Ministers appoint Malcolm Sheehan QC to head review into Football Index collapse

Malcolm Sheehan QC is to lead the independent review into the demise of Football Index, the betting operator which collapsed in March leaving customers out of pocket by an estimated £90 million.

Ministers announced the appointment of Sheehan, whose experience includes a particular focus on product liability and group actions, on Monday, along with the terms of reference for the review.

They include an investigation into whether the Gambling Commission and other bodies could have done anything differently and whether that could have prevented the product from being offered in the form that it was and avoided Football Index's collapse.

Football Index mimicked the stock market by allowing customers to buy 'shares' in footballers, with users receiving dividends based on how the footballers performed, while the share prices rose and fell.

However, the firm went into administration in March with the Gambling Commission suspending the its operating licence shortly afterwards. The commission has been criticised for not acting sooner over warnings about Football Index's business model.

The review will cover the period from September 2015, when the Gambling Commission issued a licence to Football Index's parent company BetIndex, to the suspension of that licence in March.

The government announcement said an internal assessment by the Gambling Commission had flagged up concerns over Football Index as early as May 2019 and that the regulator had contacted the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in July that year to ask for its view on the company's activities.

The commission launched a formal licence review of the company in May 2020 which was ongoing when the licence was suspended.

The review will examine the actions of the commission in assessing, licensing and monitoring the operator as well as examining the actions taken by the FCA.

Sheehan will report on the findings of the review in the summer, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said, and it will also feed into the government’s ongoing Gambling Act review.

The review into Football Index is separate to the Gambling Commission's own regulatory investigation into the case and is also independent of the ongoing administration proceedings, which are looking at the assets and liabilities of the firm.

Read more on this subject:

Government announces independent review into collapse of Football Index

Under-fire Gambling Commission launched Football Index investigation last May

Football Index licence suspended as clients face big losses following crash

Gambling Commission accused of 'complete failure' over Football Index storm

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