Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

100% sure bets? Exploring the precipitation-control strategies of fixed-match informing websites and the environmental features of their networks

  • Published:
Crime, Law and Social Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In recent years, many human activities have made cyberspace their preferred environment. This study focuses on the betting environment, specifically on fixed-match informing websites (FMIWs). These sites claim to be capable of selling tips about fixed sports events. They essentially act as vendors of confidential sources, allowing punters to place 100% sure bets. We hypothesize that cyber places for match-fixing tips facilitate deviant behaviors. Through systematic observation, we describe and quantify a set of 15 environmental features they share, which do not always belong to regulated online betting platforms. Findings from 78 FMIWs corroborate our hypothesis, as they support the relevance of Environmental Criminology theories applied to cybercrime. Additional exploration through hyperlink network analysis shows that FMIWs are highly homogeneous and have similar characteristics to the Tor network but differ from other illicit online environments such as sexual child exploitation networks or white supremacist communities. The characteristics of the network suggest that the business is more similar to a fraud scheme than an illicit market. Finally, the practical implications of the results for crime prevention and the directions for future research are outlined.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. https://www.interpol.int/Crimes/Corruption/Corruption-in-sport

  2. ESSA reported 100 incidents in 2015, 130 in 2016, 266 in 2017, and 267 in 2018.

  3. (1) match-fixing, (2) fixed betting tips, (3) fixed matches, (4) fixed-odd sports.

References

  1. Holt, T. J., & Bossler, A. M. (2014). An assessment of the current state of cybercrime scholarship. Deviant Behavior, 35(1), 20–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2013.822209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Morselli, C., & Décary-Hétu, D. (2013). Crime facilitation purposes of social networking sites: A review and analysis of the ‘cyberbanging’ phenomenon. Small Wars & Insurgencies, 24(1), 152–170. https://doi.org/10.1080/09592318.2013.740232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Leukfeldt, E. R., Kleemans, E. R., & Stol, W. P. (2017a). Cybercriminal networks, social ties and online forums: Social ties versus digital ties within phishing and malware networks. British Journal of Criminology, 57(3), 704–722. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azw009.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Cross, C., & Blackshaw, D. (2015). Improving the police response to online fraud. Policing, 9(2), 119–128. https://doi.org/10.1093/police/pau044.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Leukfeldt, E. R., Kleemans, E. R., & Stol, W. P. (2017b). A typology of cybercriminal networks: From low-tech all-rounders to high-tech specialists. Crime, Law and Social Change, 67(1), 21–37. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-016-9662-2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Huggins, M. (2018). Match-fixing: A historical perspective. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 35(2–3), 123–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2018.1476341.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Forrest, D. (2012). The threat to football from betting-related corruption. International Journal of Sport Finance, 7(2), 99–116.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Moriconi, M., & Almeida, J. P. (2019). Portuguese fight against match-fixing: Which policies and what ethic? Journal of Global Sport Management, 4(1), 79–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/24704067.2018.1493357.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Tak, M. (2018). Too big to jail: Match-fixing, institutional failure and the shifting of responsibility. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 53(7), 788–806. https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690216682950.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. ESSA (2015). ESSA Q4 2015 integrity report (pp. 1–6). Retrieved from http://www.eu-ssa.org/wp-content/uploads/QR4-BROCHURE-WEB.pdf.

  11. ESSA (2016). ESSA 2016 annual integrity report (pp. 1–6). Retrieved from http://www.eu-ssa.org/wp-content/uploads/QR1-BROCHURE-2017-SINGLE.pdf.

  12. ESSA (2017). ESSA 2017 annual integrity report (pp. 1–6). Retrieved from http://www.eu-ssa.org/wp-content/uploads/ESSA-2017-annual-integrity-report.pdf.

  13. ESSA (2018). ESSA 2018 annual integrity report (pp. 1–6). Retrieved from http://www.eu-ssa.org/wp-content/uploads/ESSA-2018-Annual-Integrity-Report.pdf.

