Irish football’s gambling issues have reached crisis point after another game attracted suspicious betting on Saturday.
The game was between Cobh Ramblers and Limerick in the League of Ireland First Division and one of the team’s managers even contacted the Football Association of Ireland over the suspicious betting.
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This isn’t the first match in the League of Ireland First Division which has attracted attention with regards to betting
Limerick were backed from 9/4 in to 4/9 to beat Cobh away from home, an inexplicable market move in a game that would usually attract little attention.
However, betting company Paddy Power were still offering odds of 4/9 about Limerick 22 minutes into the game when the game was goalless.
The home side were originally the favourites to win the game, but went 2-0 down before levelling the game. They went on to lose 3-2, conceding two penalties.
Cobh manager Stephen Henderson rang the FAI on Sunday asking the governing body to look into anything that may have been unusual in relation to the betting on the game.
In an interview with The Times, Henderson said: “I will help in any way I can, as nobody wants anything untoward going on in a football game.
He also confirmed his side had no injury concerns that might explain the gamble on Limerick.
When the game was poised at 2-2, Limerick were still trading at around even-money on betting exchange Betfair. Over €73,000 has been wagered on the event on Betfair and over €69,000 of that on Limerick.
Paddy Power and Bet365 shut down all betting on the game shortly before Limerick’s first goal, an extreme measure which is more accustomed to a suspicious low-level match in Eastern Europe.
This is not the first time Limerick have been in the news regarding bizarre betting patterns.
In April, a major gamble on Shelbourne beating Limerick attracted attention, with the FAI announcing afterwards that it was investigating the matter. Shelbourne won the game 2-0.
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A Cobh club member before the board met on Sunday night said: “We meet every Sunday night. This meeting is by no means a specially convened one but the matter will be discussed and treated very seriously by the club.
A trader for one bookmaker described the betting on the match on Saturday as ‘scary’.
He said: “People think this is small-shop money or Irish bookmakers being overreactive; they don’t have a clue.
“We’d be talking well into six figures bet on Asian markets on this gamble, and that is a conservative estimate.”
It is possible to bet hundreds of thousands on League of Ireland matches via markets based in Asia, not all of which are licensed. Once matches have begun, and in-running betting comes into play, the amounts that can be bet increase exponentially.
Bookmaking insiders have suggested that around half a dozen matches in the League of Ireland First Division this season were suspicious in relation to lopsided wagering on one team and amounts bet on the game.
It is understood First Division managers are becoming increasingly concerned about reports of huge sums bet on matches, especially due to the wages players are paid in the second tier of Irish football which often amount to little more than expenses.
One manager admitted to recently having stern words with his squad over strong suspicions of match-fixing in the First Division.
In September 2017, former Athlone Town players Igor Labuts and Dragos Sfrijan were given 12-month bans for match-fixing. Their appeals were thrown out by an Independent Disciplinary Appeal Committee.
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