English soccer’s governing body, the Football Association (FA), has banned a former Manchester City analyst from all soccer-related activity for 12 months for betting with insider information. But the analyst, Richard Bredice, claimed he simply used his instinct and knowledge of the game to win the bets.
Bredice, 33, was a performance analyst for current EPL champion City from 2013 to 2019 before leaving to take a position with Belgian side Anderlecht under former City star Vincent Kompany. In 2022, he joined Burnley as lead performance analyst.
Burnley said in a statement that Bredice “no longer worked for the club after being reminded of his responsibilities.”
The analyst admitted placing 456 bets, the majority during his six-year tenure at City, some of which were on his own team to lose.
The FA determined that 12 of the 456 bets were made using inside information, which Bredice denied. They were primarily focused on the transfer of players to and from City.
Bredice was also fined £4.5K for breaching FA betting rules. Since 2014, under FA Rule E8, soccer players and anyone connected to the game are banned from betting on games worldwide and from sharing information for wagering purposes.
Despite Bredice’s protestations that he had no access to information about transfers, the FA noted that his betting patterns differed where there was suspicion of insider information. In those cases, the amount he risked was significantly higher than his average £20.43 stake across all bets, and his success rate shot up from 29% to 92%.
The alleged insider bets represented 2.6% of the total number placed by Bredice but 20% of the overall amount staked by him.
In one bet, he placed £515 that a certain player would sign for City. The FA noted that he made the bet the morning after a staff party, concluding it was likely that the information was discussed at the party. The name of the player is redacted in tribunal documents.
The issue of insider betting has been thrust into the spotlight in the UK by the country’s recent general election. That’s after the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) began investigating several senior Conservative Party officials for placing insider bets on the timing of the election.
The date was known only to a select group before its announcement by now-former prime minister Rishi Sunak.
The resulting scandal contributed to the Conservative defeat on July 4, and an avalanche victory by Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.
