VAR Officers Visit Betting Sites During Live Matches

[Mia Chloe]

Football is a business that moves a lot of money, and of course there are private interests involved, especially when it comes to the betting market, in this sense, many decisions made in matches can be questionable.

I think they actually penalties for things like this. No matter what system for its structure you always find people that try to cheat the system or take advantage of it. Sometime ago I have also come across a discussion here where the player was caught trying to create certain scenarios to favour a predetermined bet setup. In the end he actually got caught and got suspended.

Sometimes actually depends on how serious the match is and that will tell how intense the punishment or penalty for something like this would be. Come to think of it, odds are usually larger when the match is an intense match like a world cup.

[Rruchi man]

He is just one out of a hundred officials who are into betting secretly and are using their position to influence games in their favor. He made the mistake of checking it while doing his job, and that is why he's being penalized.

He has not been penalized but was suspended. I was surprised to read a news like this because I think he ought to have been banned instead. I will like to know what will later happen but such news like this are not updated on this forum. I wish to know what will be the outcome of the investigation.

I hope the punishment is the same with the kind for a footballer who is discovered to have gambled on his football team.

This is why you should only bet on professional leagues like EPL, Laliga, Seria A e.t.c. Such manipulation wouldn't work in those big competitions because all eyes are on them making it difficult to work away with whatever manipulation you did on a match.

Are you seriously saying this? How many times have we seen obvious bad decisions from VAR that they later apologized for? many times. Manipulation can go on right in front of our eyes, and there is nothing we can do about it other than accept an apology later.

[DubemIfedigbo001]

But the situation is unfortunate, because if he bet money on this match, whatever he does he will be biased towards this match.

This is why there are more than one VAR officials in a match in order to have a sound and balanced judgement of match concerns. If he's biased, would the other officials be biased with him? Even if he makes a wrong call, the referee would still have a look before making the final decision, so in that case his being biased might lead to unprofessional signals from him.

Even if there's a concern and he fails to raise it, other officials would still bring it to consideration and call the referee's attention to it.

[Sandra_hakeem]

In football matches, we know that VAR technology is the most advanced today to help football referees in making decisions.
VAR uses video footage to analyze the course of the match and provide a replay.

But if VAR is operated by irresponsible individuals and only uses it for their own benefit, then this is a serious violation.

It's a very serious violation that shouldn't be overlooked. People obviously don't know their boundaries, but I didn't know this can extend even to a trained VAR official? Like, what was he thinking? Was he not aware that there were security cameras everywhere in such a tech-advanced building?

"Play stupid games, win stupid prices" -- meanwhile, I don't know what the verdict will be for him, but I know for a fact that the jury won't take it easy with him since this is considered a felony

This is an indication that there is fraud that will be carried out to generate a profit from the bets made.

Infact, this is an indication that a lot has been going on in some major leagues that we don't know. I can't just believe that this official is the only one involved in this.

[Moreno233]

Even though it's not clear if those officials signed documents forbidding them from betting, it appear unethical for a VAR official to be visiting betting site prior to or during live match. Such behavior signal a possible conflict of interest even though he may not have done anything that shows an undue influence in his decision making as an official of the match. J like the fact that he was suspended at least to discourage others from doing same.

[Cryptomultiplier]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/34279600/var-bulgaria-betting-scandal-suspended/

In football matches, we know that VAR technology is the most advanced today to help football referees in making decisions.
VAR uses video footage to analyze the course of the match and provide a replay.

But if VAR is operated by irresponsible individuals and only uses it for their own benefit, then this is a serious violation.

Reading the news on X and I found the news that a VAR officer was caught visiting an online betting site before the match started.  
This is an indication that there is fraud that will be carried out to generate a profit from the bets made.

The inappropriate action was carried out during the Parva Liga match between PFC CSKA-Sofia and PFC Lokomotiv Sofia yesterday evening (2nd April 2025).

What is your response to this news?
there are many frauds that continue to occur and this is done by some individuals or even plotters who are used to doing this.

If this doesn't also rank among match fixing scandals, I wonder what we could call such an offense from a professional referee who should know better.
Should an investigation be carried out to know if the referee in question is being paid the right salary? Because I wonder what kind of financial situation this ref would have been in to jeopardize a career and reputation due to greed and get-fast-money schemes.

[Sanitough]

Reading the news on X and I found the news that a VAR officer was caught visiting an online betting site before the match started. 
This is an indication that there is fraud that will be carried out to generate a profit from the bets made.

