TFF Uncovers Widespread Referee Gambling Crisis

[promise444c5]

Recently, the Turkish Football Federation opened an investigation which led to discovering 371 referees in the professional league are into betting on football matches, while 152 were actively placing bets.

The Turkish Football Federation said on Monday that it was investigating more than 150 referees in professional leagues who were allegedly betting on football matches.

Federation president İbrahim Hacıosmanoğlu said at a news conference that government agencies have determined that 371 of 571 active referees have at least one account with a betting company.

Source: ESPN

According to the TFF, FIFA and UEFA Rules & Regulations, the officials, players and coaches and prohibited from betting, gambling or similar activities .. Which means if  further investigations finds them guilty , they could face a ban of 3~1year under TFF but some report are claiming they could face severe penalties beyond that with the involvement of FIFA and UEFA.


According to art. 27 of the FIFA Code of Ethics, they could be fined  atleast CHF 100,000 ~ $120k+and a ban on taking part in any football related activity for a maximum of three years: Source..

My question is : Do you believe similar issues might be happening in other leagues? and do you think the punishment is fair in cases like this ? If not what punishment would you suggest..

[EluguHcman]

My question is : Do you believe similar issues might be happening in other leagues? and do you think the punishment is fair in cases like this ? If not what punishment would you suggest..

Let us not exergerate too much because we might just be worrying ourselves having doubts in the sport bets that the games are being manipulated as excuse to why we have not been able to win at the most times.

The only benefit of doubt is that it referees who are international big league players could loose their reputations and breaking the official rules, other leagues which could do the same but that should not be our problems as gamblers.

We just have to ask for fair playing games with no cheats. Already the gambling industry has become a business for associates.

[Adbitco]

Recently, the Turkish Football Federation opened an investigation which led to discovering 371 referees in the professional league are into betting on football matches, while 152 were actively placing bets.

The Turkish Football Federation said on Monday that it was investigating more than 150 referees in professional leagues who were allegedly betting on football matches.

Federation president İbrahim Hacıosmanoğlu said at a news conference that government agencies have determined that 371 of 571 active referees have at least one account with a betting company.

Source: ESPN

According to the TFF, FIFA and UEFA Rules & Regulations, the officials, players and coaches and prohibited from betting, gambling or similar activities .. Which means if  further investigations finds them guilty , they could face a ban of 3~1year under TFF but some report are claiming they could face severe penalties beyond that with the involvement of FIFA and UEFA.


According to art. 27 of the FIFA Code of Ethics, they could be fined  atleast CHF 100,000 ~ $120k+and a ban on taking part in any football related activity for a maximum of three years: Source..

My question is : Do you believe similar issues might be happening in other leagues? and do you think the punishment is fair in cases like this ? If not what punishment would you suggest..

I saw this news yesterday and dropped it in the Turkish league thread. It's unbelievable that these numbers of referees actually took part in having bet accounts and not just that, about 152 of them are actively placing bets on those accounts. They are referees of the game and are fully aware of the laws governing it and as a result, they are prohibited from anything gambling so it doesn't influence their decisions whilst officiating the beautiful game. It's sad, but the law is the law and if found guilty, they will face the consequences squarely.

[Orpichukwu]

My question is : Do you believe similar issues might be happening in other leagues? and do you think the punishment is fair in cases like this ? If not what punishment would you suggest..

One of the reasons why they restrict referees or other officials from any form of betting is because they have little influence to manipulate the game result to be in their favour. Let's say an officiating referee bets on a team to win which they have a match with that very day; being on the field, he/she as the referee can just decide to make sure that the game ends as he plans by being against one club in favour of the other, so if they are found guilty, any punishment the federation considers worthy should be given to them.

[Justbillywitt]

According to the TFF, FIFA and UEFA Rules & Regulations, the officials, players and coaches and prohibited from betting, gambling or similar activities

I don't think they are totally prohibited from gambling or it's related activities, the rule only prohibits them from betting on the games or matches that they are participating/ officiating.

My question is : Do you believe similar issues might be happening in other leagues?

It is very likely that it is happening in other leagues, same way we didn't know that things like this were happening in the Turkish league before now. That is how it is happening in other leagues low key till the day it will be exposed.

and do you think the punishment is fair in cases like this ? If not what punishment would you suggest..

If investigations reveals that they actually placed bets on games that they officiated in the past and they influenced the games to favour their bets, they should be banned for life. Because their selfishness caused gamblers to lose bets in those games they officiated. They should not be allowed to officiate games anymore for the rest of their life.

[Odusko]

There is huge fraund in the football leagues and only the ones that are uncover that we talk about, this one is the second football ringing network from clubs officials that is busted, so this is not that surprising for me to read and it can happen on any leagues, football scams happens and officials interfere with games out come and that is where match fixing come up.

[Wapfika]

My question is : Do you believe similar issues might be happening in other leagues? and do you think the punishment is fair in cases like this ? If not what punishment would you suggest..

We are all human that us not immune to greediness which only means that this can happened on any league if there’s a widespread case like this on other leagues.

