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26th May 2023
11:00am BST
The Football Association have revealed that Ivan Toney was diagnosed as a gambling addict who bet on his own side to lose 13 times.
Toney has been banned from all football-related activities for eight months after pleading guilty to over 200 betting charges.
Following confirmation of his ban, the FA have published their written reasons behind the ban in which they noted that the one-time England international did not appear in any of the games he placed a bet against his own team, including 11 while playing for Newcastle United.
A statement from the governing body on Friday said: "There were 13 bets on Mr Toney’s own team to lose in 7 different matches between 22 August 2017 and 3 March 2018.
"Mr Toney did not play in any of those matches where he placed bets against his loan club as he was not in the match squad or against his parent club as he was on loan.
"Of the 13 bets 11 were against Newcastle whilst Mr Toney was on loan at another club. The other 2 bets related to a game between Wigan v Aston Villa whilst the player was on loan at Wigan but he was not part of the squad.
"A further 15 of the 126 bets or instructions to bet were placed by Mr Toney to score in 9 different matches all of which he played in."
The FA initially wanted the 27-year-old to be banned for 15 months but opted to reduce the suspension after Toney had pleaded guilty and was formally diagnosed with a gambling addiction.
They added: "The commission finds that a significant reduction should be made to reflect the diagnosed gambling addiction identified by [psychiatrist] Dr [Philip] Hopley. The lack of control the player has in respect of gambling is clearly a reflection of his diagnosed gambling addiction."
Brentford have accepted the charges and offered their support to the striker. They said that they would "be doing everything possible to provide support to Ivan and his family to deal with the issues raised in this case" and "look forward to welcoming Ivan back to training in September."
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