Ivan Toney’s ban from soccer was reduced because of gambling addiction

By JAMES ROBSON The Associated Press

FILE - Brentford's Ivan Toney during the Premier League soccer match between Brentford and Bournemouth at the Community Stadium in London, England, Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023. Toney has been suspended for eight months by the English Football Association for breaching its betting rules. The FA says the England international was banned “from all football and football-related activity with immediate effect” until Jan. 16, 2024. He was also fined 50,000 pounds ($62,000). Toney had faced 262 charges of breaching the FA’s betting rules between late February 2017 and late January 2021 but the FA said it “withdrew 30 of these breaches and he admitted to the remaining 232.” (AP Photo/Leila Coker, File)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/Leila Coker]

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — An independent regulatory commission says in a published ruling that Ivan Toney was diagnosed with a gambling addiction after being charged with 232 counts of breaching English soccer’s betting rules. The Brentford striker last week was suspended for eight months because of the breaches. The independent commission says in its report that the punishment could have been worse if not for the diagnosis of his condition. Toney has been banned from all soccer and soccer-related activity with immediate effect until Jan. 16. He was also fined $62,000. The case report says some of Toney’s bets could have resulted in the maximum punishment of a lifetime ban.