Premier League CEO wants ban on betting for players
Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore admits he cannot rule out the idea that match-fixing may have taken place over the course of the history of the league and revealed he would like to see a blanket ban on players betting on football markets.
Numerous counts of match-fixing allegations have surfaced in the last month, ranging from non-league football through to players plying their trade in the second tier of the English game.
Scudamore said match-fixing is his main worry but believes the Premier League is doing all it can to weed out any guilty parties.
“It is my ultimate concern,” he told Sportsweek.
“It is the one thing that scares you the most about this whole industry is the idea that integrity could be impugned in any way.
“I think we have to get it into context. I don’t think it is entirely widespread and prevalent but that isn’t to say it is a serious issue we face.
“We have had 8,393 matches so far in the Premier League, I can’t actually sit here today and say it has never happened in those matches, all I know is we are doing all we can to make sure it doesn’t.
“We are monitoring over 300 international betting markets and we have a whole system of things in place.”
Scudamore is now keen to see legislation put in place that would prevent players from being allowed to place bets on any football markets.
“This debate went around about two years ago and we introduced through the Football Association rules that mean you cannot bet on any competition that you’re involved in.
“I think the time is now, it is far simpler and far easier that if a person is involved in football they shouldn’t be allowed to bet on football – the time has come for that to happen.”
When asked if he would like to see that in place ahead of next season he replied: “In a word – yes.”
