'I was stupid to bet, but gambling ads are everywhere'

Lewis Macari signed for Notts County from Stoke City in December 2023 after a successful loan spell

Lewis Macari admits he was "stupid" to bet on football at the start of his career, but felt gambling on the sport was unavoidable when being constantly exposed to it.

The Notts County defender was given a suspended three-month ban in October after pleading guilty to placing 354 bets on matches between 25 February 2020 and 4 December 2022.

None of the bets Macari made came during his time with League Two side Notts, with the wagers placed when he was on the books at Stoke City and during a loan spell with Dundalk in the League of Ireland.

"It's something I fell into when I was young," Macari told BBC Radio Nottingham.

The Scottish defender, who is the grandson of former Manchester United midfielder and ex-Stoke City boss Lou Macari, said "joining in with mates" not involved in football felt "socially acceptable" when he began placing bets when he turned 18.

The independent regulatory commission that investigated Macari stated in its written reasons that he "demonstrated a level of wilful ignorance as to the FA betting rules".

"I look back and realise that I was a little bit stupid at the time," Macari said.

The catalogue of breaches - and what Macari calls "loads and loads of mistakes" - happened when he was aged between 18 and 20.

At the time, he was a young player coming through at Stoke, a club owned by the Coates family, who also own betting company Bet365, which has naming rights to the club's stadium and has been the front-of-shirt sponsor of the Potters for more than a decade.

Over the period of nearly three years that he was on the books at Stoke and placing bets, the club were playing in the Championship – a league that has a betting firm as a naming rights sponsor.

Even when on loan at Dundalk, he played in a shirt that had a betting firm on the front as a major sponsor.

"When there are betting ads plastered everywhere these days it's not something you can't not look at," Macari said.

"It's there even if you are not thinking about it.

"It's so accessible to you, with your phone and all the apps, to just get on and start betting straightaway."

Earlier this season, analysis from the University of Bristol revealed there were more than 5,000 visible gambling advertisements during a single Premier League match played in August, despite a ban being in place that was meant to result in a reduction of such exposure.

Even now at Notts, he plays for a club that has a betting sponsor advertised on its shorts.

The club's owners, Alex and Chris Reedtz, also own sports analytics company Football Radar, which feeds information into the betting industry.

While those links exist, Macari stressed that Notts - his team-mates there and staff working at the club - supported him throughout the investigation in a way he says he "will appreciate for the rest of my life".

It was in the days after the Magpies' League Two play-off semi-final defeat at AFC Wimbledon last season that he was told that his betting history was under scrutiny.

He was charged in July, just days after pre-season training started.

Macari admits he struggled through the months of uncertainty until he finally learned of his suspended ban and £750 fine in October.

"What hit me the most was the unknown of what was to come," he said.

"It was difficult and did weigh on me quite a lot. One of the worst things I did was probably Google past cases. I did feel a lot of panic at stages about it because I just didn't have a clue of what was to come."

Macari now reflects with relief that "it's done and dusted", but it remains a "tough" time in his career he wants other footballers to take notice of.

"It's not worth putting a bet on football if you are involved in it," he said.

"I can say first hand that when you are told that you are being investigated and get the charges and go through the hearing, it's really not a nice feeling.

"It's the unknown aspect of what could happen, because at the end of the day it's our careers that feel like are on the line."