How clean are the big leagues really?

[red4slash]

We cannot claim that everything is clean but on the one hand we also cannot claim that the whole system is broken because in this case there will always be some things that happen including maybe for this modern era about the charges against Barcelona, Manchester City or what has been proven in the Calciopoli case involving Juventus two decades ago things like this can always happen at any time as long as the opportunity is there.

But on the one hand we also cannot believe that all things that smell of gambling are fully supported by things like this because we think it will always prioritize the slogan fairplay, especially in sports so there must be a lot of players who play sportsmanship than those who cheat.
For sports in small leagues especially for inter-city leagues maybe I would still say that this is more vulnerable and more problematic because the scale becomes easier to control by such people but for the big leagues actually although there are always indications or suspicions but things like this can be minimized and I have more confidence in the existing system than trying to accuse without strong evidence.

[Gost ms]

Cheating in sports betting is not easy at all and if cheating is really done then it is not possible for gamblers like us to catch it. By big sports betting do you mean UEFA, La Liga, I don't think any kind of cheating is done in these leagues. But even if cheating is done, we still have complete control over which team we will bet on. So we can decide for ourselves when and what to do.

[Obim34]

Manipulations can't happen in big leagues because they are careful about anything that might ruin their reputation. If you are familiar with these things you would know that they only happen in leagues that are not really prominent, mind you we only hear about it, there is no actual proof that any of these goes on. The only reason why people say a game is sold out is when the obvious outcome does not happen.

How far in are you into the system? Of course, manipulation can happen in big leagues, always keep in mind that football is not just a sport for entertainment but it is also a business for the owners.

We can not judge the cleanliness of a game, a lot can happen behind which we don't, I believe manipulation do happen but may not be as much as it is in smaller leagues, there needs to be a lot to gain before something of such can happen.

[Hazink]

Being right or wrong in this way of thinking, one thing can actually be grabbed from it, which is that it's possible for anything to happen in any game. None is immune to manipulation. It can be done in ways which noticing it will be hard. 

And you are not the only one thinking about it this way, but I still think those big leagues have their hands on funds and things that can generate more money for them. I suspect them less compared to what I suspect small leagues, but that does not mean it's entirely impossible. 

[asriloni]

You're just overthinking about that. A big league will never ever try to ruin their reputation by doing shady things. If it happens, they will lose their market share worldwide. If you're thinking there was a decision that you think it didn't match with your expectation, just let it flow.

There have to be so many angles to decide whether it's foul or not. It's not based on what you like or not. This is why i believe if you are thinking the league was not clean, but there are also others who are thinking it's clean.

So to generalize it's a shady league just because there was one or two decisions that disadavntage you, it's wrong.

[Moreno233]

I just had this thought because of what is happening in our country and probably in many other places too.

Rich people can control the media, politicians, and even some rules, just to protect their business. We see corruption everywhere and in the end it is always the regular people who suffer from it.

So if we connect that idea to sports betting, especially in big leagues where there is so much money involved, can we really say everything is clean?

It is never clean in sports betting, big money is involved so there will always be controlled business behind the scene. All the matches cannot be rigged but there are few matches that can be rigged and such information only available to privileged few individuals who will use that to expand their wealth. This happens in all the leagues, we have seen evidence of investigation into match fixing in several leagues over the years and it was even match fixing that lead to the introduction of the VAR system which have reduced it but cannot eliminate it completely. 

[Doan9269]

Determining how clean a league is in their judgement and other activities they do is not by being recognized, has any league is don't to be trusted or not depending on those that are within the system managing the entire affairs, even though as a gambler, it is not expected that we should advertise about focus on whether we are being stated from playing from those recognized leaves or not, because our aim to gambling is not to make money as something like an investment or business we do, but it is entertaining despite we are using our money to play, every gambler has the consciousness of knowing that gambling involves the risk of losing or winning.

[Localhostspeed]

I just had this thought because of what is happening in our country and probably in many other places too.

