We have been here before and seen all of this before and it's really hard to believe history won't repeat itself.
It's stupid all the way down.
It's only when the house is constrained in their ability to balance that fixing matches make sense. Even 10 years ago my local bookmaker use to fly to Panama on big weekends with a suitcase of cash to lay off, now he just uses a few apps on his phone.
Something small might get corrupted but I doubt the rate for major events would be any higher.
Wow, that is Orwellian.
> The Athlete salaries far outpace the potential gains
That's only true for a few top athletes, and ignores others (referees, coaches, etc.), and the fact that careers are short. For example, in American football, you only have to buy a kicker or long snapper, who can easily change the game (as long as it's reasonably close). NFL referees aren't even full-time employees.
> you need bookmaker involvement but the legal books are so large that they don't won't one-sided games or any particular outcome
After seeing all the brazen fraud and deceit in American (and other) business, costing lives, tanking the global economy, causing climate change, fixing LIBOR, pushing crypto scams, etc. etc., we should believe that bookmakers would never take that risk? They must be an especially risk-averse, honest group!
Also, not all gambling is legal.
1. One player can significantly affect the outcome
2. The players are being paid peanuts
3. shaving points can be very lucrative to the fixers without actually affecting the outcome of the game.
A 5 figure payout just to win a game by less than expected can look like a great deal to a college athlete
This will happen again.
Edits:
Imagine the NFL learns that yesterday's NFC Championship game was fixed. What would they do? Make it public and destroy their entire enterprise? My guess is that many would hide it if they could, and the people involved certainly wouldn't want to talk about it.
And imagine if they learn about it in 6 months, long after the Super Bowl. Just in terms of on-field results, how do they fix the problem? Take back the trophy from a team and city that thought they won it six months ago? Replay the game in August?
Perhaps the League would even suspend him and make him retire for a few years before he could come back.
But they would keep it very quiet.
https://lastwordonsports.com/basketball/2019/11/29/michael-j...
How many of those skied shots, sliced shots, etc were bad skill or skillfully done to ensure the line was what was needed/required?
It's a pandora's box to start looking at everything a professional athlete/ref/manager does through that lens. It's even worse if you've never done it yourself to see how easy it is to do the wrong thing that causes one to look amateurish.
Did I just get a promotion to CAS[0]? Time to update my CV. I feel special. Time for me to start accepting bribes.
It's sport. It's humans. There is no solve. People want to do it, they will find a way to do it. There are other people that will take advantage. To the point that those in charge of $sportingEvent (FIFA, Olympics, Cycling) all "fall victim".
> Should we just close our eyes to the threat?
Only if you want to miss the entertainment.
[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_Arbitration_for_Sport
People say that about a lot of things, but we humans have moved out of caves, created science, machines, governments, freedom, etc etc. We can do something about our condition.
At the highest level there is so much money involved in playing the game straight that it's probably not worth it.
Look at the comments here on lower levels and College sport in the US. Where people are not getting paid much then even small bribes (say $5K) can work easily.
In the Premier League and what preceded it there was a betting scandal about people betting on the first thrown in of a game.
FWIW drugs at the highest level soccer is quite probably a thing. Quite a number of the drug doctors from the Tour De France wound up at top European Clubs (particularly Spanish ones). Modern pressing uses heaps of running and fitness.