Three betting operators reported possible fraud in bets on the yellow card received by Bruno Henrique, from Flamengo. This fact reinforces suspicions of manipulation of the card market, according to the Federal Police investigation that resulted in the indictment of the striker, last Monday (14).
According to information, the agency also stated that two sports integrity companies concluded the same analysis of suspected fraud in the match in which the player played. The athlete received the suspicious card in a match against Santos, in the 2023 Brasileirão.
One of the reports even said that the volume of bets for Bruno Henrique to receive a card caused concern, from an integrity point of view.
In addition, another company reportedly reported nine bets of the maximum value in this regard in approximately three hours. Another worrying factor is that most of these bets came from newly created accounts.
The location of the bettors also caught the operator’s attention, mainly due to the large concentration of bets based in Belo Horizonte, Bruno Henrique’s city.
Excessive number of bets on Bruno Henrique’s yellow card
According to one of the operators, 98% of the bets in the card market were directed at the athlete. Therefore, due to suspicion of manipulation, the offers in this market were suspended one day before the game.
One of them would have offered a 32% chance of success of Bruno receiving a card in the match, based on the athlete’s history. Up until that point, he had received seven yellow cards in the previous 38 matches played.
“Logical aspects could not explain the abnormal interest of bettors in receiving a card from Bruno Henrique”, the document states.
The report pointed to the hypothesis of prior knowledge of the bettors in the receipt of cards by the athlete, “which also presupposes, from this perspective, the participation of the same and his direct or indirect link with the bettors”.
According to the police, one of the companies suspended the payment of prizes due to suspicion of fraud, after the game and subsequent days, in some cases even months later, with several conversations on the subject.
The Federal Police said they will not comment on the case.
In a statement, Flamengo stated that it had not been officially notified. “The club is committed to complying with the rules of fair play in sport, but equally defends the application of the constitutional principle of the presumption of innocence and due process, with an emphasis on adversarial proceedings and full defense, values that support the democratic rule of law,” the text says.
