The betting firm involved the ‘Piegate’ incident of last year’s FA Cup has had its licence to offer gambling in Britain reviewed by the Gambling Commission.
The Commission investigated after Sutton goalkeeper Wayne Shaw ate a pie during his club’s fifth-round tie against Arsenal in February 2017.
Tabcorp UK Limited, trading as Sun Bets, had offered odds of 8/1 on Shaw eating a pie during the match and the goalkeeper was fined £375 as the Football Association banned him from playing for two months.
Wayne Shaw (pictured) ate the pie during a fifth-round tie against Arsenal when Sun Bets offered odds
The firm must pay £84,000 to socially responsible causes and will have new conditions attached to its gambling licence.
The investigation revealed Tabcorp UK failed to properly manage the risks associated with offering ‘novelty’ bets and that it had allowed more than 100 self-excluded customers to open duplicate accounts and gamble.
Richard Watson, Gambling Commission programme director, said: ‘Vulnerable customers were able to gamble with Tabcorp UK, despite choosing to self-exclude.
‘This is not acceptable. Gambling firms must ensure the systems they have in place are protecting their customers effectively.
The betting firm that offered odds on the goalkeeper eating a pie, must pay a fine to socially responsible causes
‘Novelty betting markets, such as the market Tabcorp UK offered on last year’s FA Cup tie between Sutton United v Arsenal, may seem like a bit of fun but the consequences were serious – with the potential to encourage someone to commit a criminal act or breach a sports governing bodies’ rules.’
Shaw ate a pie on the substitutes’ bench as Sutton lost to the Gunners, and the charge of influencing betting markets – which Shaw denied – was found proven at an Independent Regulatory Commission hearing last September.
The stunt took place in the 83rd minute of the match, which Arsenal won 2-0, and led to Shaw’s sacking by the club.
‘My world fell in,’ Shaw told BBC Radio 5 Live in May. ‘I was in tears. I had never been sacked in my life.
Shaw was left depressed after he says he was forced out of Sutton United and said his stunt was only a response to people taking the mickey out of him
‘It’s on my mind every day, it probably will be for along time. I’ve been through depression.
‘I wasn’t sleeping right, I could feel myself getting stressed. And I’ve still got that knot in my stomach.
‘The following afternoon it was a situation where I either resigned or they sacked me.
‘No-one asked for my side of the story. The club’s knee-jerk reaction was that they wanted nothing to do with it.
‘I haven’t made any money and my friends haven’t made any money. I probably got carried away, after a whole career of having the mickey taken out of me. That was all it was meant to be.’