The end of the first week in Lucas Paquetá’s ‘bets for yellow cards’ spot-fixing inquiry has concluded. It is frustrating relying on snippets from the confidential enquiry to try and gauge what is happening within. Paquetá’s whole livelihood is at stake with the FA determined to press for a lifetime ban if the Brazilian is found guilty.
The latest update from Sky’s Kaveh Solhekol came last night and has made me sit up and take notice.
Sky’s report detail some of the ‘unusually large’ bets placed on the Brazilian:
“The FA has charged him in relation to his conduct in matches against Leicester in November 2022, Aston Villa in March 2023, Leeds in May 2023 and Bournemouth last August. The bets in question are believed to have been placed by friends and family, with some 60 bets in total for relatively small stakes. Half of the suspicious bets at the heart of the case were under £50, with most under £100. One was for £7, while one of the bets, placed by a relative, was flagged as “unusually large” because it was $40 (£30).”
Now I’m no legal expert but when somebody flags a figure as ‘unusually large’ It would be reasonable to expect it to have several zero’s on the end: £30 is less than the price of a pair of shorts on the club web site.
An ‘unusually large’ bet flagged was for £30. WHUFC.COM currently sells a pair of shorts for £32. Just saying.
According to Solhekol,
“His defence will argue that he has a poor disciplinary record that gamblers were aware of, and that is why bets were placed on him to receive yellow cards. Since he moved to West Ham in August 2022, he has received 22 yellow cards – more than anyone else at the club. In the same period, only five Premier League players have been shown more yellow cards.”
Which is enough to raise an eyebrow, shall we say. The inquiry is ongoing so until all of the details emerge at the end, best not to leap to conclusions.
More when it is made public.
As always, of course, important to state that Lucas Paquetá denies any wrongdoing.
You cannot reliably stake a bet on a player getting a yellow card as the referees’ decisions vary so much as to make their use almost random. Regardless, as stated, Mr. Paqueta would have to be aware of the bets, and that he acted upon that knowledge. Non-starter.
I bet for teams in Scotland weekly, and they lose .I suspect there is match fixing up there with the bookies involved. Please invesyigate Scottish teams . Kkkkk
FA please investigate real and bigger issues 8n foot ball. Not newspaper selling headlines
What could/would surely count in his favour would be a pattern of losing bets for receiving receiving yellow cards, that would have to indicate him not been aware of people gambling on his poor disciplinary record
This is all dependent on how much of an example they want to set. There is absolutely no way of knowing if Paqueta did or did not deliberately get the cards. Only he will ever know this so it comes down to conjecture and who has the ultimate decision. The sums involved are minimal but they will say that in Brazil those are larger sums than the UK but if I were a betting man I would have a few quid each week on cards for Paqueta and Alvarez but the odds have got to be minimal as it’s hardly a surprise when he petulantly picks one up. If found guilty this is a travesty as there is and can be no conclusive evidence at all and circumstantial at best and pursuing a lifetime ban is definitely unfitting. If found guilty I would say he will win on appeal and will sue the FA for tens of £ms.
I’m also no legal expert but would have thought a crucial bit of evidence will be whether any of these type of bets were ever placed when he didn’t receive a card. And will his defence be allowed access to data that would reveal this.
one too many “were”s
the £30 bet was “unusually large” in that the “usual” amount placed for bets were in this case were much smaller.
usually large means he,s had bets before on what ? ** large bets **quote is just to beef up the case if I knew someone was going to get booked I.d unload people love betting on footy if Norman Hunter or Willie Young were still playing I.d be in betting shops every Saturday !! bookies are a joke if you place a bet a seconds after the off if it wins its a no bet as its after the off andif it loses they keep your money how can that be right ? in my local betfred shop he does a push ie bigger odds for small stakes 2 minutes before off I was banned from shop for backing these dogs/ Horses surely by offering bigger odds he,s attracting punters to back them ie all 5 dogs got beat