Huddersfield Town’s Kian Harratt Suspended for Four Months by the FA

The growing popularity of sports betting raises concerns about the integrity of professional and collegiate competitions across the globe. While professional athletes are prohibited from engaging in wagering activity on their sport, breaches are not uncommon, resulting in fines and suspensions.

Now, as announced by the Football Association (FA), the governing body of soccer in England, Huddersfield Town’s forward, Kian Harratt, was recently suspended from the sport after uncovered breaches of the FA rules regarding sports betting.

Details regarding the four-month suspension emerged earlier this week. Besides the suspension from sport, Harratt was hit with a £3,200 ($4,000) fine. The Association conducted an extensive investigation, uncovering that the soccer player placed nearly 500 wagers on the sport he is playing, including some on teams where he played such as Huddersfield Town, Bradford City and Port Vale, among others.

Huddersfield Town officially confirmed the news about Harratt’s suspension, acknowledging that it follows breaches of the FA’s Rule E8.1, related to placing wagers on soccer. The club revealed that the soccer player admitted to the offenses once charges were filed against him and “fully cooperated with the subsequent FA and club investigations.” Additionally, Huddersfield Town revealed: “The club will now support Kian, who is currently recovering from hamstring surgery, through the next four months ahead of his return to football activity.”

The Player Placed Nearly 500 Bets on Soccer

The FA disclosed details regarding the investigation in a written decision. The association revealed that Harratt was identified by a betting operator, whose name was not disclosed. Once the operator uncovered the betting activity of the soccer player, they contacted the FA over a potential breach of the FA’s Betting Rules. As a result, the betting company shared the activity on Harratt’s account with the governing body.

This prompted the FA to conduct further investigation with more licensed betting operators in the UK. The governing body requested betting operators to disclose whether or not Harratt has an account with them and share any betting activity. Besides the initial operator, seven more betting firms provided data for the soccer player’s activity.

The in-depth investigation of Harratt’s betting activities with the eight licensed operators uncovered that the soccer player placed 484 wagers between June 30, 2020, and June 3, 2023. For the 2022/23 soccer season, the player placed 54 wagers on soccer games, while for the 2021/22 season, he wagered on 57 games.

Shockingly, Harratt’s wagers during the 2020/21 season were 370 in total, while for the 2019/20 season, between June 30, 2020, and July 19, 2020, only three soccer bets were placed.

According to the FA, the total amount of wagers was £8,105 ($10,200). The returns from the 484 sports bets were £4,448 ($5,600), while the total net loss was £3,656 ($4,600).