It’s just dumb for these referees to create their own account under their name/relatives while they do KYC that can be track them down.

This will create chaos now on all games to that specific league.

[rodskee]

Recently, the Turkish Football Federation opened an investigation which led to discovering 371 referees in the professional league are into betting on football matches, while 152 were actively placing bets.

The Turkish Football Federation said on Monday that it was investigating more than 150 referees in professional leagues who were allegedly betting on football matches.

betting is something that anyone can enjoy

i do not think that betting immediately equates to cheating or to manipulation but i also understand why the credibility of these referees be questioned because if they placed a bet before the match they might unconsciously root for the team they placed a bet on

My question is : Do you believe similar issues might be happening in other leagues? and do you think the punishment is fair in cases like this ? If not what punishment would you suggest..

it is not impossible that this is happening in a lot of other leagues

i think there should be warnings first before they are totally banned

[Fortify]

Recently, the Turkish Football Federation opened an investigation which led to discovering 371 referees in the professional league are into betting on football matches, while 152 were actively placing bets.

The Turkish Football Federation said on Monday that it was investigating more than 150 referees in professional leagues who were allegedly betting on football matches.

Federation president İbrahim Hacıosmanoğlu said at a news conference that government agencies have determined that 371 of 571 active referees have at least one account with a betting company.

Source: ESPN

According to the TFF, FIFA and UEFA Rules & Regulations, the officials, players and coaches and prohibited from betting, gambling or similar activities .. Which means if  further investigations finds them guilty , they could face a ban of 3~1year under TFF but some report are claiming they could face severe penalties beyond that with the involvement of FIFA and UEFA.


According to art. 27 of the FIFA Code of Ethics, they could be fined  atleast CHF 100,000 ~ $120k+and a ban on taking part in any football related activity for a maximum of three years: Source..

My question is : Do you believe similar issues might be happening in other leagues? and do you think the punishment is fair in cases like this ? If not what punishment would you suggest..

It seems almost endemic at that point and unless heavy fines are handed out to the majority of people who are caught doing this, along with termination from their job, it's not going to change. The thing with laws is they need to be enforced effectively and repeatedly, not just during periodic crackdowns when the government would like a distraction in the news. It's going to make it less likely for any Turkish referee to be considered for other games and really does damage the sporting reputation of the country. There's a reason why you're generally safer betting on the biggest leagues because the poorer the country, the more chance for corruption to seep in - however every country can have bad apples, they just need transparent processes like KYC checks by the sports regulator to keep them out.

[promise444c5]

My question is : Do you believe similar issues might be happening in other leagues? and do you think the punishment is fair in cases like this ? If not what punishment would you suggest..

Let us not exergerate too much because we might just be worrying ourselves having doubts in the sport bets that the games are being manipulated as excuse to why we have not been able to win at the most times.

It doesn’t mean the games are being manipulated entirely, it’s just that with such behavior from some of the officials, it could lead to biased judgment  on the fields.
There must have been a reason to impose those rules specifically on the officials..and it should be obvious without even telling.

I don't think they are totally prohibited from gambling or it's related activities, the rule only prohibits them from betting on the games or matches that they are participating/ officiating.

Although i didn’t find a direct statement from UEFA but it’s in the FIFA code of ethics edition  2023 itself , they are forbidden entirely from participating in it…

[DubemIfedigbo001]

According to the TFF, FIFA and UEFA Rules & Regulations, the officials, players and coaches and prohibited from betting, gambling or similar activities

I don't think they are totally prohibited from gambling or it's related activities, the rule only prohibits them from betting on the games or matches that they are participating/ officiating.

Its not limited to the games they're officiating, for example NFL referees are prohibited from gambling in any NFL events or activities same with NBA. This can be argued to be because if they're allowed to bet in other events, they can form alliances and friendships with themselves and manipulate games in others favors and others return the favors subsequently.

My question is : Do you believe similar issues might be happening in other leagues? and do you think the punishment is fair in cases like this ? If not what punishment would you suggest..

Corruption exists everywhere and in many forms, I wouldn't be surprised if we find similar situation in top leagues. If these referees were not caught, people wouldn't have believed that it's obtainable in the Turkish league, so it is possibly happening everywhere.

[Dunamisx]

My question is : Do you believe similar issues might be happening in other leagues? and do you think the punishment is fair in cases like this ? If not what punishment would you suggest..

Before we could deliberate on anything, we have to look at what the rules of engagement states before concluding on anything, if gambling is against their rules as well as being stated in their ToS before being employed, then they deserve every reason of being sanctioned, since they have gone against what was stated in their contract letter, but if it doesn't, then we have to let it go and leave them, they can also gamble themselves and fail as the case may be.

[rat03gopoh]

and do you think the punishment is fair in cases like this ? If not what punishment would you suggest..

Referee integrity must be strictly upheld, or the entire system will collapse and be deemed corrupt even if replaced with new officials. This not only damages the league's credibility but also reduces revenue for various sponsors, especially casinos, as every match is considered a "fixed match," which no longer attracts fans.

