Why gambling in sport is more than just pie in the sky

It should have been a celebration – when the football minnows went up against the Premier League aristocrats.

Sutton United may have valiantly lost against Arsenal but their unlikely story, which took them to the verge of reaching the FA Cup quarter-finals, not only captured the nation’s imagination but boosted an historic competition which many fans and pundits felt had lost some of its magic in recent years.

But instead of basking in the glory of their FA Cup heroics, which saw them beat AFC Wimbledon and Leeds United along the way, the non-league club was let down by Wayne Shaw’s pie-eating stunt during the match.

The 46-year-old reserve goalkeeper handed in his resignation on Tuesday as he prompted a betting probe after he was shown on television tucking into the snack towards the end of the 2-0 defeat.

The sorry saga has not only left a bitter taste in the mouth it’s also put the spotlight back on gambling within sport.

The departing keeper admitted after the match that he was aware that Sun Bets – who also sponsored Sutton’s shirts for the night – were offering 8-1 on him to be shown eating in the dugout during the game.

Both the Football Association and Gambling Commission have announced independent investigations into the stunt, which Sutton’s manager Paul Doswell felt had taken something away from his players on the biggest night of most of their careers.

“It’s a very sad end to what was a very good story,” he said. “It was an honest error but one that’s had quite sad ramifications.”

The FA will launch an inquiry to determine whether Shaw breached its gambling regulations and there could also be fall-out for the bookmakers, with the Gambling Commission confirming its own investigation into the incident to decide whether Sun Bets had breached its licence requirement by offering such a bet in the first instance.

“Integrity in sport is not a joke and we have opened an investigation to establish exactly what happened,” Richard Watson, the commission’s enforcement and intelligence director, said in a 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.”

Former former sports minister Richard Caborn says although there has been a crackdown on gambling it remains an issue. “It is a serious problem and this incident the other night, as stupid as it was, has highlighted a problem that a lot of people have been concerned about for a long time.”

Speaking to The Yorkshire Post, the former Sheffield MP said: “We set up the Gambling Commission and it’s doing a good job. But developments in technology mean you can now bet to lose and bet ‘in game’. You can bet on the number of corners and you can bet on all kinds of sport – football, cricket, tennis and so on.”

He says sports governing bodies in this country are aware of the situation. “The sports authorities are taking this seriously and the Gambling Commission had warned the betting industry about novelty marketing.”

The 2005 Gambling Act, introduced by the Labour government, scrapped a ban on TV and radio adverts for casinos, betting shops and online gambling sites.

But even though he was Sports Minister at the time the legislation went through, Caborn believes it’s time this was now reassessed.

“It’s gone beyond what was expected and I think more than a decade on it’s time for it to be reviewed,” he says.

“Betting companies need to be reined in terms of advertising because it’s in danger of bringing sport into disrepute in my view.”