Betting in sports has gone off the scale, because at this point, we have it on our telephones, televisions and even in our normal conversations. We discuss the spread, the over/under, and which team will cover. It is exciting to the fans of this new world, and it provides a sense of drama to it… Yet, this huge flood of money has also increased a very dangerous, covert threat. The dark side of the spread: the ancient, corrupting practices of point shaving and match-fixing. These aren’t just harmless conspiracies. They are a direct attack on the very soul of competition at our beloved platform, National Casino.
The honesty and essence of any sport has been founded on the principle that all participants are doing their best to win. We must be convinced that the end result is an accurate representation of ability, hard work and a few instances of fortune. When that trust is broken, the whole fandom collapses. Why waste your time, money and emotion when it may be pre-arranged in some backdoor bargain? This is the serious threat of match-fixing and its cunning sibling, point shaving.
What is Point Shaving?
Most people know what outright match-fixing is. This is when a team or athlete intentionally loses a game, and since it’s simple, it’s also easy to detect. Point shaving is much more subtle, and in many ways, more sinister. It doesn’t require losing, only not winning by enough.
Let’s pretend a college basketball team is a 15-point favorite. They are expected to win easily. A criminal group then bribes one or two key players on the favored team, maybe the star point guard who controls the ball. They aren’t asking the player to lose… That would be too suspicious.
Instead, they instruct them to ensure their team wins by less than 15 points. The player might miss a few easy shots, commit a few unforced turnovers, or play lax defense at a key moment and the team still wins, say, 80-70. The fans go home happy with the victory, but behind the scenes, the point guard and the corrupt gamblers have just cashed in big by staking against his own team to cover the spread.
Why It’s So Hard to Stop
Point shaving is a nightmare to detect, as a missed shot or a bad pass is part of the game. We celebrate athletes for being human and making mistakes, so how can you possibly prove that a specific mistake was intentional? It often takes a massive paper trail, a whistleblower, or a failed monetary transaction between the gambler and the player to uncover the scheme, but by then, the damage is already done.
Beyond the Court
Outright match-fixing thrives on athletes of all ranks, including the bottom-tier soccer competitions, right down to amateur tennis tournaments. The reasons are frequently similar: greed and vulnerability.
Organised crime syndicates usually target athletes with diminished earnings in the lower leagues, or those who are almost out of the business and fear their future. The approach is simple: offer them a life-changing amount of money to perform one simple “favour.” The consequences, however, are anything but simple.