Fixed Matches: The Biggest Betting Scam

What are fixed matches? How do you identify them?

As a sports enthusiast or bettor who is active on social media, at one point you would have come across posts from people, communities, or platforms offering guaranteed match-fixing or correct scores. This was probably the first time you were introduced to match-fixing and wondered what it was.

The buzz around fixed matches being the biggest betting scams, has been a huge deal in the sports betting community for a while now. And it is time more people started learning about it to protect themselves.

In this article, we discuss what match-fixing is, how it works, how to identify fixed matches from real ones, times when a match has been fixed, and the reasons why fixed matches fail.

Pay attention when reading this article, as it can save you or someone close to you from making terrible betting choices.

Read also: Top Football Betting Myths Dispelled!

What Are Fixed Matches?

Match fixing is the illegal practice of swaying the results of a match to a desired outcome. This activity often happens between bettors and a sports team; offering a huge sum on a sporting event, with the aim of making large returns on it.

Fixed matches don’t happen only based on the outcome of the game, but for specific moments in a match too like penalties, corner kicks, yellow cards, and fouls; this one is called Spot-fixing.

There are rigid measures put in place to curb match-fixing, and any bettor found engaging in this act will be dealt with by being penalized or prosecuted by the sports federation.

How Do Fixed Matches Work?

Fixed matches are a lucrative business thriving within the sports betting industry, and the people who engage in this are often tight-lipped about their dealings. 

Bettors and traders who fix matches often reside in the dark web, to ensure that they are not caught or easily spotted by unsuspecting bettors. Sports officials who do this, are banned from overseeing or leading a team or are sometimes imprisoned.

How To Identify Fixed Matches

Fixed matches look like real matches, and unless you look closely you’ll have a hard time telling the two apart.

A real Prediction Site that offers tips and legal betting markets is completely different from that scammer on the Internet telling you they have the power to turn the tides of a match.

With that being said, these are some ways you can identify fixed matches, the next time you see one:

• Scammers give false credit.

• They make up stories to convince bettors to follow links or hashtags to websites, social media platforms, groups, emails, or private chats to get fixed matches or correct scores.

• Some of them claim to have the power to help you win matches with their predictions, but in the long run, they’ll take all your money and leave you empty.

When making betting selections, trust your instincts and don’t give away money on a platform you can’t trace or are not sure of. 

Another thing to note is most sites like this are run by regular bettors like you who are just good at making good selections, but they still give you predictions that are a scam.

Fixed Matches Examples In Sports Betting

Fixed matches happen every day during a prominent sports tournament, mainly because betting syndicates have found a way that can’t be identified to alter the outcome of a match.

These are some fixed match examples that have happened over the years, including ways you can spot a fixed match.

1. Basketball teams always win but can’t cover the spread. This happened in 1978-79 and was uncovered because of something unrelated to it. 

2. Irregularities in pre-match odds in Italian football, cup tournaments, or obscure leagues. If you can wager on the draw for odds less than 2.50, something is probably wrong with the game.

This can occur when both teams would be content with a tie at the end of season matches or because a fix is going down. Low odds for the draw is prominent in the final football matches in World Cup group phases.

3. Refrees repeatedly influencing a match – there are some referees that are chronic sports betting addicts or just hate some teams, nations, and athletes, and can’t help fixing matches.

These bad refs award penalties, issue red cards and do everything in their power to influence the match outcome they want (because they placed bad wagers). Others will ensure that the side they hate won’t win their matches when they’re officiating.

4. Irregular in-play odds – Liver betting odds are compiled using an automated process void of human intervention that seeks to affect some sporting events and betting markets. If the odds you get look wrong, there’s something influencing it.

Few gambling syndicates like to place their illegal bets after a match starts so that they don’t trigger an alarm. This is the case with most fixed matches. If the odds drop massively without any good explanation, then it is ripe for the taking.

Irregularities in in-play odds have happened in the Supperettan match between Jonkoping Sondra and Syrianska in August 2014. The odds for Over 3.5 goals were low when the match started and went down to 1.50 after 15 minutes of play.

After the 2nd goal was scored in the 51st minute, the match-fixers wagered large amounts of cash on the Under 4.5 Goals bet. The final result for that match was 4-0, so both bets won. Bookies stopped taking bets on this game because of irregular betting behaviour and the Swedish FA (SvFF) reported suspicions of match-fixing to the police.

5. Game, set and fix – tennis players seem like they won’t get involved in fixing matches because of the generous prize money they would lose, but they do.

A Wimbledon player gets £10,000 for participating in the 1st round, with extra prize money of £6,325 for getting to the 2nd round.

Bets of £400,000 (an amount mentioned in the 2009 Wimbledon match-fixing dossier for one internet site), could net a player a windfall of £80,000 or more, based on the odds.

In 2009, the tennis authorities received reports of Eight matches at Wimbledon on suspicions that their results were fixed by professional betting syndicates.

Roger Federer became more concerned about the growing corruption in tennis after it came out that tennis authorities were investigating betting patterns in the 1st match where Jurgen Melzer won against Wayne Odesnik 3-0.

6. Bad performances by players – there are times when a player can make a bad mistake or give a poor performance that shocks fans.

This can be when a goalkeeper barely tries to save an attempted goal, allowing weak shots into the net or fumbling attempts he could have easily saved.

Other examples are when criminals or groups affiliated with underworld parties or organised crime pay teams off to mess up a match. In the 1978 season of College Basketball, Boston College was found out to have won their games under specific point spreads.

See: Can You Make Money Backing The Favorites

Why Do Fixed Matches Fail?

If fixed matches are spotted by many people, then there are a lot of reasons why the engineered outcome won’t happen. These are some of them:

1. The Fix Was A Hoax

The classic fixed game scam is often spun by a con artist that tells bettors about a fix, persuading a few of them to back the home team, the others on the away team, and then on the draw.

They do this using an extensive mailing list or multiple Facebook accounts, pages, or groups. These scammers advertise it using a name like “free fixed matches no payment”.

Some punters get a winning pick, and then the con is done again before the scammer starts asking for payment.

2. It Was A Trader Scam

Another reason why fixed matches won’t work is when the scammer deployed a bait (fixed match tip), pursuing a trading opportunity.

They will back the bet tips before they provide them to the public, and then, after the odds have dropped, they will lay the bet a shorter odds than the first one.

3. Bookmakers Found Out And Suspended The Markets

This means that the monitoring services forwarded the information to FIFA’s Early Warning System. The local FA and the club owner will also be notified. The players involved panicked and called off the fix.

Why Some Matches Look Fixed But Are Not

Matches might look fixed for a number of reasons, but they are not. This can be when a big team plays against a less powerful team and disappoint fans and gamblers. Bettors might have placed huge wagers on them, and then the favourites lose to the underdogs or run a tie.

Sometimes it might be a calculated permutation and combination. In every match there are 9 HT/FT combinations that can happen:

• 1/1
• 1/2
• 1/x
• x/1
• x/2
• x/x
• 2/1
• 2/2
• 2/x