The French Football League (LFP) has announced that it is to launch an investigation after 87 professional players in the country were found to have placed bets on matches sanctioned by the governing body.
Professional footballers that play in France have been barred from betting on LFP matches since new regulations were introduced by the LFP and French Football Federation (FFF) on February 1, 2012.
The investigation will look at betting documents obtained from French gaming regulator Arjel, as well as files held by the LFP and FFF.
The LFP said: “In application of articles 124 of the FFF regulations and 407 of the LFP regulations, the Disciplinary Committee will investigate 87 players from professional clubs who have failed to abide by the betting ban on LFP sanctioned games.”
The LFP noted that the investigation is not related to match-fixing, fraud or any threat to the integrity of the sport.
Elsewhere, Thailand’s military leaders are cracking down on illegal gambling as part of a campaign to clean up the country and restore its image.
The Thai national police force said on Monday that it has so far arrested 1,677 involved in betting on football’s Fifa World Cup between June 9 and 21, in addition to shutting down 675 illegal gambling websites.
With the exception of horseracing and the national lottery, most forms of gambling are illegal in Thailand, including casinos and online betting.
Deputy police spokesperson Anucha Romyanan told the Reuters news agency: “Thais are quite addicted to gambling and the World Cup is a period when gambling spikes.
“People are still trying to access gambling websites so we’re locating those websites and shutting them down.”
