Football players easily let their money roll in the illegal gambling circuit. And a number of players were shareholders of the illegal gambling site Edobet. It was run by the ‘The Hague godfather’ Piet S. The AD came last Saturday with this revelation† In the AD Voetbalpodcast, Etienne Verhoeff discusses this story with crime journalist Yelle Tieleman and football reporter Maarten Wijffels. And they talk about Louis van Gaal’s situation.
,,The news about the national coach’s illness is catching on,’ Wijffels responds. ,,What was it like for him to have to leave the players’ hotel in the evening at a training camp to be treated? And that he does not want to share it with the player group so as not to burden them with this. I think that’s great. In any case, it is something that will continue to be a part of his national leadership.”
Gambling football player
Then Yelle Tieleman gives the background to his story about illegal gambling sites. ,,In November last year we already wrote a story about Edobet. This mainly focused on Dirk Kuyt and Wesley Sneijder who gamble on football matches with large sums of money. They got the winnings paid out at a gas station in a plastic bag. That was the reason for us to delve further into this.”
And guess what. Players not only bet via the site, but Sparta players Tom Beugelsdijk and Aaron Meijers were even shareholders in the site. ,,The KNVB finds that undesirable and the players saw it as an investment for after their career. They claim not to be actively involved, but we have findings that are different. For example, Ricardo Kisna has admitted to the police that he gambled via Edobet and when the police ask how he got there, he says ‘via Aaron Meijers’.”
The consequences of this and what clubs, KNVB and agents can or should do about this is discussed in the AD Voetbalpodcast. In it, Tieleman also states that this is only the tip of the iceberg.
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