- Suspended Brentford player Ivan Toney is a gambling addict according to a psychiatric diagnosis
- Dr Philip Hopley diagnosed Toney after two interviews
- He still bets on casinos
Suspended Brentford player Ivan Toney is a gambling addict according to an official psychiatric diagnosis, Football Association (FA) says in a damning report highlighting seven betting atrocities he committed.
Dr Philip Hopley diagnosed Toney after two interviews and a video conference call in one of his hearings with the FA.
Toney is currently serving an eight-month football ban after admitting to breaching FA betting rules.
The 27-year-old player faced the possibility of a football ban ever since he was accused of breaking 232 FA rules in November 2022 and another 30 in December 2022.
When Mr. Toney was on loan to Wigan, he placed 11 of the 13 bets against Newcastle, his parent team. He then placed the other two bets on a match between Aston Villa and Wigan.
Ivan Toney. Photo/Sky Sports
In the damning report by FA, Toney committed seven atrocious gambling activities as follows:
Between August 2017 and March 2018, he placed 13 bets, 11 of which were against Newcastle, his parent club, while he was on loan at Wigan
He told a pal he’d start his club’s next game in March 2018
Despite initially disputing the accusations, he admitted to using other people’s accounts to place bets
Admitted lying to the FA during his initial interview when asked about the gambling accusations
He’s suspected of having a different mobile phone just for placing bets, one he didn’t give the FA when they were looking into it.
He continues to bet on other sports and casino games and but says he is determined to address his gambling problem with therapy over the eight-month ban.
Due to the seriousness of the violations, the regulatory board was about to impose a 15-month suspension on Toney.
However, they reduced it by almost half after learning that he had admitted guilt and owned up to suffering from a gambling addiction, according to a psychiatric report to FA.
Additionally, the report added that Toney did not participate in any of the games in which he placed a wager against Newcastle back in the day.
“Of those 29 bets, there were 13 bets on Mr Toney’s own team to lose in 7 different matches between 22 August 2017 and 3 March 2018,” read the report.
Ivan Toney. Photo/CNN
“Mr Toney did not play in any of those matches where he placed bets against his loan club as he was not in the match squad or against his parent club as he was on loan,” added the report.
Toney put an additional 15 of the 126 stakes on the outcome of nine different matches, all of which he participated in.
Further, Toney placed each of those 15 bets or gave bet instructions at a time when it would not have been widely known that he was starting or participating in the match.
The FA continued by disclosing that Toney has an official gambling addiction diagnosis and the association is hopeful he will fight the addiction.
He earned £20,000 weekly at Brentford but he will have to make do without this money for eight months of his ban.
Besides the football ban, the Regulatory Commission fined Toney £50,000.
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