concerns for anyone to even suggest a bookmaker can actually affect the outcome of a match. The integrity of the sport is paramount. And widespread distortion will certainly damage the reputations of clubs and the sport itself.

Although there are very few cases of fixing matches, But they are always investigated and get pretty severe punishment. This accounts for all the efforts made to ensure a fair play of the game. The match's result will finally depend on the performance of players on field. And any intention of the bookmaker to distort may get exposed. Considering the fact that it is the sports agency who distorts what to do.

However, instability in financial matters for the lower divisions, as dealt with earlier, would portray deficits. Still, I believe it would be important to distinguish the experiences accumulated here from the professional sport experiences. Where most football is played fair and square and the unpredictability of games is what makes sports exciting for both fans and gamblers. Protecting privacy must always come first.


Although it is hard to identify the authority unmistakably. However, the notion that some matches are questionable raises questions in the minds of fans and bettors. Of course, sometimes the outcome of some games can be inconceivable. This is a reason for recommendations to create matches or multiplayer. But as you say, If there's no clear evidence These claims remain pure speculation. Especially in some local leagues. This can create an environment where doubts arise. Especially when there is financial instability. As we have seen in previous scandals, investigation of any allegations thorough detail is essential to the integrity of the sport.

I still feel that these are the essential debates that should help us analyze the problems of sports betting and other factors that lead to winning a match. Every individual needs to be cautious and encourage health care in all sporting events. For the eradication of problems that might occur

Since you mentioned that bribery is possible, we can also say that manipulation could exist as well. We might not always see these things because they’re not always obvious, but yes, it can definitely happen. 

However, I still believe that bookmakers are genuine in what they're doing and have no influence over the outcomes. They’re in this business for a reason and have gained a lot of users because gamblers trust them. Maybe some may engage in shady practices like you mentioned, but there are definitely reputable sites out there. That’s why choosing the right and trusted betting site is important—it can significantly influence results!

I see no reasons  why this should be effective in the aspect of football because the influence of dominance shown by most prominent team leaders is proven that bookmakers can't have such influence, but they could possibly have influence over teams that grant them access and if the author claims taking teams with lower division and low budget then they can influence them and as well the outcome of that match,so it's either when access is given to bookmakers they can alter the outcome of the match entirely.

This is just baseless, the bookmakers can't and will never influence the outcome of matches, why would they even do that? Look at it from this angle, if a bookmaker influences a certain team, what will be the gain or loss of other bookmakers when the team do not have the final say? Will they all do it? What are they competing with their rivals that made them that desperate? That means the bookmaker will just sacrifice for them for nothing.

And if they've been doing it, won't some of them be caught already like many players have been caught? Has any player ever mentioned a bookmaker to have influenced their matches? I've never read of that, only that some placers might have a direct link with some betting gangs and friend which make them commit some infractions and others so that their people may win.

But with bookies, there are many sports, game options, prematch and live-match bettings among others, how many people would they satisfactorily influence? I doubt this is feasible, we (customers and bookies) are all risking in sports and it will be a grave mistake for bookies to attempt that.

Though there have rumors about "fixed matches" which are said to be common on lower leagues as an avenue to generate funds. But when it comes to this statement of bookmakers influencing the outcome of Sporting events, I doubt if such is possible, considering the fact that just as casinos aim at generating profits, so do clubs also aim at winning trophies, and as such won't want to compromise with the outcome of their match outcome for few penny of dollars. But however If it were to be said about Referees, lines-men or the head couches to have had influence on the outcome of a football event, then such allegations would have likely been a bit understandable to be true, and not bookmakers, as they are totally a separate body entirely. 

The bookmakers only give the bet to gamblers and not have relation to the outcome on the match. What happen in the field is because each team show their best performance and many things can happen. But how if the bookmakers is big and popular? I think they can cooperate with other third parties that can bribe some people that related to the match and change the outcome. I think possible but I don't know for sure because that need an investigation to know the truth. What bookmarkers can influence is lured gamblers who want to place a bet and ask them if they already have their choice to bet or they still find the team. If that gambler doesn't know what he should choose, the bookmakers will give the option.

I agree with this, from the point of view of the business that bookmakers are engaged in, influencing (obviously illegal) the outcomes of games is a loss-making and risky activity. Why do this if the mathematics itself works for them and is completely legal?
As for the theoretical influence that they can have on the game without breaking the law, maybe it is psychological pressure? For example, if bookmakers in some equal pair quote one team much better, then perhaps this will have an impact on both of these teams. But this is purely theoretical, since it is difficult to verify.

