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Barton urges FA to scrutinise 'dependence' on gambling industry

Reuters / Phil Noble Livepic

Although Joey Barton accepted that he broke the FA's rules relating to gambling, the Burnley midfielder called on English football's governing body to consider its own close association with the betting industry.

Barton received an 18-month ban from football and a £30,000 fine for placing more than 1,200 bets over the past decade on football matches - some of which included his own club.

But the juxtaposition of the suspension with the FA's approval of gambling sponsorships wasn't lost on Barton.

"I think if the FA is truly serious about tackling the culture of gambling in football, it needs to look at its own dependence on the gambling companies, their role in football and in sports broadcasting, rather than just blaming the players who place a bet," he wrote on his website.

Barton admitted he has fought an addiction to gambling, and said he submitted to the FA a medical report prior to Wednesday's announcement

That did nothing to stop the FA from meting out significant punishment. Under the body's regulations, no player in England's top-eight tiers can place bets on football, player transfers, managerial hirings and firings, and team selections.

He published 30 of the most problematic bets on his website - resulting in three wins and losses exceeding £3,000. Incredibly, he bet on himself scoring for Manchester City in a 2006 fixture against Fulham. He lost his £3 wager.

He said his upbringing fostered a penchant for betting, and that football's overwhelming culture of gambling has only encouraged that craving.

In the Premier League alone, 10 top-flight clubs, including Burnley, have online gambling operators as shirt sponsors. In the case of Stoke City, its own stadium is renamed after bet365.

The game's reliance on these companies to make a profit has created a negative environment for players, according to Barton.

"Given the money in the game, and the explosion in betting on sport, I understand why the rules have been strengthened, and I also accept that I have been in breach of them," he continued. "I accept too that the FA has to be seen to lead on this issue.

"But surely they need to accept there is a huge clash between their rules and the culture that surrounds the modern game, where anyone who watches football on TV or in the stadia is bombarded by marketing, advertising and sponsorship by betting companies, and where much of the coverage now, on Sky for example, is intertwined with the broadcasters' own gambling interests.

Barton added: "That all means this is not an easy environment in which to try to stop gambling, or even to encourage people within the sport that betting is wrong. It is like asking a recovering alcoholic to spend all his time in a pub or a brewery."

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