This kind of corruption is inevitable, there will always be people who abuse their position when given the opportunity. Just like players who might fix games, some insiders will exploit their access for easy profits. That's why strong monitoring systems are crucial to maintain a sport's integrity. Whether they're using insider information or are actually part of the regulatory bodies themselves, these bad actors must be kept in check.

[Reatim]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/34279600/var-bulgaria-betting-scandal-suspended/

Reading the news on X and I found the news that a VAR officer was caught visiting an online betting site before the match started. 
This is an indication that there is fraud that will be carried out to generate a profit from the bets made.

i do not know how this can be considered as indication that there for sure would be manipulation of the game when he just placed a bet which is wrong in the first place yes but it doesn’t mean he will be committing fraud already unless of course he wins then maybe there could be a much thorough investigation but i don’t think this is a solid proof

[Hatchy]

What is your response to this news?
there are many frauds that continue to occur and this is done by some individuals or even plotters who are used to doing this.

He literally knew that the camera was in the room and could see him. But then from the image, he wasn't in anyway hiding his phone from the camera, which to me is a normal thing for then as vat officials in that sector. This isn't actually right as they have just one job. And if they loss focus trying to bet on the match, they may be wrong with their opinions. Though they don't have much jobs to do as the computer does most of the jobs app they do is check for mistakes in match while the system captures every action..

[Franctoshi]

VAR referees are humans like you and I,  they have relatives, friends and well wishers, so they can as well have friends ,relatives who are into the betting industry and because they VAR referees happens to one or two relates to this person, now are they not allowed to visit these people? that's in that case.

On the other hands,  this people be influenced to take decisions that will benefit the businesses of friends or loves if situation that a VAR referees may in one or the business secretly has a he will benefit from such act or to some extent they paid to Rigg a match with their decisions, However, I believe the cental referee is their to take the final action on a case like this, except if all want to collaborate on this act.

[AmoreJaz]

He literally knew that the camera was in the room and could see him. But then from the image, he wasn't in anyway hiding his phone from the camera, which to me is a normal thing for then as vat officials in that sector. This isn't actually right as they have just one job. And if they loss focus trying to bet on the match, they may be wrong with their opinions. Though they don't have much jobs to do as the computer does most of the jobs app they do is check for mistakes in match while the system captures every action..

We don't know what's actually happening in the room. But yes, they should definitely not bet because they may have some advantages when it comes to knowing the final results. But we can't assure such situation won't happen because if they see their advantage, I would say, they can easily be tempted to bet or tell their close relative or friend to bet on the team they see have high chance to win.
But on the note of the image, we can't give our judgment right away. As we don't know what's actually happening inside that room. Now, if you are the VAR officer, better be careful with what you do as they can easily take a snapshot these days and attach it as a proof of what you are doing. Lucky that the image is quite blurred, and you can't see what he's really doing on the phone.

[Alphakilo]

But if VAR is operated by irresponsible individuals and only uses it for their own benefit, then this is a serious violation.

I am how are they using it for their benefits? The VAR is just an machine and not a prediction machine. It will be highly difficult for them to use the VAR to manipulate the entire game so that they the operators can win.

Reading the news on X and I found the news that a VAR officer was caught visiting an online betting site before the match started. 
This is an indication that there is fraud that will be carried out to generate a profit from the bets made.

This is not correct. Unless you can explain how the fraud happens or will happen here.

[alegotardo]

What is your response to this news?
there are many frauds that continue to occur and this is done by some individuals or even plotters who are used to doing this.

Obviously this “small” incident is really concerning because it involved someone who is so crucial to maintaining the impartiality of the game and who has an almost unquestionable resource in deciding such controversial football plays. However, as far as I am aware, this act has already been punished with the referee’s suspension and an ongoing investigation by Hawk-Eye Innovations, the company that oversees VAR operations in the Bulgarian First Division.

Such behavior not only compromises the integrity of the VAR system, but also erodes public confidence in the impartiality of football matches and for this reason I believe it will be severely punished as it highlights once again the urgent need for stricter supervision and enforcement of ethical standards among referees.

Football associations and governing bodies also need to implement rigorous background checks, ongoing monitoring and severe penalties for breaches of conduct because maintaining football’s credibility requires a collective commitment to transparency, accountability and ethical behavior from everyone involved in the sport.

But... unfortunately I have a feeling that this won't be the last news we'll read about this, not to mention so many others that we don't even know about.