True, they have their way of influencing by encouraging gamblers to bet on a team. Bookmakers help in funding leagues and tournaments, this same bookmakers can adjust odds which encourage fans, and, you know, football has a lot of audience, to bet on specific outcomes. And also, these bookmakers, when they give information, especially as football has a large fan base, people tend to be sensitive to those informations, even if they shared informations with teams and officials, people still find their way to get to know what they said.

So, it's not like they directly go and influence the game, but they have their way of influence. That's just the point I'm trying to make. They have their way of influencing the outcome of the game, especially with the fact that football goes with a lot of crowd.
There are certain actions bookmakers can take that influence how people bet on a game or how people perceive a team and stuff like that. So, that's just it for me. Why bookmakers don't have certain power directly to influence the game in their office, they know they know their way around things, you know. Especially the fact that sponsorship is really important for all this tournament.

I am not so sure about Op's claim based on what he saw in the video online, because that would be a serious accusation. It is like match fixing and rumors always circulate but so far the ones who have always been proven are the players who are proven so they have witnesses.
I have also heard bettors say that there are leagues where such practices occur, but it is the small leagues that often occur while the big leagues may have occurred but not as much as the big leagues, because the big leagues will certainly get more attention if there is an anomaly.

Actually once the players reach the professional goal, they also need to release their entertainment and they also need more money for their life, so I don't think the goal is simply the championship trophies because that is only the goal of the players who are too rich, the normal players as well as the lower leagues, they will need more income and once they don't have it, it will be a compromise. Besides, many big football teams need to be famous as well as increase their rank after each season, the investors of these teams will also have a small cost of arrangement, so the bookmaker sometimes only has a very small impact and only needs to cooperate with these teams, a suitable score will appear.

The story of bookmakers have influence on football matches looks untrue because this is not possible if we look at it from a perspective of bookmakers not having what it takes to organize a fix match. But a bookmaker can influence the outcome of a match through the available options that are provided to users to select from in order to bet on the match. They could manipulate the options in a way that we would want to think otherwise especially when we don't have the particular option we intend to bet on. Sometimes the odds of the match,who to win, draw or lose can be manipulated in a way that we could be forced to go for the bigger odds just to increase the total odds of matches we have selected. This is what I understood by bookmakers having the influence yo determine the outcome of our bets whether a win or lose.

OP is starting to sound like a conspiracy theorist, lol. But it’s also good to be aware of the possibility that some games might be rigged. You can’t avoid people thinking this way, especially when favorites often lose in betting - whether it's the point spread, totals, or an outright win. While it's interesting to consider this type of theory when analyzing games, fully relying on this feeling won’t really help in achieving consistency.

I think sometimes the bookies do influence the results of the matches that occur, because I myself feel strange with several matches that take place, even when I look for other information about a slightly strange match there are many people who do comment negatively on the match by saying that the game was arranged by the bookie so it is not strange if someone says "this is a bookie game" although not all matches are like this but I am sure that sometimes the bookie does influence the results of the match.
The bookie can manipulate the match that takes place such as the match is running with a result that will end in a draw but when the bookie sees that there is a big advantage in one  of the teams because of the many bets then the bookie can arrange it even though indirectly. From this I think the bookie seems to have quite a lot of power because he can influence the results of the match.

What is clear for big and popular team in an important competition will be very difficult to manipulate with an agreement to be able to make certain final result as desired, but for various small leagues with team that are not so popular, there will be possibility of bribery and determining the final result.
It just that as gambler we don't need to think too far in matters like this, we just think realistically by continuing to prioritize big competitions with various big popular team and so we don't need to worry about bookies influencing the results of the match.
Moreover, we don't gamble on all matches in all existing Leagues, just think positively about every match result even though sometimes it doesn't match expectations because unexpected results with surprises from player errors that result in defeat also occur several times.

Bookmakers cannot influence the outcome of a football match. But they may analyze the game better depending on which they determine the odds of the game. Their odds may make it seem that bookmakers can influence the outcome of football matches but in fact bookmakers cannot influence the outcome of football matches so if they could people would have discovered such fraud. However, it is very important to analyze well when betting on football matches. Be very careful when betting especially on small country games and Premier League games as there can be a bit of fraud in these matches. But there is never any fraud or any deal in World Cup matches.

