![\"Brighton](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/23df8ddd-899b-4afa-88ce-dd1623b1c336.jpg\")
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Brighton majority owner and chairman Tony Bloom. Photo: Gareth Copley\/Getty<\/p>\n
Tony Bloom, the billionaire owner of Brighton & Hove Albion and investor in Hearts, is facing explosive allegations over his involvement in a secretive betting syndicate said to generate hundreds of millions annually.<\/p>\n
According to court documents cited by The Times, Bloom is accused of running a \u00a3600million gambling operation through his consultancy, Starlizard, which uses advanced data analytics to place high-stakes bets on football fixtures.<\/p>\n
The claims stem from a lawsuit filed by Ryan Dudfield, a former associate of Bloom, who alleges he is owed up to \u00a317.5million in profits.<\/p>\n
Dudfield says he introduced George Cottrell \u2013 a former aide to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and convicted fraudster \u2013 to the syndicate.<\/p>\n
Cottrell allegedly acted as a \u201cwhale\u201d or frontman, allowing Bloom\u2019s group to use his offshore betting accounts, including those linked to cryptocurrency platforms, to place wagers.<\/p>\n
Court papers describe \u201csecret exotic accounts\u201d operated under third-party names, with code names like \u201cwhale\u201d used internally.<\/p>\n
Cottrell reportedly enjoyed a risk-free arrangement, receiving a share of winnings while losses were covered by the syndicate.<\/p>\n
The Times notes Bloom has never met Cottrell personally.<\/p>\n
While Bloom was granted special dispensation by the English FA in 2014 to run his betting consultancy, he is prohibited from betting on Brighton or Premier League matches \u2013 a point his lawyers insist has been respected.<\/p>\n
The allegations, laid out in a 19-page British High Court filing, have sparked scrutiny of Bloom\u2019s dual role as a football club owner and gambling magnate.<\/p>\n
His Starlizard operation remains one of the most secretive and successful in the industry.<\/p>\n
Bloom denies any wrongdoing, and the case is ongoing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brighton majority owner and chairman Tony Bloom. Photo: Gareth Copley\/Getty Tony Bloom, the billionaire owner of Brighton &…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[95435,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-173421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-brighton-hove-albion-fc","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}