São Paulo FA to require referees to self-exclude from betting platforms, clubs advised to register | OneFootball

The Federação Paulista de Futebol will require all referees in its pool to register their CPF numbers on the Ministry of Finance’s betting self-exclusion platform. The system has been active since December.

The tool blocks access to betting and related advertising for periods from one month to one year, or indefinitely, in which case users have one month to reconsider. According to Globo.com, the FPF sent a circular a week ago advising clubs, referees and staff to sign up.

For referees, that guidance will soon become mandatory when the federation publishes its new General Refereeing Regulations.

Brazilian law already bans athletes, referees, officials and others capable of influencing results from betting, a prohibition also reflected in CBF and Fifa regulations. Operators are encouraged to exclude people who may hold privileged information.

Self-exclusion prevents a CPF from being activated on betting sites, which also use tools such as facial recognition to verify identity.

Recently, the CBF required the 72 referees chosen for the first cohort of professionals to certify that their CPFs have been excluded. The Paulista federation has had an integrity committee since 2015 to prevent and investigate manipulation, and it runs an anonymous whistleblowing channel on its website.

Source: Globo.com