In the UK, an ‘estimated 0.5% of the adult population has a problem with gambling, 3.8% gamble at at-risk levels, and 7% are affected negatively by other people’s gambling’ professional footballers are not immune to regular problems. Without a robust rehabilitation system, the sport risks damaging careers and the mental health of these athletes.
For any professional footballer in the UK, any football-related gambling activity is strictly prohibited. But how should those who get caught gambling be punished? The FA need to implement comprehensive support programs that not only address the immediate issues but also offer long-term recovery solutions to ensure a healthier future for the game and its players.
On the 17th of November 2022, the FA announced that Ex-Brentford striker Ivan Toney, now at Al-Ahli, had been charged with 232 counts of allegedly breaching betting regulations. The charges span between February 2017 to January 2021 and 30 more counts were added between March 2017 and February 2019. He was handed an 8 month ban after being diagnosed with a gambling addiction. In October 2023, Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali, whose agent also insisted suffered with a gambling addiction, was banned for ten months by the Italian football federation.
Rehabilitation should be the key focus when deciding how to punish the athletes caught. It should be a safe space for players struggling with what is a serious mental health condition, other players seeing the bans handed to Toney and Tonali may be increasingly unlikely to seek help, in fear of the punishments that will follow.
Players like former Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge and Newcastle fullback Kieran Tripper, who provided friends and family insider transfer information, received bans of 4 months and ten weeks respectively, as well as fines between £70,000 – £75,000. Which is the equivalent of a slap on the wrist for footballers earning ten million pounds a year.
With the average UK gambling addict accumulating £10,000 debt, it’s scary to think how much of a debt could be amounted by a professional athlete making six or seven million a year. compared to the average UK salary being anywhere between £31,200 to £44,370 depending on the region, just 1.4% of the salary of an average Premier League player.
Juventus player Nicolo Fagioli, whilst being deposed by Turin prosecutors, told them he racked up debts of almost 3 million euros and had to borrow from teammates after receiving threats that the people he owed money to would “break his legs.”
Ex-Arsenal captain Tony Adams, who struggled with alcoholism throughout his career, founded Sporting Chance in 2000, a UK-based charity which provides free, anonymous mental health support for professional sportspeople. They are credited with helping ex-players such as Paul Merson and Joey Barton through gambling addictions.
The issue of gambling is a complex one, mental health intertwined with professional responsibility. These high-profile cases such as Tonali and Toney highlight the severe consequences of breaching betting regulations within the sport.
The disparity in punishments, such as the leniency shown to the likes of Trippier and Sturridge for giving insider information on their own transfers in comparison to Tonali, who never bet on his own games and Toney who rarely bet on his on games but when he did he only bet on Brentford to win, shows a more compassionate and rehabilitative approach. This is how football’s governing bodies should move forward, prioritising education, prevention and rehabilitation over punitive measures. Addiction is not a moral failing, instead a health issue that requires understanding and intervention. Only by addressing the problem holistically can football truly tackle the gambling crisis within its ranks.
