January 24 – A former England international who was banned by the Football Association in April last year for breaching betting rules claims 50% of professional players bet on matches and that gambling is “culturally engrained” in the sport.
Joey Barton, who was banned after being found to have placed 1,260 bets on football matches over 10 years, is now an established football pundit whose outspoken views divide opinion but regularly feature in the print and broadcasting media.
Players in England’s top eight tiers are banned from betting on football but Barton told BBC radio: “I think if they found out everyone who has been betting and cracked down on it, you’d have half the league out.”
“I think 50% of the playing staff would be taken out because it’s culturally engrained.”
Barton – who has played for Burnley, Manchester City, Queens Park Rangers, Newcastle, Marseille and Rangers – was fined £30,000 and initially banned for 18 months. That suspension was later reduced by five months and he is free to return in June.
Barton – who won one England cap – says that while match-fixing is abhorrent, it is important to distinguish between gambling rules and match-fixing rules.
“The [gambling] rules have become more and more stringent. Ultimately we’ve ended up now with a totalitarian kind of ban – no football betting anywhere. Where we’ve got it wrong is we’ve got the gambling rules mixed up with the match-fixing rules. Match-fixing is wrong and challenges the integrity of the sport, it’s the same as taking performance-enhancing drugs.”
Barton has no qualms about having been punished but added: “I think culturally betting is acceptable. There’s nothing wrong with betting if it’s controlled (rather than) when it becomes out of control and people bet beyond their means.”
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