Referees who maintain passive accounts with no betting activity can be subject to administrative sanctions, while those who actually place bets (especially on their own matches) should be banned from professional football for life.

[mirakal]

How reputable is that league, really? I’ve always believed that there’s usually something shady going on in smaller leagues, which is why I avoid betting on them. It’s probably already happening in some leagues too, and it’s just a matter of time before they get caught. Once greed kicks in, they start getting careless, and that’s when they expose themselves.

That’s why whenever I bet, I stick to the major sports  like NBA, NFL, MLB, and the top soccer leagues.
At least those are more regulated and harder to manipulate.

[Hewlet]

My question is : Do you believe similar issues might be happening in other leagues? and do you think the punishment is fair in cases like this ? If not what punishment would you suggest..

It's completely possible that in other leagues something like this is going on and we've seen certain officiating that suggest a form of biase which can be that the person in question has likely placed a bet favouring a particular team or a particular outcome and during the game tries everything within his power to make the game end that way.

Is a three year ban too much for such action? Absolutely not. From what's the case, the pay for referee's at that level is enough to make them forget anything like gambling. It's just like players gambling and then intentionally allowing their opponents score or stuff like that. Those are unethical practices that doesn't go down well with the game of football.

[d5000]

I think in the near future we will see the introduction of AI to assist the referees. And then match fixing would become much more difficult or impossible.

Everybody will be happy, fans, gamblers etc. with the exception of the arbiters themselves -- while I don't think they'll lose their jobs entirely because some oversight is still needed, there will be probably less arbiters necessary per game.

There were already some tests and feasibility studies, AI is not good enough still, but it is improving:

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sports-and-active-living/articles/10.3389/fspor.2025.1632326/full (for Taekwondo)

From this article:

While AI significantly improved efficiency and showed high consistency with expert judgments, human oversight remains crucial for ambiguous or complex cases. A hybrid model—AI-assisted pre-review followed by referee confirmation—is proposed to optimize decision-making. Future developments should focus on real-time detection, multi-angle video integration, and application to other sports such as baseball, basketball, boxing, and judo.

[LGD2Business]

Match-fixing has been going on in Turkish leagues for years. This is nothing new and its recent emergence is no surprise. Match-fixing has been exposed through referee and player statements, as well as confessions made years later. Now it has come to light that referees have also been betting. This is quite normal. Everyone in Türkiye knew this was happening. I don't know what will come of the legal aspect of this, but we shouldn't get our hopes up. When it comes to the bigwigs, they manipulate the law and nothing happens to them. Unfortunately, there is no properly functioning independent legal system.

These incidents certainly exist in other leagues too. They just don't come to light. Italy carried out its Clean Hands operation. I haven't seen such a clean-up in any other leagues.

[Alpha Marine]

Most times, when there is a law, but it's not enforced, almost everybody begins to break the law, and it becomes a normal thing. Some might even become so careless about it, because nobody checks it. This is the case here. There are laws that prohibit referees from gambling, but since the authorities don't pay attention to them, they feel relaxed, and that is why such a large number of them are involved in betting.

It may not necessarily mean they fix the games, because there are thousands of other games they play, but the rules are put in place for a reason, and I feel the punishments are not severe enough. It may seem harsh, but its true. People who have been found guilty need to be fired completely. They should never be able to referee any professional football match again at any level. Or at least a 5-10-year suspension. Not because they committed the worst crimes in football, but because others need to know that the consequences for doing that are severe.

[promise444c5]

I think in the near future we will see the introduction of AI to assist the referees. And then match fixing would become much more difficult or impossible.

The final Judgment still comes from the referee… There’re technologies that assist already but if we will be having an AI assist then it must be like a second referee and it’s decision must be made open  to viewers and fans,that would make it harder for biassed judgements.
It will be nice to have both the team human and team bots giving their decisions .

When it comes to the bigwigs, they manipulate the law and nothing happens to them. Unfortunately, there is no properly functioning independent legal system.

Even with the involvement of FIFA and UEFA?

[d5000]

The final Judgment still comes from the referee… There’re technologies that assist already but if we will be having an AI assist then it must be like a second referee and it’s decision must be made open  to viewers and fans,that would make it harder for biassed judgements.
It will be nice to have both the team human and team bots giving their decisions .

I believe it definitely becomes harder to influence a match if  there is a good electronic assistance technique present, be it AI based or not (current VAR is still too "dumb").

Above all it would become much harder to make up an infraction completely, for example if a player falls down but never was touched by an opponent. This is easy for assistance tools to detect if there are cameras from most angles, and thus they could give a "final veredict" the referee can't oppose without breaking a rule. In contrast without these tools, the arbiters may be all looking into the wrong direction, so this can be exploited by malicious referees.

The other way around, if there is a likely infraction but it may be covered by some rule (like "dangerous play" or "did the player move his arm towards the ball before an alleged hand play?") is probably harder to detect for electronic tools (improved AI could probably help). But these situations are not that frequent. And if a referee always favours one of the sides overruling the AI decision, this would also be quite obvious and lead to suspicion.