They will easily run their plan to influence people who involved in that events so they will benefits and make more money for their business. Yes, they have their ways to influence people and makes them follow their suggestion to place a bet on the team that they already set. They really make a big profit from that and makes their business bigger with that way.

They can tell people who still confuse what team they will bet to select the team that they are suggested and give their reason why people should choose that team. Even they can tell to those people that they have a secret information that said the team will win in the certain minutes. We don't know what ways they will use to influence people because that is their secret.

That is right because many people including the football federation will strictly watch everything and will make sure that no manipulation will happen. People who will be chosen inside those events will also be strictly selective and will free from corruption and will not have a chance to get bribed. All eyes will be on them so they will ensure that everything will run smoothly without any problems. That will be different if the event is for small leagues that are not too popular so maybe they can set the result or do other things so their chosen team can win.

I don't think that bookmakers ^{(in general)} have any relevant  influence (not to mention the strong one) as it would cost them a lot of money which should cover all club losses from the potential penalties resulted from such kind of deals though the single attempts may happen in any sport. I think bookmakers may influence your bet on a match ^{(by their their sometimes biased odds)} rather than the outcome of that match.

Almost all major sports leagues have put measures in place to dictate any fraudulent activities in games. They also have an integrity unit which ensures that games are played legally and any suspicious activity is investigated accordingly. However, no system is without loopholes, and humans cannot be fully trusted.

Generally, if it is believed that casinos or betting platforms are fair, this is the reason why people trust them with money. However, this does not change the possibility that some bookmakers have dishonest employees who could try to rig games. Though few cases have come to light, this behaviour is not widespread. It has come to light that there are instances of match-fixing that connect these bookmakers to these unethical actions. 

The bookie only analyzes each match that will take place well, the bookie will not at all influence the final result of any match. If this happens in every ball game then a lot of deception has occurred, the bookie prioritizes large capital depending on the appropriate analysis that the bookie can bet on.
Looking in detail before starting betting is very necessary, especially in small matches, sometimes there is score fixing by certain parties and it is not the bookie who does all that.

Add to the equation the following factors: betting companies being the main sponsors of athletes and teams, the wicked corrupted standards of modern human beings, the possibility of making instant huge profit through a sole game played.

It looks a fatal formula, right? Why wouldn't bookies and athletes execute a shady scheme like that on the backgrounds? Money is what matters for most people nowadays, above everything else, doesn't matter what means they have to use to achieve that.

It would be naivety from us to think it doesn't happen in some instances of the industry. And as gambling industry gets more popular around the world, the tendency is that one of these schemes is revealed sooner or later, in details. Where there are humans and money, there is corruption, unfortunatelly.

You actually made a good point here mate. In one of my previous thread, due to the event that lead me to create the thread, I also felt that bookies sometimes influence the results of a match, maybe not for all the top leagues but some small leagues. The world is becoming too corrupt and nothing seem very impossible now. Don't be surprise that some of the football managers could actually have shares in some casinos and would try their best to help the casino in any possible way.

I agree wit you that bookmakers can only influence your bet and that is if you are the type of gambler that is always after bookmakers odds to place your bet without doing your own research and analysis. Apart from this, there is nothing the bookmakers can do to influence a match because you can only influence something within your power nd not something that is beyond your power. Matches are competitions that the bookmakers can only sponsor.

This is like fraud that has been systematic and has been well planned, so that it will not be detected that everything has been regulated by the bookmaker.

The minor leagues are probably quite easy to manipulate, and you may have also seen how games don't go fair because the referee manipulates the course of the game and some players who don't seem to be doing their job well.

Everything can be manipulated and this will be according to what the bookie wants, and with the shares owned by the football manager, then it is quite obvious that all of that is manipulated, but the current football managers are more cunning, and they will not tell whether they are involved or not.

I think it is possible for some other sports betting, but for football I think it is unlikely for bookmakers to influence the outcome of a game, it usually depends on the quality and performance of both teams, simply if one of the two teams that will compete is the statistically stronger team in that season then they are the ones who have the potential to win, but there are still quite a lot of factors that can influence the outcome where it is various events that occur on the field such as mistakes that should not have happened or a red card experienced by one of the teams.

