Betway removes football transfer betting markets
Operator pulls player-specific transfer betting based on FA guidelines and previous infractions
Betway will no longer offer football transfer markets from 17 June, having described the offering as a “grey area” in Football Association (FA) betting rules.
As the Premier League resumes tonight from its coronavirus-enforced lockdown, the operator will cease to offer odds on the markets.
Former Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge was banned from all football activity for four months in March 2020 after he was alleged to have passed on inside information to his brother over a potential transfer to Spanish club Sevilla in January 2018.
The Englishman was playing for Turkish side Trabzonspor this year when he was handed the ban, having originally served a six-week suspension in 2019, when the FA appealed against the findings of an independent body to deliver a more severe punishment.
Betway’s head of corporate communications, Alan Alger, said the markets created a “grey area” in the FA’s rules on betting and the decision was taken to remove the option.
Alger continued: “We believe that betting on football should be about what happens on the pitch. The FA have strict rules on betting, and we feel that offering odds on players to move to specific clubs highlights a grey area which has caused issues in the past. It is best removed as an option.”
Despite alluding to past issues, Alger stated the decision was not impacted by any specific case in the past, and implored other operators to follow suit.
He added: “This is based on a feeling that we’ve had for some time that betting responsibly should be about what happens on the pitch. We also call on our competitors to join us in this self-imposed ban.”
Alger doubled down on the emphasis of responsible gambling and that markets, no matter how profitable, should solely be based on what happens during 90 minutes.
“We show a profit on these markets, but it’s something we are willing to sacrifice to highlight just how important it is for people to enjoy their football betting based on how the game is played on the pitch rather than newspaper and TV rumours about players moving clubs,” said Alger.
“This is based on our desire for customers to bet responsibly based on what happens on the pitch,” he added.