{"id":377,"date":"2019-11-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/paraguay-football-chaos-as-team-owner-linked-to-betting-payments\/"},"modified":"2019-11-21T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-11-21T00:00:00","slug":"paraguay-football-chaos-as-team-owner-linked-to-betting-payments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/paraguay-football-chaos-as-team-owner-linked-to-betting-payments\/","title":{"rendered":"PARAGUAY FOOTBALL CHAOS AS TEAM OWNER LINKED TO BETTING PAYMENTS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paraguay\u2019s football governing body is demanding a halt to betting on its matches following the revelation that one of its team owners is deeply connected with local sports betting operator\u00a0Aposta.la<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This week, the executive council of the Asociaci\u00f3n Paraguaya de F\u00fatbol (APF) voted to prohibit the use of its trademarks and brands by the Aposta.la sports betting monopoly and the APF is prepared to go to court to enforce ownership of what it views as its intellectual property.<\/p>\n

Local media<\/strong>\u00a0quoted\u00a0Juan Alberto Acosta<\/strong>, president of the first division Guaran\u00ed team, saying the APF wanted to ensure that \u201cbetting on our football does not happen anymore,\u201d and the APF would take legal action if the local bookmaker didn\u2019t comply with this \u2018request.\u2019<\/p>\n

APF vice-president\u00a0Carlos Sosa Jovellanos<\/strong>\u00a0added that the two APF first division teams \u2013 Cerro Porte\u00f1o and current champions Olimpia \u2013 that currently have sponsorship deals with Aposta.la would need to resolve those relationships pronto.<\/p>\n

The APF\u2019s seemingly rash action followed an\u00a0investigative report\u00a0<\/strong>into Olimpia president\u00a0Marco Trovato<\/strong>\u00a0(pictured), who also owns Fastpay, an electronic wallet that is the exclusive online payment processor for local sports betting site Aposta.la.<\/p>\n

Aposta.la is operated by\u00a0Daruma Sam S.A.<\/strong>, which last year was controversially awarded a\u00a0five-year betting monopoly<\/strong>, despite\u00a0protests by other local bookmakers<\/strong>\u00a0that the government and gambling regulator had rigged the tender in Daruma Sam\u2019s favor.<\/p>\n

The APF is a member of football\u2019s international governing body FIFA, and FIFA\u2019s code of conduct specifically prohibits its members having \u201cany interests, either directly or indirectly \u2026 in entities, companies, organizations, etc. that promote, broker, arrange or conduct betting, gambling, lotteries or similar events or transactions connected with football matches and competitions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given Trovato\u2019s connection to Aposta.la, the presidents of 10 of the 12 clubs in the APF\u2019s top division\u00a0signed a letter<\/strong>\u00a0calling for an investigation into all major tournaments over the past two years \u201cto identify behaviors that could be linked to possible infractions.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far, Trovato\u2019s response has been to post cryptic Bible quotes via his personal Twitter account, while also taking a dig at his fellow APF club owners, suggesting they\u2019re the ones that should be probed for possible match-fixing given the way Olimpia has run roughshod over them during the past couple seasons.<\/p>\n

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