We can see directly how the match process is going and of course we also know about what is right and what is wrong from a referee's decision, and the only other thing that I think is very possible for bookmakers to influence the game or cheat gamblers is when we talk about casino games (although it is difficult for us to realize this).

"bookmakers influence the outcome?" How on earth it's possible. Unless it's a fixed match, the player itself (or acquaintance) bet against him and bet his opponent for huge amount than the prize pool.

If you say oddsmakers can provide hints of who will win, then it's yes based on their provided odds. But sometimes, upset happens.

I want to make it clear to you that I have been involved in gambling for a long time and I know all the things you are talking about but the most important thing is that if there is no match fixing then it is impossible to guarantee the result in advance. Maybe many times many say that there will be match fixing and they know about the result and if they are given some amount of money then they will tell which team the result will be in favor of the team, many people step into such fraud. I would say don't fall for this kind of fraud. If they knew the result for sure then they would not have told everyone about this result but they would have bet with their entire money and won money. The outcome of gambling cannot be determined in advance but can be predicted based on prior experience and skill.

Outside of the possibility of extorting players to get the outcome they want, I doubt bookmakers have anything to do with the outcome of a match. I mean, you could make the argument about the butterfly effect and all that, but realistically when it comes to playing on the field, I seriously doubt that professional athletes are thinking about anything other than performing.

Yeah, you right. Even if the bookies are responsible to orchestrate what so ever result they want to get, they will never do it in an obvious manner for people to find out because if such act is detected, they know what it will cost them. They wouldn't step on top leagues because they know that things could get messed up.

even the hints given by bookmakers through Odds are also uncertain.
bookmakers can influence the match if they can indeed arrange the match. I know the practice of match-fixing is running. but not all can be done easily, especially in football matches that involve many parties.
maybe different in the type of bet for a fight like boxing. the arrangement scheme may be as you illustrate.

In fact, I don't want to believe that such a thing would go on in a setting like football. Moreover, clubs constantly show their dominance over weaker teams and don't want to waste chances to score in most of his games. Many ways such as that they influence the decision of certain teams to buy certain players. If they sponsor that team and it's just natural and purely business oriented. When this kind of thing takes hold, the players can't give anything good during the game because the match is already over. Because its results have been revealed earlier by deceiving everyone.

I agree with what you said and I think it will all depend on the players if they will accept something to change the results of the fight. In football, a quarterback can shave points just to avoid the point spreads to be reached and it means a certain gambling site pays them to do the nasty trick. However, since they are being paid well in today's sports industry, it has become rare for an athlete to do such things. It would be a waste of his career for one good payment that might even be less than what the sport could've paid him if he stayed in the sport for a long time with contracts getting higher.

I always think this just happens in small leagues where bookies could pay up really quickly since it's not that expensive and the rules are not strict for players who are not even professionals yet.

I have heard in the news in recent years that in weak leagues where players' salaries are not very high, there could be match-fixing because players wanted to make money. But I can't blame all the players of one team for this, because some players would never do it because of principles. While really bad players can do it because they understand that they don't have much time left to play for this team. In general, professionals can identify such players by studying the match in detail, I have no doubt about it.

Yes, I agree with you, I think bookmakers can only influence the  outcome of a game when they  can actually control the game in progress, football is a type of game that would be too  complicated for them to choose, other sports like boxing that you mentioned are still possible, in the end I think when we talk about skill-based games or games that  involve many parties like sports betting then  it is very unlikely for bookmakers to influence the outcome of the game, it is too risky for them, unless we are talking about casino games.

You don't have to believe that such thing happens because it is very difficult to believe that. Bookmakers has no business in knowing the actual outcome a bet especially when it is a kind of bets where the result is uncertain until the match has ended. Sport bets is a typical one and it is very difficult for a bookmaker to have the real influence determining what happens at the end of the best. Maybe a bookmaker can actually influence the result of virtual games but not in sport where the outcome is not always easy to be determined if the match has not ended. For all sport gamblers, it's not confidently possible for a bookmaker to determine the outcome a bet.

Well I don't really know much about this but with the description so far, it makes it look very possible as something that can actually happen especially for the sake of making more money probably to increase their pay and the fact they believe they will be leaving the team soon so they almost have got nothing to lose if they act in such a manner.

