With money increasingly pouring into the Premier League from sources each more dubious than the last, it can be difficult to keep track of all the financial wrongdoings taking place across the English top-flight.
In recent times, the attention has rightly shifted to Newcastle United and the Magpies’ new ownership, a consortium containing PIF (Public Investment Fund) – controlled by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
In an investigation shared on Twitter by @Millar_Colin, however, scrutiny may yet turn back to the blue half of Manchester with it appearing that not all is at it seems with Manchester City’s Asian betting partner, 8XBet.
Man City generating 'profit' from a bookmaker with highly dubious authenticity operating out of, you guessed it, the United Arab Emirates. The nation where betting is illegal and punishable with a custodial sentence. Welcome to football in 2022. https://t.co/brbxyT79QU
— Colin Millar (@Millar_Colin) September 20, 2022
Moving past the concerning lack of a genuine social presence, the company’s dubious origins – it appears that social accounts are currently run from the United Arab Emirates – would certainly suggest, at the very least, that something’s a little off about the Sky Blues’ latest partnership.
“Manchester City’s website claims that 8XBet was founded in 2018 by one ‘Ryan Li’,” Jack Kerr, Philippe Auclair, Andy Brown and Steve Menary wrote for Josimar.
“Yet the 8xbet.com domain was for sale as of November last year, as the Wayback Machine shows.
“The .com domain for 978bet, the bookmaker’s previous name, was for sale in 2019 and blank in November 2020.
“There are a number of mirror sites associated with each of these brands: but the ones that we checked were either registered in 2020 (for 978Bet) or around Christmas last year (for 8XBet).
“This means that, if it was operating in 2018 as claimed, it may well have been doing so illegally: the bookmaker is licensed in Curacao through a company called 978 Tech NV, and Open Corporates shows that this was only registered in March 2021.
“As for its founder, when we searched for “Ryan Li” “978Bet” on Google, the solitary result was Josimar’s previous article on the bookmaker.
“A search for “Ryan Li” “8XBet” returns no results prior to March 2022, when he began to be named in promotional-style news articles announcing a partnership between 8XBet and Teddy Sheringham.
“At least two journalists who quoted ‘Ryan Li’ did not speak to him but received quotes via email from a British public relations company they were not at liberty to name.”
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This isn’t the first time that Manchester City have been accused of attempting to circumvent financial fair play rules with a prior investigation from UEFA suggesting that the Premier League club had ‘artificially’ inflated their income for several years.
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The murky nature of rules around time-barred offences means Pep Guardiola’s men have largely gotten away with their allegedly dodgy dealings off the pitch.
That being said, should such investigations gather traction as far as any official bodies are concerned, one would have to think the incumbent champions would be under threat of serious sanctions.
Wow, you’ve dug really deep there. Have you managed to unearth Liverpool’s new stadium yet? You need to change your headline as City were cleared of cheating FFP remember? Obsessed.
They were not cleared. They escaped sanction not because they were able to demonstrate no wrong doing had been carried out, nor was it due to a failure of the authorities to provide evidence wrong doing had been done. No they escaped sanction because they slow walked and obstructed the investigation until the evidence was time barred. You can’t blame them, the rules are awful in this regard, but they were not cleared. They were also fined, if I recall 25million
They were cleared LOL Parts were time barred, Other deemed out of context ie using the the name Sheik toward City owner when the owner of Etihad is also the ‘Sheik’, all the owners in the UAE are Sheiks!! Parts were even found to be different than the originals which City refused to give the UEFA investigation as they said they were leaks in to outside sources showing incompetence, something the independent court said was ‘very concerning’ and ‘Should not have happened. The court simply withheld the decision to fine City for ‘None compliance’ of UEFA’s compliance rule ‘failing to cooperate, this was nothing what so ever to do with FFP failings, and the fine was £7m not £25m. It like if I charge with murder and parked my car illegally, it’s proved I didn’t do the murder but the car parking I can get away with. They didn’t for good reason comply but still have to deal with the consequences.
