And here we go with yet ANOTHER gambling scandal in sports.
Brentford striker Ivan Toney, who has been absolutely brilliant this season with 21 goals across all competitions, has been hit with an eight-month suspension from all activities related to soccer, according to an announcement Wednesday from the English Football Association (FA).
In what’s a massive gambling scandal, Toney has been charged with a whopping 262 betting breaches between the time period of February 2017 to January 2021, when he played at each Scunthorpe United, Wigan Athletic, Peterborough United and Brentford.
“Ivan Toney has been suspended from all football and football-related activity with immediate effect for eight months, which runs up to and including 16 January 2024, fined £50,000 and warned as to his future conduct for breaches of The FA’s Betting Rules,” the statement from the FA read.
“The Brentford FC forward was charged with 262 breaches of FA Rule E8 in total between 25 February 2017 and 23 January 2021. The FA subsequently withdrew 30 of these breaches and he admitted to the remaining 232. His sanctions were subsequently imposed by an independent Regulatory Commission following a personal hearing. He is permitted to return to training only with his club for the final four months of his suspension starting from 17 September 2023.”
Official: Brentford striker Ivan Toney has been suspended from all football and football-related activity with immediate effect for eight months. 🚨🔴
He has also been fined with £50,000 —and warned as to his future conduct for breaches of The FA’s Betting Rules. pic.twitter.com/ZtHBomVG3B
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) May 17, 2023
Holy cow, man.
Last week, I wrote a blog titled “Gambling Scandals Are Popping Up Left And Right In Sports … Here’s Another One. What On Earth Is Going On?” and in that piece, I highlighted several sports gambling scandals that happened in the past week alone. Literally just days later, and here we go again with another one, and from a top athlete at that. (RELATED: EA Sports Letting Student-Athletes Opt In To New College Football Video Game, Set To Return In Summer 2024)
Just crazy what’s going on.