In fact, I want to say in this case, these things affect when a player sees the salary of other country's players so high or income so high, they also want them to have a lot of money and if the players are dishonest, then there is nothing more to say here.
If you notice this tendency is more among the players of third world countries because the players of these countries are not paid much and due to their greed they are involved in heinous activities like match fixing. You can check the list of banned cricketer for corruptions. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cricketers_banned_for_corruption) And you will find that most of the players are from the third world countries like India, Pakistan, South Africa , Bangladesh etc.

Even though bookmakers today have a lot of money and influence in the world of sports, I don't believe they are capable of predicting or even influencing the final result  of games in the major football leagues.

The major football leagues in Europe, for example, move much more money than any casino, so it is unthinkable to believe that they could have any influence over these games.

However, I believe that in smaller leagues or lesser-known games, it is possible to predict and even manipulate some games. In fact, not only casinos, but anyone who has more money to offer than an athlete from a lesser team will be able to influence the final result of the match.

In other words, everybody supports the team which benefits him/her the most. Bookmakers will support the team which the gamblers favor less because the more the players lose, the more the bookie makes money. Let's say If 80% of the total bettors support Barcelona against Bayern, then the bookmaker will want Bayern's victory because it is going to benefit the bookmaker more.

Shit happens sometimes because there is always some luck element in every sports game but in the long run casinos always make money.

Such cases do often occur in leagues like @sompitonov said, I personally don't find it strange because it is also a form of mafia activity that is always fought by related parties as well to make a healthier match without cheating and without match-fixing and other bad things. Because after all, in the past one of the top Serie A teams was also exposed to such cases, until the relevant team was punished which made it go down to the division below and their trophy title was also revoked. So, whether it's a small league or a big league, I think cases like this can happen but maybe not many cases are revealed too. But the point is,  the result of the match can indeed be arranged although indeed, there will always be efforts to eradicate it.

Upset will always be a part of any sports. Bookies have their algo how to calculate the odds provided by the site. Of course, they have their database, history and other data analysis how to come up with certain odds. If you will notice, the odds of different bookies are almost similar to each other. There are some deviations but more or less, they are offering similar odds.

But to think that they can influence the results. Now, that's another story. Because the money involve will be very huge to influence the end game of a certain sports. Just consider the bribes that you need to give to the athletes and other people involve. Also, the reputation of the team or the athlete is on the line. So that kind of scenario is like suicide for these people, hence, they need a large sum of money to be convinced in doing such activity.

From the way you have explained this, and with the examples you gave, it's actually difficult to want to say that it's impossible for bookmakers to influence the outcome of football matches, or let's just say some of the matches. For without your clear explanation above, I possibly would have wanted to argue that it's impossible that or for bookmakers to manipulate and change the outcome of a football match.

Let me mention that this is my very first time coming across this idea of bookmakers using their influence on sports matches, and it's actually surprising to be honest, this simply means that even sports betting can no longer be trusted to, but I will have to guess that it's not every bookmaker, or casinos that will get themself invloved in such malpractice.
This is bad for the gambling industry, specially in the log team

I don't think bookmakers would be able to influence the outcome of matches on major leagues like EPL and so on, I think this can only be done on leagues that are not really pronounced and this is actually a corrupt system that should be looked into. Most of these bookmakers influence some local leagues so the outcome can be manipulated to favour them, as a gambler you should know the specific leagues to bet on so you wouldn't end up betting on a match that's fixed. This system has made soccer uninteresting, does this exist in other sports apart from football?

Whatever creepy ideology/ assumptions that anyone can develop in them, in a bid to spill the beans can always stay in their heads to avoid further confusion.

Bookmakers are solely responsible for one thing - I mean, a host of other things - but all in one category. They only fix the odds for these matches and, I can say that these leagues would be a total mess if it was predicted by some sort of bodies/agencies etc.
Are y'all trying to say that we don't have genuine sport performances anymore for just a simple hypothesis? If this is happening in lower leagues ( which I'm yet to see proves) then that's it.

I was already wondering how it would be that bookmarkers can not only set the odds but influence every single market available on a spot event. It's actually insane to think that bookmarkers will influence moneyline, under/over, corners, bookings, shots on target, etc to just to scroll up with gamblers. If that is the case then it's not possible as not all gamblers play the same markets and bookmarkers can cover all cases.  Although, I do believe that there might be instances where bookmarkers can influence sports events if it were all possible but that would be in very smaller leagues compete to the biggest ones like the EPL, La liga, etc.