8xbet is classes as a partner, not a sponsor so not quite sure what your getting at lol Look’s like your trying to say they’re handing millions over, again the are the betting partner in Asia 100% not a sponsor. Hey if your in China you can go and bet with them lol
Try replying with facts. Its helpful when you attempt to argue
Guilty and let off on a technicality which didn’t apply to the Premier League but did ever bring out a report? Look at Untold and how a dodgey ref in NBA just went away as it would have brought too much negativity to the game.
Whine, whine, whine and whine, that’s all you ever do, worry about other people, you need to sort your own finances out before whining about others, your quite a sad, obsessed lot arnt you 😂😂😂😂
Yes, we are obsessed by financial doping and state owned football clubs cooking the books while playing innocent so that their plastic fans will happy.
Totally agree
OBSESSED to the core, such a sad whinging bunch of cry babies. Coming from LiVARpool, the criminally run football club who got caught with their pants down getting a former Manchester City employee to illegally hack Manchester City football clubs databases and settled out of court like a guilty party you really are. Or how about your fan base violently attacking Manchester City’s team bud outside the dump you call Anfield live on air while the entire world watched. That’s right, your corrupt Police Force refused to arrest or prosecute after denying an official request by Manchester City fc to change the coach route last minute knowing full well what was going to happen, your City Mayor went missing and the FA and UEFA refused to punish your club. You have a lot of nerve judging us, you couldn’t make it up and the whole world know you very well.
Zero relevance to the article of course
Ignoring the contents of the article just proves a lot. Thanks!
Proof is provided by verified evidence not by malicious rumour mongering and the peddling of half truths. The FA have (allegedly) never stopped ‘investigating’ Manchester City for the allegations bought and paid for by the German Press and not time limited by their definition and yet they have found nothing actionable. You guys should have on last ‘minutes silence’ and go get a life.
No, the whole world knows that state run football clubs are destroying football.
The whole world knows…..and this is the numpty that talks about ‘proof’!
Hear! Hear!
Don’t forget fraudulent claims during covid?
the grass is too long, its too windy, his feet were cold, they are making a mockery of FFP. Liverpool the club that never stop embarrassing themselves
Ha! Ha! Ha! Haaland!
wa wah wah.
Oww hit a nerve have we?
I’m pretty sure we made a profit this summer selling players even after buying haaland, Phillips etc. It’s great to see how much we get under your skin lol. Love to see angry and jealous man u and Liverpool fans ………..
Yes, we get angry at cheats.
Obsessed, ps haven’t Liverpool failed FFP twice, why not have a report on that or does that ruin the narrative.
No actually you whine…..
‘it appears that’, ‘quotes from sources they are not at liberty to name’ etc. etc.
Gutter journalism, not a shred of evidence to back up any of these claims. I appreciate the fact that the only way Liverpool will get near Man. city is if they are kicked out of the league but come on guys if you are resting your hopes on drivel like this you are in more trouble that you think
These are an Asian betting partner, they aren’t a sponsor, wow the scouse inspector Clouseau is on it. Haha
Withiut
Without City EPL won’t be the “best league” in the world.
Before 2008 EPL was starving for foreign investment …remember Portsmouth? In 2008, City was bought by people who were willing to bring in money into club – not use the club to borrow money to buy more ranches gllazers?”- the City appealing style has contributed to the signing of the biggest tv deal for foreign audience that surpassed the British deal…. harming City will directly impact the EPL and risks to bring back to pre 2008 levels….and I m sure you ageing pundits would love to see liverpool competing with man united instead of mancity… but that aint happening …get used to it… by the way I am.Everton fan
Hi can you do a piece on the recently reported “How American owners are set to ruin football in England”. Thank you.
Whining Scousers at it again. Always the victims
And the .co.uk website. Am I imagining that?
Give it a try!