Like most others, I was stunned to learn the small numerical value of the bets for which West Ham midfielder Lucas Paqueta is being charged with misconduct.
Given the grand scale of the FA’s investigation—spanning 18 months—I had feared the worst. Add to that the leaks suggesting the Football Association would push for a lifetime ban, and it led me to question whether West Ham’s Brazilian playmaker was part of some kind of international betting cartel siphoning millions from bookmakers.
It was, after all, West Ham’s own sponsor Betway that flagged the suspicious betting patterns, all centred around yellow cards Paqueta received during Irons matches.
Surely, I thought, this must involve serious money. So imagine my—and everyone else’s—surprise when the actual betting amounts were revealed yesterday.
I know Martin shared his thoughts in an earlier article, but I’m honestly gobsmacked by the revelations that the bets were in fact a series of small punts, ranging from just £7 to a maximum of £400.
Most of the stakes are understood to be well under £100. Half of the bets were for less than £50, and one particular £30 wager was even flagged as ‘unusually large’.
The entire situation seems to have gone from serious to absurd. It’s now clear why Lucas Paqueta’s legal team have remained so confident. One has to wonder why the FA have poured so much time and effort into investigating what amounts to relatively irrelevant sums of money.
I know plenty of people who would happily put more than a tenner on Edson Álvarez to be booked—mainly because it’s easy money most weeks. What we’re not privy to is whether these bets were only placed on yellow cards. If they also included Paqueta to score or have shots on target, I genuinely can’t see much of a case to answer—unless new evidence comes to light.
Most importantly, I find it unfathomable that a player could face a lifetime ban over a handful of bets for comparatively small amounts
Has anyone thought to look if bets were made in any of the matches he was not booked in
The amount of money is irrelevant. He’s alleged to have fixed matches. If anything, the negligible sum of money is an aggravating factor rather than a mitigating one.
Can we all just put aside our bias and love for West Ham for a minute?
If Paqueta is found guilty then a) he is very stupid and b) he deserves to be banned for life. And, most importantly, completely regardless of the paltry amounts of money involved.
So why is he stupid?
The average wage in Brazil for the past ten years is roughly £5k per year. He earns that thirty times over every single week. Rather than spot-fixing matches, if he wanted to help out his mates he could gift every single working resident of Paqueta Island 25% of their weekly wage every week, and he’d still have £120,00 to spare.
Why does he deserve to be banned for life?
Surely we all want to eradicate ALL corruption in football don’t we? The FA certainly does (notwithstanding the Man City debacle). The FA banned a non-league player for ten years for ONE incident of spot-fixing.
I’m sure that if this was a Spurs player we’d all be raging and demanding that he was banned for life.
For what it’s worth, I have it on very good authority that the prosecutors found several dozen incriminating messages to friends and family in Brazil on his phone records.
Who are you perry mason
Thing is, the alleged fraud is for reportedly £100k. Good luck trying to walk into a bookies and getting away with nicking that amount of money. 40 brand new Betway accounts set up on the island of Paqueta. He’s toast I expect.
I keep reading on this site that £100,000 was won on several bets placed on Paqueta receiving yellow cards. What were the odds, what were the wagers, bets, the bets are bets, it’s not stealing, it’s a bet, it’s not a fraud. If you lived on that island and all of a sudden a local from the community was transported into the premiership, surely if you was a gambler you’d fancy him scoring, receiving loads of yellow cards, knowing his passionate style of play, I do feel that our club have been shafted here, unreal when you think Betway is our sponsor
I have recently left 2 replies which for some reason have not been published, why
Sorry Frank, no idea why that was happening mate. It was auto blocking for some reason.
Happy posting mate
I think the FA are carrying this on because they have so much to lose if he’s proven innocent. They’ll be sued by both him & West Ham if we’re allowed too. How can your whole livelihood & career be decided on the “balance of probability” rather than “beyond all reasonable doubt”, the FA would lose in a court of law unless they have steadfast evidence. Lastly the FA are paying for the “Independent” tribunal judging the Paquetta case, is that not a conflict of interest 🤷♂️ I think it is, it’s a kangaroo court & the panel’s decision has probably been made prior to them meeting so I believe this will end up in a proper court where the FA’s “balance of probability” won’t hold any weight.
