Sutton’s Shaw to be investigated by Gambling Commission

Daniel Storey

Sutton United goalkeeper Wayne Shaw is to be investigated by the Gambling Commission over his stunt on the bench on Monday night.

During the game against Arsenal, Shaw ate a pie, picked up live by the television cameras.

Sun Bets, an affiliate of The Sun newspaper, had agreed a sponsorship deal with Sutton, and offered a special betting market on Shaw eating a pie.

Appearing on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday, Shaw explained that he had told some of his friends about the stunt:

“I think there were a few people. Obviously we are not allowed to bet. I think a few of the mates and a few of the fans.

“It was just a bit of banter for them. It is something to make the occasion as well and you can look back and say it was part of it and we got our ticket money back.”

Unfortunately for Shaw, Football Association rules on gambling say players should not ‘instruct, permit, cause or enable’ anyone to bet on the ‘result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of, or occurrence in, a football match’.

Richard Watson of Gambling Commission enforcement and intelligence director released a statement saying:

“Integrity in sport is not a joke and we have opened an investigation to establish exactly what happened.

“As part of that we’ll be looking into any irregularity in the betting market and establishing whether the operator has met its licence requirement to conduct its business with integrity.”

WHEN BANTER GOES BAD…