Como dizer "jogo viciado" em inglês

Giving a specific examples, for instance, a soccer match could be rigged or fixed by the referee.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/spor ... .html?_r=0

" nao vale a pena tentares mandar mais candidaturas , só se tiveres conhecimentos na empresa é que te dão emprego , é um jogo está viciado! "

Gostava de saber como se diz " não vale a pena, o país está viciado , é tudo um jogo viciado! "

You lose if you do and you lose if you don´t, it´s a no-brainer, the system is skewed, it´s unfair to those that aren´t in the clique/to those that doesn´t have unusually high connections. Etc.

Yours, was a generic question, so without much context is a broad answer. It could be narrowed by specifying by giving examples, etc.
Anyway, here you go. I hope others step up to the plate and give a terser sentence, let´s wait for further comments then.

In Portuguese your wording should be "Gostaria de saber como se diz..."

" nao vale a pena tentares mandar mais candidaturas , só se tiveres conhecimentos na empresa é que te dão emprego , é um jogo está viciado! "

It´s pointless to keep applying for more jobs as the advertised jobs are alredy filled or somehow or you need some kind of patronage. The system is unfair and is skewed, not merit-based.

Notice: not exactly my view on this, I just tried to translate your sentence. Not that all systems don´t have flaws, though. Unfair competition will always be a fact. I am not saying that it´s to maintain the status quo as well.

By the way, an inversion of values is going on in Brazil and elsewhere (we import such ideas, the bad ones and leave out the good ones), so it´s depressing to see education, values, economies and leaderships taking the hit.
I read somewhere else that "Everybody wants the world to be a better place but nobody wants to punish the wicked."