Betting can add interest and excitement but it hits murky waters when involving football stars. The FA forbids any betting on football worldwide for all Premier League players. Here are 7 Premier League players found guilty of betting.
7. Andros Townsend
Andros Townsend copped an £18,000 fine and was given a four-month ban with three of those suspended for breaching betting rules. The Newcastle winger lost £46,000 on a single game and was on about £3,000 a week at the time.
Townsend wasn’t accused of betting on games he was involved in but he broke betting rules which forbids betting on football. He went public with how his gambling addiction affected his football and ability to focus on football.
“You start small, you start happy and doing it for a joke.”
“When you have an addiction you don’t see it, you think it’s fine.”
“I was betting on U18s, foreign teams I’d never heard of.”
Incredible honesty from #CPFC’s @Andros_Townsend on his battle with gambling addiction 🙏 pic.twitter.com/gahr22EB6l
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) February 27, 2020
6. Martin Demichelis
Martin Demichelis won a Premier League title with Manchester City in 2014. The central defender was charged and found guilty in 2016 for placing 29 football bets.
He was fined £22,000 but managed to escape a ban. The FA ruled there was no possibility Demichelis could have influenced the games that he bet on and they warned him of his future conduct.
5. Dan Gosling
In 2014 Dan Gosling was fined £30,000 following multiple breaches of betting rules. Gosling claimed he was unaware of any rules which prohibited betting on football. He made about £5,000 profit from betting on football which he donated as a result of being found guilty. He donated the money to a Newcastle United charitable trust.
4. Cameron Jerome
The former Stoke City striker was fined £50,000 after admitting to repeatedly breaching betting regulations in August 2013 and only a couple months after Andros Townsend copped a fine. Jerome didn’t bet on games that he could have had an influence on.
The Cameron Jerome betting scandal is no surprise, it’s safe to say he’s not the only 1 doing it and he won’t be the last to be sanctioned.
— Monique Rankinа (@__monique_r) August 15, 2013
3. Kieran Trippier
Kieran Trippier was in Spain by the time his past caught up with him. Despite Atletico Madrid’s appeal that the FA was out their jurisdiction, FIFA backed Trippier’s 10 week suspension and slapped him with a $70,000 fine in 2019.
Betting rules forbids anyone inside football passing on information not publicly available which can be used for betting. WhatsApp messages showed an exchange between Trippier and his friends, a mate saying: “Shall I lump on you going there?”.
His mate was referring on a transfer to Atletico while Trippier was at Tottenham, Trippier replying “Lump on if you want, mate.”
FIFA confirm Kieran Tripper’s 10-week ban for breaching betting rules IS worldwide https://t.co/SJ5vZVRclS
— MailOnline Sport (@MailSport) December 24, 2020
2. Daniel Sturridge
Once England’s first choice striker, Sturridge was handed a six-week ban in 2019, four of those suspended for breaching betting rules. The FA appealed the decision and a harsher four-month ban was imposed in addition to the doubling of his fine to £150,000.
Sturridge was found guilty of 11 breaches resulting from inside information being passed to relatives while playing in the Premier League. One of his infractions was for giving his brother Intel about a possible transfer to Spain. Sturridge stated that betting companies, their practices and processes on players moving clubs has to be stopped following the ruling.
Former Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge has responded to his FA ban for betting. pic.twitter.com/8E179mJcvO
— Liverpool FC News (@LivEchoLFC) March 2, 2020
1. Joey Barton
Only Joey Barton can earn himself the longest ban in Premier League history. While at Burnley a 34-year old Barton got done for betting in 2017.
He earned himself an 18-month suspension for placing 1260 bets over a 10 year period, including games he played in. The ban led to a £30,000 fine and forced Barton into retirement. Barton’s ban was reduced by five months as it was deemed that the initial length was excessive.
In a suggestion as to just how widespread betting is, Barton reckons that half of all footballers bet on matches. Unfortunately for Barton he was made an example of for any Premier League players found guilty of betting.
“I think if they found out everyone who has been betting and cracked down on it, you’d have half the league out.”
Joey Barton claims 50% of professional footballers bet on matches.https://t.co/bLkN1WELE1 pic.twitter.com/Zm825eViC7
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) January 23, 2018
