Cowdenbeath Player Suspended For Betting

Another player from the Scottish leagues has been suspended for betting on football, according to a BBC report.

Dean Brett, who plays for Cowdenbeath in League Two, is accused of placing over 2500 bets. He becomes the second player to be caught in recent months, following the higher profile case of Joey Barton while he was still at Rangers.

Did Brett Bet On His Own Team?

Players are not permitted to bet on football at all, as it is against SFA rules. However, what is even worse about the case of Dean Brett is that he has apparently bet on his own team to lose!

This goes beyond Barton’s case in terms of the severity. What Brett did could easily be described as match fixing, especially if he has shown to have deliberately contributed to Cowdenbeath dropping points in those games.

The club’s official statement reads:

“Recently Dean Brett was the subject of a complaint to the SFA regarding comments made on his Twitter account.

“Following a hearing a suspension is now to be imposed on him. On investigating that complaint it became obvious to the SFA from his Twitter comments that Dean was also betting on football matches, which as a professional footballer in Scotland is not permitted at all.

“The SFA then advised they would likely take further action once they had sourced a report from the Gambling Commission.

“The Gambling Commission report confirms betting activity since season 2011/12. This involves some 2787 bets covering 6369 matches.

“Most concerning of all these figures include 65 bets on matches in which Cowdenbeath FC were involved and crucially that on eight occasions bets were placed on Cowdenbeath to lose a match – five of the bets involved matches in which Dean was playing.

“Once this information was to hand the manager and chairman met with Dean last Thursday and Dean was suspended on full pay pending a club disciplinary hearing this week as per the club’s disciplinary code of practice.”