Early Day Motion into Football Index debacle tabled

A group of cross-party MPs have put their signatures to an Early Day Motion (EDM) expressing their concerns over the ongoing fallout from the Football Index collapse earlier this year. The EDM was first tabled by Labour MP Sir George Howarth and has seen support ramp up over the last week. To date, 16 MPs spanning the political spectrum, from Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat, SNP, DUP, and Plaid Cymru, have signed, lending their support to the motion. The EDM reflects the MPs’ worries over the Football Index fallout, which saw the platform compared to a Ponzi scheme and left more than £90m worth of stakes trapped in the platform and inaccessible. It calls for the government to ensure a similar debacle does not happen again in the future and for impacted customers to have their monies returned. The EDM reads: “This House remains deeply concerned about the collapse of the betting firm Football Index in March 2021, following the suspension of the company’s licence by the Gambling Commission and its entry into administration. “[It] notes with concern that customers collectively have over £90m in open stakes trapped in the platform, with average losses of around £3,000 per customer; further notes that shortly after the site’s management announced a cut in dividends of approximately 80%, it suspended trading a few days afterwards, leading to a virtual market crash which caused significant losses for customers. “[It] notes with further concern that warnings about the firm operating like a pyramid scheme went unheeded; recognises the recommendations made by Michael Sheehan QC as part of his independent review; calls on the government to implement his recommendations, specifically those that identified areas for improvement for the Gambling Commission and Financial Conduct Authority, including how they worked together, without delay, to ensure that a similar scandal does not happen again and; and further calls on the government to do all that it can to ensure that those owed money receive full reimbursement.” Sheehan’s independent review uncovered serious failings in the Football Index case, including the failure of the UKGC to recognise product alterations and an in-house market maker whose share portfolio totalled £2.9m. EDMs are motions submitted for potential debate in the House of Commons, although crucially with no set date fixed. These motions allow MPs to draw attention to events and signal parliamentary support for tackling a specific subject.