Ivan Toney placed 13 historical bets on his own club to lose and has been diagnosed with a gambling addiction, as the written reasons for his eight-month ban have been revealed by the FA.
In the written reasons explaining the eight-month ban the Brentford striker, 27, received last week for breaching the FA's betting rules, it has also been revealed:
According to the FA's document, had Toney not pleaded guilty to the charges against him, the FA would have imposed a 15-month ban starting from the beginning of next season, "to properly reflect the seriousness of the offences admitted including betting on one's own team to lose, albeit he was not playing."
By pleading guilty, however, he is seen to have saved substantial time and cost, leading to a 25 per cent reduction to 11 months.
In addition, the independent commission found that "a significant reduction should be made to reflect the diagnosed gambling addiction identified by [psychiatrist] Dr [Philip] Hopley."
The document continued: "The lack of control the player has in respect of gambling is clearly a reflection of his diagnosed gambling addiction. The position appears to be that Mr Toney has ceased gambling on football although he still gambles on other sports and casino games.
"He is determined to address his gambling problem with therapy at the conclusion of this season. Taking all of those matters into account the Commission reduces the sanction by three months to a suspension of eight months. There is no clear and compelling reason to suspend any part of that suspension."
The FA say they "invited" the commission to order that the suspension begin at the start of the next season. They suggested as an alternative that a period of suspension could be added on to reflect he wasn't playing in the summer. The commission rejected this.
A statement released on the Brentford's official website on Friday morning said:
"Brentford FC has received and accepted the written reasons of an independent Regulatory Commission that handed Ivan Toney an eight-month ban from all football and football-related activity after he admitted breaches of FA Rule E8, relating to placing bets on football.
"The judgement has been published on the FA website. Ivan and Brentford FC accept that offences were committed, and sanctions were inevitable.
"The commission noted that none of the charges related to events where Ivan could negatively impact his own team. The detail is included in the written reasons.
"The club will now be doing everything possible to provide support to Ivan and his family to deal with the issues raised in this case. Conversations regarding this and all matters relating to the case will remain confidential in order to protect the player and his family.
"We consider this matter closed and look forward to welcoming Ivan back to training in September and seeing him representing Brentford in the Premier League in January."
If you are affected by the topics in this article visit GamCare, the leading UK provider of free information, advice and support for anyone harmed by gambling.