UK government appoints QC to spearhead accelerated Football Index review

Lawyer Malcolm Sheehan QC will lead the top-level review into the collapse of sports trading platform Football Index (FI), the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has confirmed.

Sheehan, who has experience in commercial and common law practice, has a particular focus on product liability and group actions, as well as public and regulatory law.

DCMS has confirmed the review will cover four main areas and aims to examine the regulatory circumstances around the granting of a licence to BetIndex Limited, its subsequent suspension and the company’s ultimate financial failure.

The review will also look at the role of the Gambling Commission (UKGC) in licensing BetIndex, including its assessment of the company’s financial circumstances as part of their suitability to hold a licence.

The UKGC’s monitoring practices, including how it responded to concerns raised regarding FI’s internal compliance processes and interventions by third parties including the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), will also be reviewed by Sheehan.

In September 2019, the ASA censured a Football Index video advert, expressing concerns that the product was being misrepresented as an investment opportunity rather than as a betting product, something which it suggested was irresponsible advertising.

This criticism has since been echoed by other observers, including the Gambling Related Harm All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), which labelled FI as a “pyramid scheme”.

The decision to trigger a review of BetIndex in May 2020, and the subsequent decision to suspend the firm’s licence in March after it fell into administration, will also be examined as part of the review.

At a wider level, the review into BetIndex will examine the role of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to assess whether the product amounted to a regulated activity under the Financial Services and Markets Act.

Additionally, relationships between the regulators involved in the case will be examined and assessed to see if they could be improved.

Finally, the review will investigate what, if anything, the UKGC and other relevant regulatory bodies could have done to prevent the FI product being offered in its current form and whether the eventual collapse of the firm could have been avoided.

DCMS has confirmed the review findings will be published in the summer, with recommendations feeding into the government’s review of the Gambling Act 2005.

The call for evidence into the Gambling Act 2005 review closed on 31 March, however the government has said information can continue to be provided to DCMS specifically on the Football Index case where it falls within the scope of the review.

It is understood the government is looking to publish a white paper following the call for evidence on the Gambling Act 2005 review before the end of the year.