How to Avoid Match Fixing in the World of Sports?
Fixing matches is a practice as old as betting on them. And since betting is one of the oldest things people do – along with, uhm, the oldest craft of the world – I think it’s safe to say that match fixing might be older than written history. Some scholars argue that David’s victory over Goliath was the result of match fixing, too. The giant Philistine warrior has, according to a recently discovered apocrypha, recovered after being defeated with a slingshot, moved to Greece and established one of the most respected wrestling schools of the area.
But match fixing is frowned upon today, throwing the shadow of doubt over sports as respected as boxing, curling and World Wrestling Entertainment. And the coordinated international effort to curb this practice has just been up-scaled as a result of the news about one of the most famous stars of tennis being involved in a match fixing scandal.
At a world congress preceding the 2016 Olympic Games, leaders of the global governing bodies of the world of sports will sit down at a round table to discuss solutions to the problems.
Unconfirmed sources inside the World Hopscotch Federation have leaked a planned proposal to solve the problem once and for all. According to the source, the outcome of any sporting event organized after January 1st 2017 will be decided by the athletes playing online video slot machines at Royal Vegas.
The reasons for a game of chance to decide the outcome of any competition are obvious. First of all, the Royal Vegas Casino is a respected gaming destination known to host several games related to sports. Just last year, the operator has launched games like Football Star, Basketball Star and Rugby Star. If the proposal will be accepted by the sports governing bodies of the world, Royal Vegas will be asked to release more sports-related slot machines, to cover any competitive sports known to man. And the athletes will compete on the slots that are appropriate for their respective sports.
Another reason why the Royal Vegas Casino seems to be the best to decide the outcome of sports events is that it can’t be accused of match fixing, being completely fair. As we all know, games of chance are completely random, and their outcome can’t be influenced in any way – not by the player, and not by the operator either. This way any outside influences, no matter how generous an amount they would offer to fix a match, could have any influence on the outcome of the game.
Details of the proposal are still under debate, our source inside the WHF tells us. Some members consider slot machines to be too complex for the job, and would see the process simplified – to a coin toss, as they say. Of course, the event would not only be televised, but also made accessible to the rest of the world via live streaming through the internet.