The CPI on Game Manipulation and Sports Betting concluded its work with the approval of its final report. This Wednesday (19), after almost a year of operation, the document, authored by the rapporteur, Senator Romário (PL-RJ), calls for the indictment of businessmen William Pereira Rogatto and Thiago Chambó Andrade. Bruno Tolentino, uncle of professional soccer player Lucas Paquetá, is also on the list.
With only one vote against, from Senator Girão (Novo-CE), the report approved in the House suggests improvements in Brazilian legislation to make it more effective in combating manipulation of results and fraud in the betting market.
“The current scenario of Brazilian football finds itself in a delicate and worrying moment, in which the integrity of the most popular sport on the planet is constantly being questioned”, says the document, when making considerations about the system adopted in Brazilian football.
Paquetá Case
In May 2024, the English Football Association (FA) accused Paquetá of committing fouls during matches of his team, West Ham, with the sole purpose of allowing people close to him, previously informed of his intentions, to manipulate the betting market.
The former Flamengo, Milan and Brazilian national team player denies the accusations. Paquetá’s trial began last Monday (17), in England. The Senate CPI report, however, points to a list of suspects and people investigated in the last year, which includes Paquetá’s uncle, Bruno Tolentino. The CPI identified suspicious financial movements.
Furthermore, the document also indicates the investigation of former player and businessman Bruno Lopez de Moura. To the members of the commission, he not only admitted to participating in the match-fixing scheme, but also to having received privileged information about the games in which Paquetá participated, as well as the ones on which he bet.
Others investigated by the Bets CPI
Moura has a non-prosecution agreement with the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP), which guarantees that he will not be indicted by the CPI. In his testimony, William Rogatto identified himself as one of the biggest and best-organized match-fixers in Brazil.
“I am just a tool, a tool to make things happen, [so] that these things can take on a large proportion,” Rogatto is said to have stated, according to the report that the rapporteur presented.
Rogatto has been imprisoned since November 2024, in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.
Another person whose request for investigation was approved was Chambó Andrade. The CPI report identifies Chambó as a member of a “criminal organization intent on obtaining advantages, including financial ones, through the repeated practice of criminal offenses such as active corruption in sports competitions.”
Furthermore, he is one of those “responsible for ensuring the existence of funds [money] to be used to pay the players who were lured”. Andrade did not appear on either of the two occasions he was summoned to testify before the CPI.
Rapporteur’s legislative proposals
By approving the report, the members of the CPI endorse the rapporteur’s legislative proposals.
Among the proposals is a constitutional amendment to oblige any citizen, even a public authority, to respond to the summons of any parliamentary commission of inquiry.
It also creates three bills to curb game manipulation, including one that defines the crime of fraud in the betting market. Currently non-existent, the CPI’s suggestion is that convicted athletes be suspended or banned from the sport.
The committee also recommends limiting so-called single bets. According to the rapporteur, this type of bet facilitates the manipulation of results. It allows betting on a single event, such as the awarding of a foul or penalty and possible punishments for athletes.
“The problem is that the more attractive betting products become, the easier it becomes to predict the outcome, and the more easily the products can be exploited for manipulation.
“For example, bookmakers have traditionally preferred multiple bets, related to several events simultaneously, given that it is more difficult to predict the outcome, in addition to making manipulation more difficult and costly.
“However, to attract and retain consumers, single bets are increasingly common,” the document highlights.
According to information released by the Senate Agency, all documentation produced by the CPI will be shared with the Federal Police, as well as with the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office for the continuation of the investigations.
The information will also be sent to other institutions, such as the Civil House and the Ministries of Treasury Justice, Sports and Health, for specific measures.
