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Based on the switch to a three-person officiating system during the Uruguayan Basketball League 2004-05, the aim of this paper is to evaluate if the inclusion of a third referee deters basketball players from committing fouls. Following McCormick and Tollison's (1984) and Levitt's (2002) theoretical and empirical approaches, the results do not allow one to reject the deterrence model. However, the addition of a third person does not seem to have a substantial effect on the probability of foul detection. Moreover, the third referee increases the number of 'type I' errors and, as a consequence, can reduce the deterrent effects of the referee crew. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]