EVERY so often in Scottish football, rumours of gambling surface, sometimes followed by a player or manager getting a slapped wrist for betting on football matches.
With the events at Hamilton FC now public – with their manager Brian Rice admitting to breaching betting rules – and with numerous interventions by players and managers to say there is/isn’t a crisis, it surely behoves the Scottish Football Association and Scottish Professional Football League – both heavily in bed with gambling firms – to have a long look at themselves.
Now, they can argue that sponsorship does not directly lead to gambling, but why would Ladbrokes, William Hill and all the other betting firms pay a penny to sponsor Scottish fitba’ if there was no return in it for them, ie more punters losing more cash.
READ MORE: Neil Lennon defends role of betting companies in Scottish football
When Ronnie Cowan, the MP for Inverclyde, who is also vice-chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on gambling-related harm, complains about the normalisation of gambling in football, perhaps we should all take heed.
We should certainly start looking at the real source of problems, namely the vast Asian gambling markets, especially the spot markets on which huge sums can be won on wagers about who is going to get the next yellow card, will the ref award a penalty, that sort of stuff. That is an open goal for someone who can “fix” a match and I am well aware that the internet is alive with rumours of match-fixing here in Scotland. One club in particular has been named for match-fixing.
So here’s The Kicker’s tuppenceworth for the debate: a very senior figure in the political and media life of this country contacted The National to forward an explosive email by an expert on football betting who says he has been silenced by the press and broadcasters. We have been asked to withhold his name at present.
We have also removed some names but otherwise print his email without comment: “Chinese fixers have been around in Scotland since 2010 as have the Singaporean groups that I know of.
“The fixing syndicates have more money than football. The *** triad owns Asia's second-biggest bookie turning over £200 billion a year. They can buy and sell the premier league and ********** many times over.
“The illegal gambling market is estimated at £2 trillion a year and that is why the cartels and organised crime have moved into this area, easier money than shifting drugs. Plus much lighter penalties if they are caught, which they are not because the money moves through shadow financial networks and even the US Treasury can’t track it.
“No mainstream media is interested for the simple reason the sportswriters get their stories from the agents, players, coaches and club owners. Plus they don't want to impeach the integrity of the game or the product crashes as fans walk away and revenue streams collapse.
“They don't want to upset the ‘everything is fine in football’ narrative. Football is f******, ruled by gambling companies, criminals and greedy self-obsessed men exploiting weak and ineffective governance.
“The underbelly will never be revealed because there is too much money in the corruption, even the government don't act.
“I have tried three times to get a book published with three of the country’s top literary agents and best-selling authors ghostwriting. Dropped every time.
“Three TV companies have approached me and the same thing, I give them my story and it gets to the line and then dropped.”
READ MORE: 'Dramatic' rise in betting companies sponsoring football teams
The National is trying to find out more, but if the SFA or SPFL wish to approach this expert – and he is certainly very expert – we’ll be glad to assist them.
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