As the whole world knows now, West Ham midfielder Lucas Paqueta has found himself embroiled in a deepening betting scandal, with SunSport revealing startling new details about the alleged scheme.
Paqueta faces accusations of intentionally getting booked in four Premier League matches to benefit associates who placed bets on him receiving yellow cards. These matches include:
Leicester City (2022)
Aston Villa (2023)
Leeds United (2023)
Bournemouth (2023)
The report suggests roughly 60 individuals placed bets on Paqueta to be carded, with stakes ranging from £7! to £400. The combined winnings from these bets are estimated to be around £100,000.
In an ironic twist, the first to raise concerns about suspicious betting patterns was Betway, West Ham’s main shirt sponsor.
A very worrying situation as it could end Paqueta’s talented career
I personally believe that there should be no betting on things like yellow cards (a bit like the Pakistani fast bowler who got banned for bowling no balls on purpose).
Hopefully he will be found not guilty
I agree betting should be win or draw when it comes to sport.
There’s too many opportunities for corruption now with all these stupid bets that you can place. Again bringing sport into something other than a pleasure. Its my belief that var was also only brought in to facilitate bribery and corruption I said from day 1 it would be used for darker purposes and I’m not seeing anything to change my opinion. Greedy business people getting richer through sport these people have no shame and its always the players that are ruined through there own stupidity
I wouldn’t bet on it!
I fail to see how he can be found guilty unless the standard of “proof” is very low as it appears all the evidence is wholly circumstantial, not that that has stopped the FA before!
Quite frankley I cannot believe the FA can seriously ruin PACQUETA’S football playing career. He is one of the greatest players of today . Not only for his club West Ham United which he has been magnificent since joining, and for his country Brazil . All this yellow card business has completely hot out of hand. Give the man break this could finish him and his family. Fine him and let him get on with his career and life he has worked hard for. Enough said. The FA should be ashamed of them selves.
It’s highly possible a bunch on people on Social Media (like this site) have banter about Paquetas poor tackling and probability of getting booked, then go and lump on at the Bookies.
Let’s face it, Social Media seems to influence a lot of people into strange behaviours these days. Paq may be entirely innocent. If found guilty it HAS to be solid proof, circumstantial just isn’t enough on its own!!
Right. If he’s guilty, just let him off, so he can support his Ma
Rules are there for a reason Toney and Tonali have faced bans for less , spot fixing is the worst of these betting crimes a lower league player got a ten year ban for 1 discretion the price of a player shouldn’t have nothing to do with punishment but it will do we still waiting for the 116 city charges to be dealt with and now city have sued the fa . The Fa don’t know what to do or are scared
To be fair should he not have put himself in the situation in the first place. They know the rules on betting when they sign a contract. Having said that I don’t agree any player should be band a fine of a decent amount would surely be enough. But when it comes to money the punishment is always extreme ie a murderer gets seven to 10 years for manslaughter. But a bank robber who kills nobody and takes a few grand is looking at 15 years because money matters the most to the governing bodies of the world
I personally think he has been disrespectful to west ham fans(giving guardiola a big hug ) he hasn’t any interest in west ham he’s a glory hunter, good riddance too him,
Smash
Simply a case of a bookmaker crying foul when having to pay out. If they offer a market on an event and punters take advantage then that’s tough luck.
How can the FA justify a life ban based on 60 bets over games, when thousands and thousands of bets are being placed on different players getting booked over all football games. How many people bet on him getting booked in their accumulators and bet builders as they know they type of player he is and will get booked 7/10 games. I bet on him regularly to be booked so do thousands of others. Wake up FA and don’t be so stupid, this could come back and hit them in the arse, if the Sports Arbitration gets involved. Think how much compensation they will have to pay up if they are found guilty lol
I don’t believe for one moment that 3 random people in a room somewhere are going to strip a multi-million pound asset of the books of a player agency because the 3 people think if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck it must be guilty.
They are going to need actual proof not correlations. They need a ‘smoking gun’, and my gut feeling is they don’t have that. At most he gets fined for not cooperating. Anything else besides LP’s full innocence is headed for litigation.
They don’t say how many bets were placed on him getting booked in games that he didn’t !!!
Why would a player who’s on upwards of £100k a week get booked on purpose so his mates could earn £100k? Ridiculous charges against our player.
If Paqueta were to get a yellow card , would he get it in the 94th minute as he did . This is a joke . Betway is surely behind this – as the main sponsor , they would like this to prolong Lucas’s stay and put off suitors from acquiring him . When Paqueta was sidelined due to injury , the Hammers lost 8 of 9 and were thrown out of the Cup by a lower division club .
West Ham would not even be in the Premier without him .
Never bet on anything that can talk was my father’s advice . Bookmakers dominate so many sports these days.
All these are nonsense how many people have lost bets on the yellow card options ? And what is the amount? They cannot disclose it to the public but they’re here talking rubbish, first of all is Paqueta idea to have this yellow card options on bookies??? The answer is No, so whatever the outcome will be neither profitable to the bookies or loss they should keep it to them self not to put it as blame to a specific player.