Would you gamble in a league with serious allegations of collusion?

[alani123]

Recently, there was a very big spat in Greek football.
Two teams in the first league broke laws and were threatened with expulsion and downgrade from the highest league. The law forbid shared ownership of teams.
In response, the Greek parliament stepped in to pass an amendment, no longer forbidding shared ownership.

The Greek football league has been plagued with very serious allegations against the top team owners.
Evangelos Marinakis , owner of one of the most successful teams, Olympiakos, is accused of trafficking of narcotics. He is however, one of the biggest supporters of the party currently in government, and also owner of around a quarter of the country's media (including web, newspapers, radio and TV). A case of tons of heroin found in one of his ships has been stagnating in court. Prosecutors forced to take on the case resign one after the other, and witnesses have been killed under mysterious conditions, even after having started a life in other countries.

Of course, owners of most teams have received serious accusations of match fixing, but courts and committees somehow clear them. Moreover, there's no authority in Greece that can take into account anonymous accusations and witness protection in Greece has proved worthless.

My question is towards gamblers however. Would you gamble on a 'dirty' league?  Greek league comes under accusation of collusion, match fixing and team leaders using hooligans of teams for whatever thuggish purposes. Foreign leagues are becoming more popular among Greek gamblers for these reasons, but the majority still bet on Greek matches. Just makes me wonder. 

[swogerino]

This may happen in all the leagues but in most big European countries it doesn’t happen because they have strict laws.I have never heard a case like this in Germany or in Austria for example which are two of the most strict European countries regarding their laws.Apparently Greece is not like them,I have almost never bet in the Greece Superleague but now I will not bet for sure.If he does drugs he can also corrupt the referees or other high officials and corrupt one game result.

[Pmalek]

I assume the recent shooting of Darko Kovacevic is somehow related to the mentioned match-fixing group. Match fixing can happen anywhere and for various reasons. It doesn't have to be monetary reasons, like earning money from betting on fixed matches. Many matches are fixed all over the world because teams are helping each other out. It's common interest unfortunately. Systems like 3 for 3. We beat you at our venue and you beat us on yours. In case one of us needs points you let us win, and things like that. There is no illegal betting on these matches so nobody outside of the clubs know.

The way to protect yourself is to bet on matches in top leagues. You can never be 100% that matches are legit but at least players aren't bribed to fix the matches themselves.

[Upgrade00]

Gambling on a league which can be decided by other events apart from what happens on the field and the talent of the respective players is not a wise decision, imo.
I would rather bet on legitimate leagues where the rate of match-fixing is almost zero.
Another question is; should gambling websites showcase matches which has an allegation of any sort of collusion or illegality?

[Slow death]

league of my country suffers from the same problem. Unfortunately politics is involved in my country’s league, it’s my country’s politicians who decide which team will be champion and the reason is that my country is a country that has different cultures for each province and has many different languages for each province, what my country's political party does is to manipulate the league in a way that satisfies a particular province when they realize that people in that province are unhappy with the political party. I don’t bet in league of my country because of that

[DoublerHunter]

^ Definitely yes, of course! It's just that you have to be aware of the possible collusion. It always happen, you just have to go with the flow of the said collusion. These agreements between rivals aren't new in the industry of sports. Because people on the higher end see sports as business, not totally sport. That's how life works. That's how oligarchy plays their game and fooling the herds by doing collusion. So they can take the money out of everyone's pocket. Nevertheless, if you will be aware and take advantage of the collusion, you might consider checking the oligarch's moves and get along with it. When they place a bet, try to place a bet on their chickens too. You will definitely see your advantage there.

[dothebeats]

Odds would be shit and the chances of losing money is very high. I'd say I won't touch any of it unless I have some insider information on what's happening in-between matches. It's pretty hard trying to beat some people of their money who already knows the outcome of the games that would be played, and at that point it's better to just throw your money on dice and hope to win in the process. I've bet on a lot of fixed matches, and right before the line closes, the odds would sway hard on the one that I bet on, ending up on an almost no-profit bet for me..

It's best to stay away on these type of games unless you're an insider IMO.

[tyKiwanuka]

I have never heard a case like this in Germany or in Austria for example which are two of the most strict European countries regarding their laws.

