The integrity of professional soccer is being questioned once again following another legal sports betting incident.
Nottingham Forest defender Harry Toffolo has allegedly breached the Football Association’s betting rules. The FA’s rules prohibit players from wagering or providing information that could be used to place bets. As a result of the alleged breach, the 27-year-old has been charged with 375 violations that occurred over a three-year period between January 2014 and March 2017.
During that span, Toffolo spent time with Norwich City and was on loan for clubs including Swindon Town, Rotherham United, Doncaster Rovers, and Peterborough United. According to the FA’s statement on the matter, Toffolo has until July 19 to respond to the alleged breach.
The charges against Toffolo add to a growing list of athletes betting on sports.
In May, Brentford striker Ivan Toney was suspended for eight months for the prohibited use of UK betting sites. Toney, who is banned from play until January 2024, admitted to more than 230 violations of the FA’s betting rules.
The same month, Colorado Rapids midfielder Max Alves was suspended by the team over allegations of illegal use of sports betting sites. The probe into Alves came after Brazil prosecutors charged 16 people, including other professional soccer players, for alleged match-fixing. The alleged scheme involved 13 matches in Campeonato Brasileiro Série A and Série B — Brazil’s top-flight soccer leagues.
Widespread issue
Last month, the NFL suspended Isaiah Rodgers and Rashod Berry of the Indianapolis Colts and free agent Demetrius Taylor indefinitely through at least the end of the 2023 season for violating the league’s gambling policy.
The three players received suspensions for wagering on NFL games during the 2022 campaign. Rodgers, who was drafted in the 2020 NFL Draft out of UMass, placed roughly 100 wagers in an associate’s name. The cornerback also reportedly placed a $1,000 prop bet on the Over/Under rushing yards of an unnamed Colts running back.
Following the suspensions, the Colts waived both Rodgers and Berry. The league also handed out a six-game suspension to Nicholas Petit-Frere of Tennessee Titans for wagering at the team’s facility.
Gambling-related incidents have also trickled down to college athletic programs. In May, Ohio gambling regulators suspended wagering on Alabama college baseball following a suspicious retail bet. The wager led to a probe into Alabama baseball, which ended with the firing of head coach Brad Bohannon.
The University of Iowa and Iowa State athletic programs are also facing scrutiny after the state’s Racing and Gaming Commission launched an investigation into alleged unlawful sports wagering by more than 40 student-athletes and one employee at the two institutions. The probe is centered on the use of online sportsbooks.
In 2022, Sportradar detected 1,212 suspicious matches across 12 different sports. Soccer led the group with 775 suspicious matches last year, up from 695 in 2021. Despite the uptick and the influx of gambling incidents in 2023, over 99.5% of all sporting events are free from match-fixing, per Sportradar.
