Tonali admits to betting on Milan – what it means for the club

There has been another turn in the betting scandal surrounding Italian football at the moment as Sandro Tonali has admitted to gambling on AC Milan games.

As La Gazzetta dello Sport (via PianetaMilan) write this morning, Tonali is the subject of an investigation into sports betting on illegal platforms carried out in parallel by the Turin Prosecutor’s Office and the FIGC Prosecutor’s Office.

During the interrogations involving the Public Prosecutor Manuela Pedrotta in Turin and with the Federal Prosecutor Giuseppe Chinè, which took place in a secret location, Tonali admitted to having placed bets on football and on Milan.

Tonali was co-operative with the investigators and is aiming for a plea bargain (as was the case for another of the players involved, Nicolò Fagioli of Juventus) to try get a substantially reduced sentence.

However, betting on the team that he was part of at the time makes his situation more complex and is likely to lead to a harsher punishment, including a long ban from football.

Is there any risk for Milan in this betting scandal that has engulfed Tonali? The paper points out how betting on one’s own team is particularly risky because it could constitute a crime of sporting offence.

Regulated by article 30 of the rather clear Code of Sports Justice, which speaks of ‘carrying out, by any means, acts aimed at altering the progress or result of a match or competition’.

From what emerges, this does not apply to Tonali. He placed bets on Milan winning or on other results with him not a part of the game which means his bets did not affect his performance on the pitch in any way.

The violation alleged against Tonali, specifically, therefore remains within the scope of article 24 of the Sports Justice Code, which punishes players who bet on football. In any case, if it were ascertained that anyone at Milan was aware of Tonali’s problem, the crime of ‘failure to report’ would be committed.

According to the regulation, this ‘failure to report’ would be punished with a disqualification of the individual subject for up to six months and with a fine of no less than €15,000. There would not be any repercussions on the club.

The club would only risk sanctions if the involvement of senior managers in the situation was proven.