There has been some match fixing in Germany in the past, the last publicly covered one was this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundesliga_scandal_(2005)

Austria is known for match fixing as well. It happens all the time in football every day, but often times not 1X2 markets, but some side markets. It's correct, that bigger leagues are more immune to it, since it takes a lot of money to fix matches there and authorities are more alert.


I don't care a  lot about matches being maybe fixed when considering to make a bet. Longterm it shouldn't matter, because when you are on the wrong side of the fix in one game, you will be on the correct side of the fix in the next. So longterm it should level out.

There is also this 3for3 theory, which is not a fix per se, but some agreement between mostly smaller teams. Each team will win their home match in the mutual matches and thus get the 3 points. Getting one sure win is better than getting only two points with 2 draws or losing one and drawing the other. It helps these smaller teams avoiding relegation. If one team is in dire need of points at the end of the season, they might be gifted the away win from their "friendly" team to avoid relegation. This way, these teams can still play in the same league and continue with that modus operandi.

Spotting these 3for3 matches is not that hard with some experience, but sometimes you might get trapped and the H2H just looks like a 3for3 by coincidence. Once you have spotted such two friendly teams, you can note these teams and just bet on home win twice per season, when these teams are scheduled to meet.

[goinmerry]

My question is towards gamblers however. Would you gamble on a 'dirty' league?  

It depends on how "dirty" that league is based on my own view.

Generally speaking, we can't just say that a certain league is dirty even there are confirmed reports that practice like that happens. Maybe those were just an isolated case or a few cases once in 3 months for example. Any league does care for its reputation. They are being sponsored so any act of game-fixing is prohibited. If they will just allow this practice and people always see that, the revenue of their sales will drastically crash. Game manipulation might be happening but I don't believe it was part of every game. Players also care for their careers.

So if ever that league does have a history of manipulating games, but I want to bet, I don't see any wrong to do that. You will still choose to pick your bet. After that, just hope that you can take a ride to the result of game-fixing.

[thisappointed]

Odds would be shit and the chances of losing money is very high. I'd say I won't touch any of it unless I have some insider information on what's happening in-between matches. It's pretty hard trying to beat some people of their money who already knows the outcome of the games that would be played, and at that point it's better to just throw your money on dice and hope to win in the process. I've bet on a lot of fixed matches, and right before the line closes, the odds would sway hard on the one that I bet on, ending up on an almost no-profit bet for me..

It's best to stay away on these type of games unless you're an insider IMO.

Everyone has their own secrets, even those people who have big names in the industry, their secrets are hidden and well protected by people who have power to do so, so even though you know someone who will provide you such information, it will be filtered, because confidential information are always stay hidden, but it won't take long before the smoke came out of the room.

You won't see it coming, so, it is a trial and error process when it comes to gambling, even in life, we have to risk something to gain something, but not every time it will turns out good, most of the time it is what we are not expecting to be.

[Nadziratel]

My question is towards gamblers however. Would you gamble on a 'dirty' league?  Greek league comes under accusation of collusion, match fixing and team leaders using hooligans of teams for whatever thuggish purposes. Foreign leagues are becoming more popular among Greek gamblers for these reasons, but the majority still bet on Greek matches. Just makes me wonder.  

The only thing I pay attention to betting is to watch the sport I know and the teams I know. It is only for me that betting makes sense.

For this reason, I follow the league in my own country closely and I bet mostly in this league. I also follow the premier league and seria A. For this reason, the majority of the bets I make are matches in these leagues. Therefore, if you can still follow that league closely, I think a bet can be made.

But after this information, I think twice when I want to bet on this league matches.

[Quidat]

Odds would be shit and the chances of losing money is very high. I'd say I won't touch any of it unless I have some insider information on what's happening in-between matches. It's pretty hard trying to beat some people of their money who already knows the outcome of the games that would be played, and at that point it's better to just throw your money on dice and hope to win in the process. I've bet on a lot of fixed matches, and right before the line closes, the odds would sway hard on the one that I bet on, ending up on an almost no-profit bet for me..

It's best to stay away on these type of games unless you're an insider IMO.

