Attack on amateur football on TV broadcast

In Germany, betting on amateur football is not permitted according to the State Treaty on Gambling, but the betting industry is apparently cashing in here too. According to BR research, large numbers of German amateur games also end up on the international betting market. Clubs and players often don’t know anything about it; they get nothing from the global business anyway. And that’s not all: the integrity of the Germans’ favorite sport is also at stake, as amateur football is also at risk of manipulating results. The documentary from BR and NDR delves deep into the world of German amateur football, for example in the Bayernliga and the Bremen League. A team of investigative journalists and data experts reveals: Hundreds of games from amateur leagues in Germany are offered on international betting portals, including in German. A billion dollar business. “Sports betting has arrived at the center of society with the corresponding consequences: gambling addiction, match fixing, money laundering, crime,” says addiction researcher Tobias Hayer from the University of Bremen in the film. Players and clubs are mostly clueless. For example Kirchheimer SC, a club from the Bayernliga. There you only find out from the BR journalists that bookmakers make money with their games and you are outraged. The players are amateurs, football only brings them pocket money. “Passion should count, the fight on the pitch and simply having fun with the sport. I think action should be taken against the betting industry,” says a young amateur player. But it’s not that simple. First you have to look for the loophole in the system. The betting portals also work with live data from the games, even if no one is broadcasting the amateur league games. How does information about free kicks, yellow cards and goals get to the bookmakers’ websites in real time? The suspicion: There must be someone who collects and forwards the data on site, the so-called data scouts. Kirchheimer SC will not accept this. With the data journalists in the background, those responsible for the club set out to find the scout. And in doing so, they do a job that someone else should actually do. Explosive: It’s not just about unknown betting providers. It’s also about the big players in the business, sponsors of the 2024 European Football Championship, Bundesliga clubs and even the DFB. How can that be? The Joint Gaming Authority of the States, or GGL for short, is responsible for monitoring the betting market and is surprised by the BR’s research. She promises to look into it, but in the end sees no need for action. Because the betting offers are advertised on international betting portals, it is not possible to take action against it. The German Football Association (DFB) is also clueless: Ronny Zimmermann, 1st Vice President for Amateurs/Regional and State Associations responsible for amateur football in the DFB, says in an interview: “So I go to amateur football pitches every weekend and I still have the topic .” never been told. The fact that there is also a DFB sponsor among the bookmakers that offer German amateur games abroad doesn’t bother him: “If a partner in another market applies the regulations as they are there, I think that’s legitimate.” The DFB will but now deal with the topic. They don’t want to wait for it in Kirchheim. “Collecting data for betting providers is prohibited” is written on the sign that the club has now put up on the pitch. (sender info)