The case Bellomo shakes the city of Bari, already particularly sensitive – due to events sadly known to all – to the issue of football betting. The investigation opened by the federal prosecutor into the anomalous flow of bets played in the Apulian capital on the red card drawn at the addresses of Nicola Bellomo during the second leg of the playout against Ternana (red actually arriving at a score of 0-3 in favor of the red and whites and with the number 10 expelled from the bench after an argument with a ball boy) exploded an unexpected bomb just over a week after achieving the coveted salvation.
Mattia Grassani’s opinion
To clarify the possible consequences of the affair for the footballer, if a correlation between him and the same bets were actually recognized, is the lawyer Mattia Grassani: «It is still too early to make predictions, also because, at the moment, we are in a in which it seems that bets were placed on an event that actually occurred, without, however, being paid as the expulsion occurred from the bench – he explains -.
There is no connection between the bet and the player, at least on the basis of what was published by the press, other than the city in which the bets were made. The investigating body should therefore identify a link between the player and the individual episodes, which to date, apparently, is completely unproven: in this case, the sanction provided for by article 24 consists of disqualification of no less than three years”.
No risk in any case, at least according to Grassani, for Bari, the club in which Bellomo plays: «In the worst case scenario, and therefore if a violation by the player of the betting ban was ascertained, the sanction would be that of fine. Unique case? Yes, in Italy I don’t know that such a situation has ever occurred.”
In any case, it is forbidden to exceed with generalizations and compare this episode to those unfortunate events which involved the club of the Apulian capital in 2011 and more generally Italian football (in all its components) in the recent past: «It must be duly stated that the one in question it is an isolated episode, which still needs to be ascertained, far removed from the major investigations that have devastated football in recent years – concludes Grassani -. More generally, I must say that, certainly, the possibility of playing on an unspecified number of events, often with little impact on the outcome of the match, and at all levels (bets can also be placed on matches of the Spring or Serie D, less paid attention to by the general public) facilitates certain violative conduct by subjects interested in obtaining economic advantages. The cases must then be distinguished: the recent emergence of phenomena of gambling addiction among Serie A footballers essentially concerned footballers who bet on matches that do not interest them, the cases of football betting in recent seasons, however, footballers – especially in the minor categories, where the wages are lower and not always punctual – who place ‘bets’ on their teams’ matches. These distortions of the system must be curbed with educational initiatives, especially among young people, and stiff sanctions for those who make mistakes, especially at high levels. In addition to obviously reducing the ‘playable’ matches and events on which to place bets.”
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