Ban sports betting in Ghana Premier League – GFA told

The President of Bechem United Kingsley Owusu Achau believes such a move will help eradicate match-fixing.

As it stands, matches in the Ghanaian topflight continue to appear on some betting sites, with punters able to bet on selected games.

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In recent years, however, the league has been beset by allegations of match manipulation, which some have linked to sports betting.

During the 2020/21 season, suspicions were raised following a high-scoring matchday 34 clash between Ashanti Gold and Inter Allies in the Ghana Premier League.

Both teams were subsequently found guilty of match manipulation by the Disciplinary Committee of the GFA, therefore demoted to the Division Two League.

Owusu Achau has called on the GFA to follow in the footsteps of Sudan and ban betting companies from including matches from the Ghanaian topflight on their sites.

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“We have not been able to stamp it out so I made a proposal to the effect that even the FA could ban it so that no one can use our product as it is done in Sudan and some other places where you cannot use their league for betting,” he told the Graphic Sport.

“It is our product so we have the right to say that if you are caught using our product for betting you’ll be sued for several millions of dollars. This is not the first of its kind, it is done in Sudan and some other countries.”

This comes after the Majority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has called for sports betting to be regulated in order to save Ghana football.

According to him, betting is destroying the sport and things would rather get worse, unless a deliberate attempt is made to tackle the menace.