Everyone has their own secrets, even those people who have big names in the industry, their secrets are hidden and well protected by people who have power to do so, so even though you know someone who will provide you such information, it will be filtered, because confidential information are always stay hidden, but it won't take long before the smoke came out of the room.

You won't see it coming, so, it is a trial and error process when it comes to gambling, even in life, we have to risk something to gain something, but not every time it will turns out good, most of the time it is what we are not expecting to be.

Getting these informations wont really be that easy.You wouldnt know if those you heard of would be legit ones or not.So its a matter of choice
if you do strive to bet on it or not.I agree that life does have risk and for you to earn something does really need for you to engage on.
Its not really surprising that people would still gamble no matter what issues do a certain league is involved one.

[agustina2]

At the end of the day, we will still pick between 2 bets. Even with the involvement of game-fixing or not, we always have a chance to win. What the gamblers should think now is, what moves do these manipulators will go. This involves deep research where to find inside information.

Don't be worried too much to bet on game-fixed since they aren't controlling the sports bookies where we will place our bet.

On the other hand, stay away from betting directly with people associated with that league, that's suicide.

[TravelMug]

I will still continue to bet but I will try to lessen the amount of money that I will gamble.

To be fair though, there are a lot of sports that has been plague with accusations of collusions or manipulations, but still those league are still standing today.

In horse racing for example, horse owners, jockeys can collude with each other and see to it that a long shot horse win the race giving those bad actors behind tons of money. And if so happens that you have bet on the long shot horse, you will also be included in that windfall, just saying.

[leowonderful]

Nope. Even though it's completely possible that other leagues also suffer from collusion and match fixing that isn't as openly discussed, it's probably done to a much lesser extent in other leagues and I'll gladly take my chances on those often larger leagues. I'm also completely uninterested in potentially acquiring insider information as well, so I wouldn't gamble on fixed matches at all even if I knew the probable outcome.

[tyKiwanuka]

This game was fixed some 15-16 years ago and I actually bet on it, knowing it was fixed:



See more here: https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/panionios-athen_dinamo-tiflis/index/spielbericht/30747

It was fixed to HT/FT Tbilisi/Athens. I never looked for fixed matches, but it was mentioned in a betting forum I visited quite regularly at that time. Everyone and his grandmother jumped on the HT/FT bet and the odds were brought down to <10 and lots of bookmakers even suspended the markets for that game. I was lucky to find a bookmaker that wasn't aware and could still place the bet there with the initial odds before the drop; odds of 30.

[nelson4lov]

I always knew there was something fishy about the Greece leagues. Most especially their super league. Some things just didn't felt right and I was correct. Knowing what I know now, I don't think I would be patronizing any Greece market any time soon. There's no point predicting match outcomes if the results have already been decided. About dual ownership, I think that's f**ked up. It will be a complete bs especially when both teams face each other. I'm stay clear of Greece markets henceforth.

[freedomgo]

I still would, especially if I know the game. Being a gambler playing sports betting, I learned that majority of the sports can be rig so I wouldn't just trust my analysis based on the stats, instead, I relied on my instinct but always consider that betting against the public is a good strategy as in fix games, the public usually lose.

[passwordnow]

It's best to stay away on these type of games unless you're an insider IMO.

I'm also likely to stay away from this type of games unless I'm not really aware of it and it tends to be like that. But for those professional bettors that has been in this kind of setting, aware or not, they wouldn't mind about it. As long as they can continue with their plan, bet with each match, depends on the odds or base on their analysis, they'll just bet as is. I think that's the perspective of those bettors that are really experienced in sports betting.

[harizen]

We can't really determine if a certain match is a game-fixed or not so in here, we can't do anything if we already place our bet and just wait for the output. But for let's say, we do have legit sources that a certain game is fixed, I will not place a bet here at first and will observe what will happen the next matches.

Even the league does have a serious allegation, not all parties are involved there. Punish those involved and continue the league games.

Provided odds also plays a big role if ever I will consider placing a bet for suspected games that might be game-fixed. The idea of placing bets on those suspected fixed matches is not new anymore here in our country.

But if we look at this game-fixing in general, it rarely* happens on the global sports league. There are big punishments associated with this and I doubt most of the team owners, refs, the board of governors, players, etc. will risk their respective careers for that.