Oh, without a doubt the matches are predetermined (or as much as they can try to). That's mostly for the p2w crowd, though...as in, they know the equation that's at play here.
"P2w" pays to win, but paying doesn't guarantee that player is good enough to win (even overpowered). The rub is, if p2w doesn't win, they quit (loss of paying customer), demand a refund (loss of profits earned), and then bad mouth the game on YouTube (bad press). So, Plarium tilts the game in their favor - it keeps them in the game and spending. This is what mobile gaming has been for awhile.
However, that doesn't mean you can't beat this system as a free player. However, it requires skills (not just the garden variety kind) and patience (almost too much - haha). My 2.9k sp can and does beat players using 5k hangars pretty regularly, and sometimes higher (depending on my winstreak). Of course, I can tell pretty quick when the game is deciding I need a loss; playing 1 versus 5 after 1 minute of gameplay is a pretty obvious slant.