  14. CK Consulting & Stichting VU-VUmc (2017). The monitoring systems of sports betting and warning mechanisms between public and private actors (pp. 1–245). Retrieved from http://ethisport.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2017/06/Betmonitalert_Design-NB-DEF-2-06-2017.pdf.

  15. Weisburd, D., Eck, J. E., Braga, A. A., Telep, C. W., Cave, B., Bowers, K., … Yang, S.-M. (2016). Place matters: Criminology for the twenty-first century. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139342087

  16. Clarke, R. V. (2018). Book review. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 29(1), 157–159. https://doi.org/10.1080/10511253.2016.1258031.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Miró-Llinares, F., & Johnson, S. D. (2018). Cybercrime and place: Applying environmental criminology to crimes in cyberspace. In G. J. N. Bruinsma & S. D. Johnson (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of environmental criminology (pp. 883–906). Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190279707.013.39.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  18. Marcum, C. D., Higgins, G. E., & Ricketts, M. L. (2010). Potential factors of online victimization of youth: An examination of adolescent online behaviors utilizing routine activity theory. Deviant Behavior, 31(5), 381–410. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639620903004903.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Näsi, M., Räsänen, P., Kaakinen, M., Keipi, T., & Oksanen, A. (2017). Do routine activities help predict young adults’ online harassment: A multi-nation study. Criminology & Criminal Justice, 17(4), 418–432. https://doi.org/10.1177/1748895816679866.

  20. Reyns, B. W. (2013). Online routines and identity theft victimization: Further expanding routine activity theory beyond direct-contact offenses. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 50(2), 216–238. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022427811425539.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. van Wilsem, J. (2013). ‘Bought it, but never got it’ assessing risk factors for online consumer fraud victimization. European Sociological Review, 29(2), 168–178. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcr053.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Brantingham, P., & Brantingham, P. (1995). Criminality of place: Crime generators and crime attractors. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 3(3), 5–26. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02242925.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Wortley, R. (1997). Reconsidering the role of opportunity in situational crime prevention. In G. R. Newman, R. V. Clarke, & S. G. Shoham (Eds.), Rational choice and situational crime prevention (pp. 65–81). Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Wortley, R. (2001). A classification of techniques for controlling situational precipitators of crime. Security Journal, 14(4), 63–82. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.sj.8340098.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Clarke, R. V. (Ed.). (1997). Situational crime prevention: Successful case studies (2nd ed). Guilderland: Harrow and Heston.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Newman, G. R., & Clarke, R. V. (2012). Superhighway robbery preventing e-commerce crime. Milton Park: Routledge Chapman & Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Hutchings, A., & Holt, T. J. (2017). The online stolen data market: Disruption and intervention approaches. Global Crime, 18(1), 11–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/17440572.2016.1197123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Hinduja, S., & Kooi, B. (2013). Curtailing cyber and information security vulnerabilities through situational crime prevention. Security Journal, 26(4), 383–402. https://doi.org/10.1057/sj.2013.25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Hutchings, A., & Clayton, R. (2016). Exploring the provision of online Booter services. Deviant Behavior, 37(10), 1163–1178. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2016.1169829.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Haberfeld, M. R., & Sheehan, D. (Eds.). (2013). Match-fixing in international sports. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02582-7

  31. Pineau, T., Schopfer, A., Grossrieder, L., Broséus, J., Esseiva, P., & Rossy, Q. (2016). The study of doping market: How to produce intelligence from internet forums. Forensic Science International, 268, 103–115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2016.09.017.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Mastrofski, S. D., Parks, R. B., & McCluskey, J. D. (2010). Systematic social observation in criminology. In A. R. Piquero & D. Weisburd (Eds.), Handbook of quantitative criminology (pp. 225–247). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-77650-7_12.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  33. Reiss, A. J. (1971). Systematic observation of natural social phenomena. Sociological Methodology, 3, 3. https://doi.org/10.2307/270816.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Raudenbush, S. W., & Sampson, R. J. (1999). Ecometrics: Toward a science of assessing ecological settings, with application to the systematic social observation of neighborhoods. Sociological Methodology, 29(1), 1–41. https://doi.org/10.1111/0081-1750.00059.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Sampson, R. J., & Raudenbush, S. W. (1999). Systematic social observation of public spaces: A new look at disorder in urban neighborhoods. American Journal of Sociology, 105(3), 603–651. https://doi.org/10.1086/210356.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Mastrofski, S. D., Parks, R. B., Reiss, A. J., Worden, R. E., De Jong, C., Snipes, J. B., & Terrill, W. (1998). Systematic social observation of public police: Applying field research methods to policy issues. [Research Report]. Retrieved from National Institute of Justice website: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/172859.pdf.