Rich people can control the media, politicians, and even some rules, just to protect their business. We see corruption everywhere and in the end it is always the regular people who suffer from it.

So if we connect that idea to sports betting, especially in big leagues where there is so much money involved, can we really say everything is clean?

I am not saying every game is fixed, but it is hard not to question it. These big leagues already make money from tickets, ads, sponsors, TV rights and all that. Then you add sports betting, which is a huge market too. Maybe even bigger than what most people think.

There is no guarantee that all leagues are 100% real without any manipulation, there will be one or two things that must have happened without the public notice but it's safe and real compare to other leagues. There are some leagues that you will make predictions that a match will result with under 3 goals only for the match to end with total goal of 8 and it's not like the goals will be share, it's one team that will score those numbers, isn't that strange.

If you don't have any evidence to show that there is manipulation, you can't do anything about it because law doesn't work with probabilities, they work with fact and the leagues or big players in the industry knows how this works and do hide it so that they wouldn't know that such things are happening. For your own bet safety, I will advice you stick to leagues that are recognized.

[Awaklara]

And if someone already knows what is likely to happen, then ordinary bettors are just playing a game they can never really win.

No one will know the possibilities that will happen. We indeed cannot say that the major leagues are free from fixing. But as bettors, we do not know which matches might be fixed. However, we can avoid betting on matches that are truly difficult to predict. For example, matches where the champion has already been decided, and the remaining matches that do not determine anything, are sometimes hard to predict. It does not mean that there is fixing there, but small bettors cannot predict that.

[Oasisman]

Big leagues or the major leagues do not need to play dirty in terms of gambling, because there is more than enough revenue for this business. From sponsors down to tickets and merchandise. That's why they can pay athletes millions of dollars. It's just not worth the risks. Once you stain this kind of business because of the dirty gambling tactics, the league will fall fast.
There are some cases in which players, staff, etc., got involved in gambling issues, but that does not involve the league at all.

So what if some people behind the league are not really honest? What stops them from influencing officials or certain calls in the game? Not even the whole game needs to be fixed. Sometimes one call, one foul, one penalty, or one bad decision can already affect the spread, total score, or result.

Am I overthinking this, or do you also think big leagues are not as clean as they want us to believe?

Yeah. There are several cases already where the coaching staff and players were caught cheating to manipulate the betting odds, but then again, this does not directly involve the league. Only the players and anyone involved will be held liable for it, and they are fined as well as facing legal consequences.
In any sport today, none of them are actually clean 100%. The league has rules, but it is always the players who gets involved in cheating.

[mcdouglasx]

That's an interesting point you raise, and it's obvious that match-fixing is likely to occur, especially with controllable individuals like goalkeepers, referees, and forwards. But does this always affect the average bettor? It might simply be another possibility, since even in an unfixed match the favorite can sometimes lose. Another possibility is that you might unknowingly bet on the very play that was rigged. I think for this to always affect the bettor, many matches would have to be fixed simultaneously.

[JunaidAzizi]

Yeah, your point is valid. If every side is full of corruption and no one is left from it, then how will the sport be safe where millions of dollars are flowing? I am not sure, as I haven't seen it with my own eyes, but maybe they can also do that. For that, they don't need to fix the whole match to be caught in everyone's eye. So what they will do is take the penalty or the yellow card at the right time and change the game results. Or maybe they can buy the referee and show favoritism in the game to help one party win, not by performance but through tricks and false ways.

[Hatchy]

Am I overthinking this, or do you also think big leagues are not as clean as they want us to believe?

Everything in this world can be manipulated, except life itself. The world suffers everyday from people who thinks they are better than other because they do have a good amount of power in their hands. In sport, we have always had manipulations. We have seen news of how some officials were caught after being paid to manipulate some part of the games and foul a particular team. All these together influence how things or reality was supposed to play out. But regardless of that, we have to accept the truth that nothing on this life comes so easily. If it's too easy, it might not last. The big league too might have experienced similar scenarios when they were just starting up. It's like a cycle which comes back to you when the time eventually comes..

