Betting: algorithms for suspicious bets, reported to the Interior Ministry

One or more algorithms that process thousands and thousands of games in real time to identify possible pathological behaviors and intervene. This is how the control system of Italian bookmakers works on those who exaggerate when betting. Another world, in terms of reliability and safety, compared to the offshore sites involved in the investigation involving Italian football. When the algorithm – created using the precedents of pathological players – highlights a possibility that that player may have risky behavior, Italian bookmakers activate a series of tools, which can be – based on the risk – “sensitization direct from the customer who tends to exaggerate, the imposition of a correct deposit limit or in more serious cases the closure of the account”, a senior manager of a “big” betting company explains to Agipronews.

frequency and anomalies

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“We not only analyze the behavior related to account top-ups, but also the frequency of gaming or the number of times the consumer contacts the contact center. If a player calls or writes 10 times a day, for us it is an indicator of anomaly. At that point we take action to implement the tools at our disposal”, adds the manager. Even the size of the bets – on average there is less than 200 euros in dealer gaming accounts – are profoundly different. You play in complete safety and also trying to avoid the risk of sports fraud, another of the investigative hypotheses on which the Turin Prosecutor’s Office is working.

the algorithm

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“We have an algorithm that evaluates all bets, the customer’s commercial profiling does not count. The system decides whether the bet is risky for various reasons, or not: in the first case it is “turned” and examined by a trader who decides whether to accept or reject the bet or – but it is a rarer case – reduce the amount.” , industry sources explain. The dealers have cutting-edge systems to verify the activity of each customer and intervene by “applying limits (which can even amount to a few euros, ed.) for bets and checking whether the player has particular behaviors. We keep an eye on various parameters, from the championship on which you are betting – a second Eastern European series will be riskier than the Bundesliga or La Liga – to the type of bets, up to the length of time the customer has been registered. If it is a new member, not yet well known, the checks will be more stringent.”

viminale

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Anyone who exaggerates, therefore, ends up on the radar of the control teams of betting companies, as also happens to those who make “suspicious” bets, both online and in the agency, which end up straight to the competent office of the Customs Agency and the Ministry of Interior, where there is a joint anti-fraud unit. Furthermore, almost all reports end up being archived because the conditions for fraud are lacking. A security cordon – made possible by the very close collaboration between institutions, sports leagues and the gaming sector – which has made Italy an inhospitable country for match-fixers.