[CryptoHeadlineNews]

Reading the news on X and I found the news that a VAR officer was caught visiting an online betting site before the match started. 
This is an indication that there is fraud that will be carried out to generate a profit from the bets made.

VAR officers has literally no influence over a football match, because it is actually what happens that is been displayed during the VAR review, and as such they cant change a foul to either a penalty or vice versa, which still means that the football players, the goal keepers and the current referee on the game has a huge role to play in the success of a game, and not mere the VAR officer, because those individuals are just like the normal audience watching the live game on TV. So if a VAR officer is seen trying to place a bet during a live game, I think he has the right just as every other football audience to do so, inasmuch as it's not against it's code of conduct.

[Ishicryptic]

It is in their right as long as they are not betting on the game that they are being VAR referee. This would not constitute nothing wrong but if these guys keep betting on the very game they are being referees then this is a huge offense and these guys can easily go to jail. However this is not the problem with such guys, referees I mean, the real problem with them is that they do not give a flying f*ck to judge any game with correctness and they are impacting games massively, I used to watch live PSG vs Aston Villa in Champions League this week and I think the referee made some decisions who made the game end 3-1 but from what I saw in the field the game should have ended at least 5-1 for PSG and I am nor fan of PSG nor fan of Aston Villa, this is my honest objective opinion and not subjective. Referees, many of them I would put into jail as the only solution to make football great again.

If it is not an offense for VAR officials to visit gambling sites during live matches there is nothing that we can do about it but if it is against the law and the official was caught looking up an a betting site, then he should be prosecuted. I don't think that it is appropriate for them to be looking on bets or placing bets when they are on duty for transparency sake, I hope that the VAR board will look into it, if it is not in the rules and regulations for their officials. It is very sad that sports players and officials will try to manipulate in a match to favor some perticular bets, this is not good for the reputation of gambling.

[Wexnident]

~

Aren't all personnel related to the matches not allowed to bet/gamble? Not sure if it's specifically limited to the match where they're stationed at or the entire tournament in general but afaik, it's not allowed. And if it is, it shouldn't be lol. Gambling can be one heck of a persuasive influence to do dumb shit especially in the position where you're holding the power to hold teams accountable for illegal plays.

Still, in this case, I'm pretty sure they can't touch the VAR results anyway? If I recall correctly, it's just machine-related recording stuff and they just review it. But still, even so, they still shouldn't be generally allowed though. It's just professional integrity (if I were to describe it).

[bitbollo]

This Is not a good sign for gamblers. However could he someway change the outcome of a bet?
If you know how sport gambling works you can be sure that this Is something nowadays normal (like many people love to gamble and so on at any level).
Personally I think that this Is the new normality. More people would like to gamble since its really easy to access.

[Charles-Tim]

This Is not a good sign for gamblers. However could he someway change the outcome of a bet?

You are right. I also think of a way he could have possibly manipulate but I saw none. I will just like to know the outcome of the investigation but I guess nothing would be seen. What I do not just like about it is that he is gambling or doing something else when he suppose to focus on the match. What he did is a distraction for him and that needs a suspension.

[Slow death]

This Is not a good sign for gamblers. However could he someway change the outcome of a bet?
If you know how sport gambling works you can be sure that this Is something nowadays normal (like many people love to gamble and so on at any level).
Personally I think that this Is the new normality. More people would like to gamble since its really easy to access.

Honestly, I doubt that this would change the outcome of a bet, because whenever a goal is scored or there is any clear sign of danger of a goal, bookmakers close the market and wait for the referee's decision, so there was no way this guy could place a bet. Maybe he was placing bets on another game.

[salad daging]

We agree that such things are not appropriate for a VAR official to do, although he may not be entirely to blame for his unethical behavior. There are indications of cheating - but this is not a surprise considering that there has been a lot of cheating in football for a long time. In every business - there is always a mafia, so is football which has so far become a profitable business for most people. I have never been surprised by cheating in football - but I never hope it to still happen in top football in Europe.

Obviously a VAR official should not be involved in betting because it would be a bad image because the VAR referee could be perceived as manupulation of the game, they should be independent neutral in any match, but with his caught through CCTV this is still a public question.

We can't deny that the Mafia in the minor leagues will always exist and the referees there may still be controlled by the Mafia.
That's why I never bet on the less popular leagues, plus there are negative news about this, so there is less confidence in betting on the minor leagues.

The top European leagues still maintain the integrity of the referees to remain neutral.