SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The Football Association (FA) has given Nottingham Forest defender Harry Toffolo a five-month suspended ban along with a £20,956 fine.
Toffolo admitted to breaking the FA’s betting rules 375 times after he was charged in July. The Forest fullback was in breach of FA Rule E1 (b) between 22 January, 2014 to 18 March, 2017.
The left-back was playing out on loan during the suspected timeframe from parent club Norwich City, playing for clubs such as Swindon, Rotherham, Peterborough and Scunthorpe.
Toffolo joined Nottingham Forest in the summer of 2022, helping the club stave off relegation and remain in the Premier League. His ban will be suspended until the end of the 2024-25 league season.
The suspended ban is the latest high-profile incident of a Premier League player breaking FA betting rules, with Brentford striker Ivan Toney being the notable other.
Toney ultimately received an eight-month ban and will return to action in January after he made 232 breaches of the betting rules.
The Brentford striker stated that this was the biggest punishment he faced, as he expressed his ‘hurt’ over missing out on the World Cup squad – feeling ‘someone was out to get him’ at that time.
He told the Diary of a CEO podcast: “In my head, how I saw it at the time, was that they wanted to punish me for this, playing at the World Cup for England, which is everyone’s dream. Then further down the line ban me as well.
“It kind of felt like a double-hit. If you’re going to stop me going to the World Cup, do it there and then and deal with the whole situation. It doesn’t add up in my head anyway.”