The people at Betway need to get out more. They need to get real. Just looking at their computer screens and ‘identifying’ irregular betting patterns being shown by a badly written piece of software takes away from the humanity of their industry.
Sad little people feeding off the poor. Legally and with the blessing of governments everywhere. What will they do when too many (according to their unwritten rules) people place bets on the greyhound called Come On You Irons? If it loses – nothing. If it wins – try to get to the bottom of the coup. Lots of little bets placed on popular names. If you want big money (more than £100 or so) on your fancy, they refuse to take it.
Petty minded hypocrites, the lot of them.
As for the FA, they just have no idea.
COYI
The total winnings for the alleged betting scam are about 100,000 , which is 4 days work for Paqueta . None of which he even gets and so it would be pointless for him . One question I would have is were there unusual betting patterns for potential yellow cards where he didn’t receive a yellow card . That would then suggest that he had no knowledge of the betting which leaves him and everyone else innocent . The allegations were leaked to Man City illegally which prevented Paqueta’s transfer and has severely damaged Westham’s finances . Is this another BIG 6 conspiracy to keep all other teams small ?
100,000 on winning bets, what where the odds then, would have to have been massive for just tiny wagers, makes no sense. If this evidence/story is correct, he’s got more chance of getting a knighthood than a life ban
Where is the evidence that £100,000 has been won, that is a lot of tiny 30 or 40 quid bets, and what where the odds
30 quid, 50 quid, most less than 100 quid, what are the FA on ?
Cant believe how stupid this case is why are they looking for a life ban when it seems Ivan Toney did worse than this got a short ban and is still playing football
What a oddly naive article … if (and it’s a big if) he’s committed fraud and it can be proved he’s bound to be heavily punished.
When England played Brazil in their recent friendly, Paqueta should have received 5 yellow cards in the first 30 minutes.
It’s not the amount it’s still dishonest….
The FA’s investigation team have been sitting around playing with themselves for 18 months…………that’s the only crime i can see.
Mate, £30 a year,,, what centry was you born in? Tell me one player that doesn’t throw themselves down at the slightest touch.
Kanes classic answer when asked about a penalty was.
I felt contact in the area, so I went down. And that’s or countries captain.
By the look of things, the FA have spent a thousand times more money than the bets. That said if he cheated he should be banned. BUT, if the FA banned everyone who cheated, we would have no players left.
The amount staked is irrelevant. Fraud is fraud, whether someone is scammed for a £100 or £1000.
That said, hopefully Paqueta is innocent and is proven so. The alternative would be a disaster for the club, and for him personally.
Agreed
Surely we need perspective here. What’s £30 worth on that tiny Brazilian island where the bets were made? Could be a years salary! What’s usual for us in our affluent world could be very unusual on a remote island and cheating is cheating. I’m not happy if he deliberately got booked in a west ham shirt irrelevant of the monetary value. Let’s face it, he cheats every week throwing himself on the floor holding his face if someone touches his chest. Great talent, but unfortunately wasted and the least surprising member of the team to be accused
Brasil has a federal minimum wage for all workers in the country – currently R$1,518 per month (approx £205 per month). This shows that the income for average people in Brasil is significantly lower than in Europe, but their cost of living is also less – disposable income in Brasil is also far less for average people.
Paqueta is reported to earn £150,000 per week, which is just under £15 per minute, every minute day and night.
The question is really, why would Paqueta risk his huge income for people to place bets for stakes, the value of which he earns in a few minutes? If members of his family need cash, it would be easiest and simple for him to just give them a few hundred quid from his salary.
The wider issue is that Paqueta gets fouled a lot, so he gets aggravated and petulant.
Quite often the fouling of Paqueta is systematic and likely to be the tactic chosen by the opposition manager to shut down WHU creativity – an example of this is the Aston Villa match that is part of the investigation where McGinn man-marked and constantly fouled Paqueta throughout the match knowing that a petulant Paqueta response (emphasised by McGinn then rolling around on the turf) was likely to mean a booking for Paqueta.
Yes Paqueta is likely to be a highly strung professional footballer, who has petulant tantrums when he’s the receiver of the dark arts. But, he has been systematically fouled for his whole career to try to reduce his effectiveness on the pitch and has responded to his fouling by fouling back and therefore has been booked throughout his whole career.
You don’t need to be Nostradamus to predict (and place a bet) that Paqueta is more likely to be booked than an average player.
Very well explained