Is LatAm Winning the Battle?


Illegal Gambling:


Latin American lawmakers are tightening gambling regulation, but illegal betting


networks continue to fuel corruption, match fixing and violent crime.


While there is still a long way to go lawmakers in Latin America are undoubtedly making progress in bringing gambling regulation up to date. As gambling becomes more of a part of mainstream culture one issue continues to plague the industry: illegal gambling. But while law- makers get to grips with drafting and enacting new rules an ever darker picture of money laundering, corrupt officials, match fixing and even murder is beginning to emerge. Indeed lawmakers have a herculean task ahead of them especially in jurisdictions such as Ecuador where sports betting is now legal. Plagued by warring drug gangs Ecuador is at risk of becoming a narco- state. 1,300 people were murdered in the first 50 days of 2025 alone. Shockingly former Ecuadorian national team player Jonathan "Speedy" González, 31, was shot and killed inside a home in the coastal province of Esmeraldas in September. According to local press, mafia drug gangs pressured him to lose a match, which ended in a 1-1 draw. Only days before, fellow second division pros Maicol Valencia and Leandro Yépez were also murdered.


In the absence of media attention and financial support of larger


clubs, provincial football has become a breeding ground for criminal networks. In December 2024 a video emerged of at least seven men all connected to Chacaritas FC, another Ecuadorian football club, being held at gun point and being told to lose matches. Te video went viral on social media. Match fixing linked to illegal betting syndicates is a growing phe- nomenon in Latin America, according to the most recent United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report on corruption in sport published this year. It concluded that the threat posed by corruption and other crimes and wrongdoing to sport is also “becoming increasingly sophisticated, systematic and transnational in nature, not least as the role of serious and organised criminal groups in this activity increases.” According to the report, high profile cases of match fixing have not only been reported in Ecuador but in Brazil, Mexico, Costa Rica and Paraguay which indicate that both men’s and women’s sports are targets for competition manipulation.


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