Gary Lineker pointed a finger at the Football Association and suggested they are targeting the wrong people when it comes to betting as clubs, such as his old team Leicester, can encourage fans to bet without consequence.
Lineker was a vocal critic of Kieran Trippier's 'ridiculous' ban after FIFA upheld the FA verdict to hand the England international a 10-week punishment for advising a friend by text message to 'lump on' his move to Atletico Madrid from Tottenham.
On Tuesday, Lineker was left bemused when Leicester City promoted Parimatch UK, their official betting partners, on the eve of their game against Tottenham with the social media post urging fans to 'Back the Foxes' in betting markets.
'Trippier gets a 10 week ban for telling his mates about an impending transfer, yet our football clubs, including the one I support, can have betting partners encouraging fans to lump on their games,' Lineker wrote, including a thinking emoji.
The Match of the Day presenter received a number of replies that said that what clubs are doing comes without guarantee whereas Trippier was in the knowledge that his move would go through and as such his friend would profit on any bets made.
In response to one critic of his tweet, Lineker wrote: 'I'm well aware of that, but in some ways it's worse, encouraging your own fans to inevitably lose money in the long run.'
The FA found Trippier guilty of four of seven alleged breaches of its betting regulations. All occurred in July 2019, around the time of the 30-year-old's £20million move from Tottenham to Atletico.
He was banned from all football and football-related activity until February 28 and fined £70,000. Atletico Madrid's appeal was dismissed and the Spanish giants are now contemplating taking the ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Trippier had denied all seven charges against him, which were first made in May. Three of them were dismissed after a personal hearing in October but the other four were found proven.
In published evidence from the FA investigation, Trippier was found to have breached FA rules in a WhatsApp group chat with friends.
On July 14, three days before his move to Atletico was confirmed, Trippier was asked by a friend: 'Shall I lump on you going there (Madrid)?'
Trippier replied: 'Can do mate.'
The friend continued: '100% Tripps?'. Trippier replied: 'Yeah mate,' before adding, 'Lump on if you want mate.'
Atletico have been left incensed at the ban, which will see him miss nine games, while Lineker believes bookmakers 'prey on the uninformed' and should 'stop offering odds on players moving' so as to avoid others following Trippier into a ban.
Lineker said: 'Ridiculous that he should have been punished. Ridiculous.
'Can they tell their families they might be getting a move without having to warn them against betting? If bookies object then they should stop offering odds on players moving, but they won't do that because they prey on the uninformed.'
Lineker's strong stance against betting companies and their growing stranglehold on football is nothing new.
Speaking to GQ in 2014, Lineker said he was becoming increasingly concerned at the visibility of betting around the game.
He said: 'What worries me is all the betting advertising and sponsorship in sport. All you ever see is commercials for gambling and apps, it is really dangerous and I think we need to do something about both of them, alcohol and gambling.
'Gambling is just too easy to do now and as a parent I worry about it, all those ads bombarding you with in-play betting.'
Many clubs generate millions from their official betting partners and Premier League and Championship sides stand to lose £110million per year if a Government review of gambling, launched on December 8, leads to a ban on betting companies sponsoring football shirts.
Eight out of 20 clubs in the Premier League are currently dependent upon shirt sponsors from the gambling industry, which brings in around £70m. In addition, the EFL, clubs benefit from £40m in sponsorship and commercial arrangements with the league
In the Premier League this season, West Ham, Wolves, Burnley, Southampton, Leeds, Crystal Palace, Newcastle and Fulham all have betting companies on the front of their shirts, while Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion have gambling firms on their shirt sleeves.
For the 2020-21 season, it was ruled in Spain that gambling companies would, for the first time, be prohibited from acting as shirt sponsors as the Spanish top flight clamps down on betting influence.
Last year, a House of Lords Select Committee on gambling recommended that not only should shirt sponsorship be banned by 2023, but 'there should also be no gambling advertising in or near any sports grounds or sports venues'.
Currently betting company sponsorship includes, pitch side hoardings, partnerships and sponsorship of training kit.
Bookmakers are also still able to show television adverts during the build-up and post-match analysis on live televised sport.
The long-awaited review of the 2005 Gambling Act aims to update legislation to provide greater consumer protection in the digital age, which has seen the losses of punters rocket to £14.4 billion per year in 2019.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com