Gambling Commission investigates novelty bet over Sutton goalkeeper

The Gambling Commission on Tuesday opened an investigation into a potential breach of betting regulations after Sutton United reserve goalkeeper Wayne Shaw ate a pie during Monday's FA Cup tie with Arsenal.

Before the fifth round match, a bookmaker offered an 8-1 novelty bet that Shaw, who resigned from the club following the incident, would eat a pie on camera during his side’s 2-0 defeat to Arsenal.

After Sutton had used all their substitutions and there was no chance the 46-year-old could play a part, he was shown on the BBC, who broadcast the match live, eating a pie while standing by the substitutes bench in the 83rd minute.

Sun Bets, who sponsored the club on Monday, tweeted that it had paid out a "five-figure sum" on the bet.

The Gambling Commission, which licenses and regulates gambling in Britain, is now looking into whether the operator has met its licence requirement, having warned all operators in June last year about the integrity of taking bets on novelty markets.

Richard Watson, Gambling Commission enforcement and intelligence director, said: “Integrity in sport is not a joke and we have opened an investigation to establish exactly what happened.

“As part of that we’ll be looking into any irregularity in the betting market and establishing whether the operator has met its licence requirement to conduct its business with integrity.”

The club accepted the player’s resignation on Tuesday, with the Football Association also investigating a potential breach of betting rules.

Sutton manager Paul Doswell told Sky Sports News: "We realised the implications of what had happened, with regards to the FA and the Gambling Commission, and unfortunately Wayne has resigned from his position on the back of that.”

He added: "If any of our players or any of our staff have bet on that, they will also suffer the same consequence.”