[Bright0515]

I won't say that they are clean neither would I say that they do anything crafty because i don't have a certain fact about their transparency but the fact would always remain that big leagues do their best to avoid anything that is going to ruin their reputation, they don't publicly get involved in any form of corruption because they know that a lot of eyes are on them and it would be difficult for such things to go undetected. Match fixing might be real, we say that based on our personal experience as football fans and bettors but in popular leagues it is difficult for such to happen.

[Franklyn-wood]

Put that in your mind all the time and try to make betting decisions based on what you believe is a possible conspiracy theory, because you are the only one who can prove if what you suspect is correct. If games can really be rigged, or if some games are rigged, then most likely the rigged side will win most of the time, and if you can follow that side, you should be profitable.

Now the question is, can you really spot it? If you can, please share some hints on how, because that would be useful to many bettors here.

It is true that corruption is every where and one might be tempted to think that the level of corruption is also also affecting the sports and gambling, you are right, looking at the way games are running I don't think it can be rigged or are rigged.
Life can't be judged randomly base on personal feelings, because there is very tendencies that those observation or thought can be wrong and might be misleading.

[Zlantann]

That is why I also think maybe smaller markets are not always bad. Maybe games that do not attract too much public money are less interesting for big people to manipulate. I am not sure if that is the right way to think about it, but it kind of makes sense to me.

Am I overthinking this, or do you also think big leagues are not as clean as they want us to believe?

People are so greedy that they can do anything to make money. So I will not be surprised if some of the happenings in some major games are manipulated. You will never know until there is an investigation that we prove that insider betting is going on. However, the reason I bet on the major league is that they have some level of control. Controversial decisions are reviewed and match officials are sanctioned if they are found guilty of making mistakes. Manipulating games in these major leagues is difficult because of close supervision and officials' well-paid salaries.

[Rgram]

So if we connect that idea to sports betting, especially in big leagues where there is so much money involved, can we really say everything is clean?

I am not saying every game is fixed, but it is hard not to question it. These big leagues already make money from tickets, ads, sponsors, TV rights and all that. Then you add sports betting, which is a huge market too. Maybe even bigger than what most people think.

I don’t think the big leagues are completely clean. I think towards the end of the season when certain positions have already being decided, then you can find some questionable play and display from teams and players. At times these things don’t need to happen on a team level but, certain players like the goalkeeper, strikers and even the referees can be the major difference between fair play and a fixed game. So the big leagues might not necessarily be clean but, it’s rare.

[Wakate]

Politicians are the ones that are controlling the media and the big companies that are behind most of these gambling platforms and football association. There are different players that are responsible for the manipulation in the sportbook arena and if the law enforcement can track these people, their will be a lot of big companies that will be known for their fraudulent activities.

[riscohen4]

You are not really over thinking it. Everything you said is correct. If politicians and rich people can influence the media. What stop this big leagues from doing same to alter the results in their favour to make more money. I never once believed that the games can't be compromised as corruption is actually everywhere. So what now makes football any different. Corruption might be running deep already in the football industry and won't be long before it all gets exposed. There's nothing that can stay hidden for a very long time.  
On a norms, the gambling industry too needs to be questioned. What if they are working hand in hand with the big leagues too. A lot of unanswered questions.

[danherbias07]

It's not as clean as we think, but I am always hoping that they are cleaner than those who obviously manipulate the game in the local or national games. If it's international, I highly doubt it. There's a very slim chance that it will be manipulated like the FIBA or the Olympics.
But I have seen some just like the PH Olympic boxer named Mansueto "Onyok" Velasco back in the 90's. That's one hell of a questionable officiating by the judges, and the video of that fight can tell it all. Onyok was scoring a lot and outboxed his opponent, and still he lost the Gold Medal.

Up until now, there have been many questionable things that have happened in the big leagues and professional sports. I don't think we are overthinking. It's there, and sometimes it is obvious, but they will not admit it.