Bookies alert FA to attempted 22-1 betting coup

Published on Monday 27 April 2009 22:20

ENGLISH football authorities are to investigate another suspected gambling scandal after large stakes were bet on a 22-1 outcome in a match involving two Conference sides at the weekend.

Sums of up to several hundred pounds were wagered on Grays Athletic to beat Forest Green Rovers after trailing at half-time.

The result was 2-1 to Grays in the Blue Square Premier match – and the Essex-based side were losing 1-0 at the break.

The Football Association was alerted by bookies who picked up on suspicious betting patterns – two firms suspended betting on Saturday afternoon.

An FA spokesman said: "We take these matters very seriously and we will investigate."

William Hill spokesman Graham Sharpe said under normal circumstance "only a few fivers" would have been bet on the game, and the matter had reported the matter to the Gambling Commission.

Sharpe explained: "When you have a meaningless end-of-season match you are not expecting to take much money and all of a sudden you are being offered a large number of bets for one outcome and some relatively substantial bets at that. It was a 22-1 shot for the home team to be losing at half-time and to win at full-time.

"The biggest sum placed was a three-figure bet so we suspended betting on Saturday afternoon. Interestingly, another bookmaker unbeknown to us did the same thing which suggests this not a freak occurrence."

The sums involved were not as high as that staked on the Accrington Stanley v Bury match last season which has led to the FA charging six players with breaching betting rules. On that game, one bookie alone took 281,000 in bets, 20 times the normal sum.

Grays chairman Mick Woodward said he would give the investigation all his help. Woodward told BBC Essex: "I've given it my full backing and any FA investigation because this is not needed in football. If anything has gone on we want people to come down heavy if there is any match-fixing. We do not need it in sport."

Forest Green said in a statement: "The club will support any investigation into this allegation but it is disappointed that despite betting being suspended 24 hours before kick-off that neither of the clubs were contacted nor were other standard practices put into operation by both the FA and the Football Conference. A complaint has been lodged to both these bodies."