Besides they do not need it, casinos are often accused of rigging their games, but since they have the house edge and probabilities on their favor, rigging the games not only will put their business at stake, but if a player realized this was the case and discovered how they did it, then they could make bets that never lose by betting always on the winners, and bookmakers are the same, they do not need to rig games, by calculating accurate odds and balancing their books they can make amazing profits, trying to influence the games is just a waste of effort on their part and they will add a massive risk for their business with no potential gain.

Though  it seem possible to a certain level, that bookmakers can actually influence a game. It's no new how some player gamble on themselves just to make extra profit from the match, how much more If they're  being paid by bookmakers to do so plus their secret gambling lifestyle. All im saying is, some player are really  cheap to strike such deal with considering the consequences, yet they still go ahead to tiking such risk. But according to what you said, their are multiple choices available in a game so, nor all gamblers would go for the same option, so definitely some lucky gambler would pick a separate option and win from the game, but majority might go for the influenced option by the bookmarkers.

Prior to yesterday, I would have had the opinion that the bookies don't have much influence over a game as they don't really care. They have bettors betting both sides of a game and profit from the vig they charge normally, but a couple of college games had me scratching my head. If a team is down 20+ points in a college football game and the game is under the point total with 15 seconds left in the game, what usually happens? Normally you would see a team go for it on 4th and goal since they don't have any shot of winning the game, or they kneel down and game over. Nope, they kicked a field goal and made the point total go over. I cannot guarantee it, but kinda odd and Vegas must've had a ton of money bet on under, so if the game went over they clean up.

Nothing would surprise me these days.

I believe it’s not just that the bookmakers make their odds based on team performance, Injuries, and Historical data but also what the public sees in the match. There is a popularity factor, so they may change the odds, so a lot of people would be on that Team.

I believe if there is something fishy, there should be regulation of it. I see it as match-fixing. There may be pressure from the business owners or something for the bookmakers to prioritize a team or something.

I think it affects in some way, but not all the time.

At the moment I do not see any ways that can completely eradicate this, but I am sure that today there are teams and players who are involved in this, but the time has not come for them to be exposed. They do not stand still either, but all the time learn from the mistakes of others, so that next time they will definitely not get caught. Maybe we do not yet know the latest methods that are used by those responsible for detecting such players and teams, it was even logical. However, I know that this often happened not only in football but also in Esports, which I love very much. There were regularly players who tried to make money on different games, they are also called "322" there, but why exactly I do not know.

In my opinion, it is very possible for bookies and match results, but for me it only applies to local matches in developing countries, because money can buy everything, but also not all matches are arranged by bookies, only a small part, if the match is considered profitable for the bookie

I cannot completely rule out the fact that nobody has influence over the outcome of a match. It is present and most of out suspicions are true to some extent. But trying to think like that only reduces the enjoyment of the game and the opinion to bet fairly.

Hence I opine that bookmakers, sponsors all have their hands in the game but as a gambler we have to think that the game is fair and whatever our luck leads us to was the fair outcome. Otherwise you will just become paranoid about the game.

It is a twisted industry and the more we stay in the superficial layer, the better.

Well, this is all guess work since we don't have reasonable evidence to support the claim and likewise, we can not completely refute the claim judging from what we normally see out there. However, we have to realize that this is football and the result is not predetermined and moreover, we can not expect the strong team to always win against a weak team because that's what makes it to be competitive. Nobody will be interested to watch again and it'll become boring if by norms stronger teams win always.

The weak teams grow and catch up and the stronger teams lose form apart from individual weakness. These are some of the things that influence the match where we see underdog teams performing wonders. Although, this can still happen in a remote leagues where there funds directly or indirectly linked to a gambling platform. In top leagues, it will cost them a lot of money even if it's possible and the secret might get leaked out to public which I don't think any gambling platform is ready to face the aftermath consequences.

Honestly, I don't know much  about whether bookies influence the outcome of bets or not, but in my opinion, it is very unlikely for bookies to influence the outcome of a game, especially if we are talking about sports betting such as football, for example, where many parties are involved and if bookies influence the  outcome of a game, then of course it will be  detrimental to the team that is targeted to lose. On the other hand, I believe more that bookies can influence the outcome of a game when we are talking about casino games, but when the  object of discussion is a game that  occurs in real life and involves many parties, I think  it is unlikely.