22 February 2017

Gambling Commission & FA investigate #PieGate

Sun BetsGreat Britain’s Gambling Commission and England’s Football Association (FA) are investigating if any rules have been broken, after Sutton United FC reserve goalkeeper ate a pie during the club’s 0-2 loss to Arsenal in the fifth round of the FA Cup. Reserve goalkeeper Wayne Shaw told ITV’s This Morning programme that he was aware that Sun Bets was offering odds of 8/1 on him eating a pie during the game, and said that he had “given the nod” to some of his friends to place a bet. Shaw did not take the field and remained in the dugout during the game.

‘Integrity in sport is not a joke and we have opened an investigation to establish exactly what happened’, said Richard Watson, the Gambling Commission’s Enforcement and Intelligence Director in an emailed statement. ‘As part of that we’ll be looking into any irregularity in the betting market and establishing whether the operator has met its licence requirement to conduct its business with integrity’. The Gambling Commission sent a letter to regulated operators last June warning them of the dangers involved with novelty markets. The letter specifically warned that there are ‘issues of integrity linked to betting on television programmes or other novelty markets’. As can be seen from a cache of Sun Bets odds for the game (above), it offered odds of 8/1 on ‘Wayne Shaw To Eat A Pie Live On Air’.

Sun Bets, which launched last year, signed a one-off deal to sponsor the National League club’s game against Premier League club Arsenal, which was televised on BBC 1 on Monday 20 February. The company is operated by Tabcorp UK, a joint venture between the Australian betting company and News UK and features the same branding as UK newspaper The Sun, which is also owned by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corporation.

‘Wayne Shaw has resigned from his role at Sutton United following the events of last evening and subsequent publicity’, read a statement from Sutton United. ‘He has said that he “fully understands the club’s position regarding this matter”. We are naturally disappointed that Wayne’s time with us should end in this manner, and would like to thank him for his contribution to the club and wish him well for the future.’

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