In late 2019, APAJO signed a pioneering Memorandum of Understanding with Sportradar Integrity Services, aimed precisely at preventing the manipulation of results in an organized and global manner. Of course, all our members have established systems and partnerships that help to monitor unusual betting patterns and account activity. But this agreement with Sportradar reinforces the activities individually developed by the operators, in terms of sports integrity. And not just in football, but in all sports.
The pioneering spirit of this Memorandum of Understanding stems from the fact that it is the first time that Sportradar Integrity Services has entered into such an agreement with an industry association. This is a pioneering spirit that goes well with the fact that Portugal was one of the first countries to ratify the Macolin Convention, by which the Council of Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions, in force since September 1, 2019, is known.
Both the Macolin Convention and the Memorandum of Understanding between APAJO and Sportradar are based on the same assumption that match fixing is a global issue that can only be mitigated globally through strategies, partnerships. and effective and synergistic international agreements.
Result manipulation has always existed. But nowadays, also thanks to the complete tracking of Internet activity, we can identify these problems more easily and quickly. We have a very strict regulation in Portugal, which in itself already mitigates possible basic risks. However, as the article written by journalist Paulo Curado pointed out, Portuguese football is used for the manipulation of results that occurs in Russia or Asia. This clearly shows that, particularly as regards sports integrity, it is not enough to develop selective work, and cooperation at all levels on an international scale is indispensable.
As far as APAJO is concerned, we will support all international initiatives that help to reduce and prevent manipulation in sports. We are also evaluating the implementation of an educational program that we would like to support. Often athletes do not have the money to make a living from their sport and even finance it from their own pockets. If we want to eliminate match-fixing, we first need to inform young athletes about the risks related to fraud, but we also need to better fund their involvement in sport. That's where we want to participate and help.
APAJO was founded at the end of 2018. But since then we have released studies and surveys that allow us to define more precisely the online gaming sector in Portugal and the habits of gamblers compared to other countries. We are currently exploring new opportunities for cooperation with national and international partners. This is the way forward for the sake of sports integrity and for which we are sure to continue to rely on the newspaper company such as PUBLIC, which closely follows the industry and its developments.
Gabino Oliveira
APAJO President
Bet.pt Co-Founder and CEO