  37. Park, H. W. (2003). Hyperlink network analysis: A new method for the study of social structure on the web. Connections, 25(1), 49–61.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Park, H. W., & Thelwall, M. (2006). Hyperlink analyses of the world wide web: A review. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 8(4). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2003.tb00223.x.

  39. Thelwall, M. (2004). Link analysis: An information science approach. Amsterdam: Elsevier Academic Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  40. Westlake, B. G., & Bouchard, M. (2016). Liking and hyperlinking: Community detection in online child sexual exploitation networks. Social Science Research, 59, 23–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2016.04.010.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Burris, V., Smith, E., & Strahm, A. (2000). White supremacist networks on the internet. Sociological Focus, 33(2), 215–235. https://doi.org/10.1080/00380237.2000.10571166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Khalil, S., & Fakir, M. (2017). RCrawler: An R package for parallel web crawling and scraping. SoftwareX, 6, 98–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.softx.2017.04.004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Wasserman, S., & Faust, K. (1994). Social network analysis: Methods and applications. In Cambridge. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  44. Csárdi, G., & Nepusz, T. (2006). The igraph software package for complex network research. InterJournal, Complex Systems, 1695(5), 1–9.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Wickham, H. (2016). ggplot2: Elegant graphics for data analysis (2nd ed.). Cham: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  46. Ackland, R., & Shorish, J. (2009). Network formation in the political blogosphere: An application of agent based simulation and e-research tools. Computational Economics, 34(4), 383–398. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10614-009-9173-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Malm, A., Bichler, G., & Van De Walle, S. (2010). Comparing the ties that bind criminal networks: Is blood thicker than water? Security Journal, 23(1), 52–74. https://doi.org/10.1057/sj.2009.18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Monk, B., Mitchell, J., Frank, R., & Davies, G. (2018). Uncovering Tor: An examination of the network structure. Security and Communication Networks, 2018, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/4231326.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Davey, C. L., Wootton, A. B., & Wootton, A. B. (2017). Design against crime: A human-centred approach to designing for safety and security. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315576565.

  50. Malm, A., & Bichler, G. (2011). Networks of collaborating criminals: Assessing the structural vulnerability of drug markets. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 48(2), 271–297. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022427810391535.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. McGloin, J. M. (2005). Policy and intervention considerations of a network analysis of street gangs. Criminology & Public Policy, 4(3), 607–635. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9133.2005.00306.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities under Grant FPU16/01671.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Crímina Research Centre for the Study and Prevention of Crime, Miguel Hernandez University, Avda. de la Universidad, s/n. Hélike building, Elche, 03201, Spain

    Asier Moneva

  2. Ecole des Sciences criminelles, University of Lausanne, Quartier UNIL-Sorge, Bâtiment Batochime, Office: 6312, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Stefano Caneppele

Authors
  1. Asier Moneva
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Stefano Caneppele
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Asier Moneva.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 5 Selected illicit FMIWs by number of external URL
Full size table
Table 6 Selected regulated sport-betting websites by operator
Full size table
Table 7 List of regulated betting sites found in the FMIW network
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Moneva, A., Caneppele, S. 100% sure bets? Exploring the precipitation-control strategies of fixed-match informing websites and the environmental features of their networks. Crime Law Soc Change 74, 115–133 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-019-09871-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-019-09871-4

Search

Navigation