The Brazilian president supported Senator Jorge Kajuru's project that only allows betting on the final outcome of matches.
Brazil.- President Lula da Silva stated in an interview with Rede TV that he supports a proposal by Senator Jorge Kajuru for the government to ban, through a decree, bets related to yellow and red cards, throw-ins, penalty shots, and corner kicks in soccer matches.
According to the project presented by Kajuru to prevent illegal situations and match-fixing, this type of betting would be prohibited and only betting on the final result of the matches would be allowed.
The statements were made during an interview with Kajuru himself and Senator Leila Barros on the PODK Liberados program. It is in this conversation that the Brazilian president agrees with the Senator's idea by citing the case of Flamengo player Bruno Henrique.
Last Tuesday, November 5, a day before this interview with Lula was recorded, the Federal Police and Gaeco (Special Action Group to Combat Organized Crime), from the District Attorney's Office, conducted an operation to investigate possible manipulation of cards to benefit sports bettors.
The main suspect is the forward for Flamengo and the Brazilian national team, Bruno Henrique. It is suspected that the athlete's relatives, including his brother, cousin, and sister-in-law, bet that the footballer would receive a card. Bruno Henrique is being investigated for a yellow card he received in the 50th minute of the second half of the match between Flamengo and Santos, for the 2023 Brazilian Championship.
In the play, Venezuelan Yeferson Soteldo, then at Santos, approaches the corner flag and tries a dribble against Bruno Henrique. The now-suspected player tries to stop him and referee Rafael Rodrigo Klein calls a foul. After the yellow card, Bruno Henrique received a direct red card for complaining and Santos ended up winning 2-1.
See also: Serious accusation: match-fixing allegations involve players from the Brazilian national team
“I think it's correct because people can even manipulate the result of the game, but it's much harder than manipulating the yellow card where the player, mischievously, can provoke the judge to give him the yellow card,” said Lula in his conversation with Kajuru.
In turn, the Brazilian president also referred to the case of Lucas Paquetá, involved in a similar scheme and accused of receiving four suspicious yellow cards in matches he played with his team, West Ham, in the English Premier League.
