The FA "suffered a legal defeat" that will allow some club owners "free rein to gamble on football," according to Ziegler & Hughes of the LONDON TIMES. Investigations established that a recent ruling "cleared the way for club owners to bet on football, and that large numbers of players continue to defy a ban on gambling on the sport." The FA is reviewing its regulations "partly in response to being forced to drop charges of betting" against EPL side Bournemouth Owner Maxim Demin. His lawyers won a ruling that because he is neither a chair nor a director of the club, he is not “a participant” subject to FA rules, as he is not involved in the day-to-day running of the club and "does not come under the governing body’s jurisdiction." Investigators saw a copy of the FA's "secret rules for club owners" who own betting companies, such as Brighton & Hove Albion's Tony Bloom. These rules, which the FA has refused to publish, allow "special dispensation" for firms such as Bloom's company, Starlizard, to bet on football matches. The FA’s legal defeat comes after its website last April "published and then removed details of charges against Demin," alleging that he placed 611 bets on football in breach of its rules (LONDON TIMES, 1/24).
LOOPHOLES: In London, Gregor Robertson reported when the ban on betting on all worldwide footballing activity was introduced for players in England's top eight divisions in July '14, "it did little to change the habits of many professionals." As one English Football League player said, “I got my wife to open an account, I ask her to top it up, and I give her the money.” Hundreds of footballers, from the Premier League to non-League, "do the same." The reality is that the blanket ban has had a "marginal effect." Former Ireland int'l and EPL player Andy Reid said, "Bringing in the ban didn't stop the people who want to bet from betting. They either do it with their own account -- which let's be honest, isn't very clever -- and face getting caught, or they get someone else to do it. It's not hard" (LONDON TIMES, 1/24).
'INEXTRICABLY LINKED': In London, Matt Dickinson wrote EPL side Burnley player Joey Barton estimated 50% of professional footballers gamble on matches. Studies "do not put the problem on quite that scale but the anecdotal evidence is that it is rife." Millions "of us like to bet and it makes sense that footballers are attracted, sometimes addicted, given inside knowledge, boredom and spare cash." It is also the "world that they live in." Gambling is "pervasive throughout football," which "may not be a defence" -- but is "at the very least relevant context." A footballer "lines up in the Bet365 Stadium, with a gambling company emblazoned on his shirt, hoardings all around the pitch offering fresh odds." As for watching games at home, one study found that 95% of advertising breaks during live U.K. football matches "feature at least one gambling commercial." Even if "you avoid commercial television," research by Goldsmiths, University of London, found that gambling is "so inextricably linked to football" that during three episodes of Match of the Day on the BBC, gambling logos or branding were on screen for between 71% and 89% of the time (LONDON TIMES, 1/24).
