Everton’s Yerry Mina and Leeds United’s Jordan Stevens have both been charged by the English Football Association over breaking gambling rules.
Stevens, 19, has been banned from all soccer related activity for six weeks after placing 59 bets last season, including five on Leeds. He was also fines $1,482.
Mina has been fined $12,300 and warned about his future conduct after he appeared in an advert for a betting company in his homeland of Colombia. He was charged in July and has now been charged.
Leeds chief executive Angus Kinnear released a strong statement with regards to the sanctions against Stevens.
“We are hugely disappointed in the FA’s choice of sanction,” Kinnear said. “To prevent a young footballer from taking part in any football activities at such a critical period of his career is a disproportionate punishment following a foolish mistake from a young player. We are particularly disappointed that the sanction was determined by two former professional footballers who we hoped would have had a better understanding of the impact of their decision.”
In recent years Daniel Sturridge, Joey Barton and others have been charged by the FA for breaching betting rules and with the rise in availability of betting on sports in the UK it is an issue which will continue to crop up.
Professional players in the UK are banned from betting on any soccer, no matter what game or team are involved.
