Things continue to go from bad to worse in the betting scandal that has engulfed Italian football, with Sandro Tonali having placed wagers on games involving AC Milan.
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La Gazzetta dello Sport (via PianetaMilan) looks at the situation involving Fagioli who self-confessed and has already reached a plea agreement, obtaining a sentence (7 months of disqualification plus 5 of rehabilitation), while Nicolo Zaniolo claims that he has never bet on football games.
For Tonali things seem more complicated. The midfielder was interrogated for three hours by the Turin Prosecutor’s Office and, in the last few days (last Sunday and yesterday morning) having already been under interrogation by the FIGC Prosecutor’s Office.
What emerged? Tonali repented and told the whole truth, starting to contribute to the investigations into the betting. The player therefore reported himself to the Sports Justice body, admitting that he had also placed bets on football.
But that’s not all: according to the paper he also confessed to having placed bets on Milan. Unlike Fagioli who, for example, confessed to having gambled on football, but not his own team Juventus.
The matter for Tonali, therefore, becomes more complex and delicate. At the moment, the violation alleged against Tonali relates to article 24 of the Sports Justice Code which punishes players who bet on football with a disqualification of at least three years.
For the betting scandal, Tonali would like to follow the path taken by Fagioli (a plea bargain in the short term, for a shorter sentence) but it is clear that there are many differences in the two cases.
La Gazzetta believes a significantly heavier sanction is coming than the one obtained by the Juventus player, even though both declared that they suffered from addiction.
It will certainly be essential that the version provided by Tonali to Giuseppe Chinè – the Federal Prosecutor – coincides perfectly with the documents of the Turin Prosecutor’s Office which seized the former Milan player’s mobile phone and tablet in Coverciano, where he was with the Italian national team.
If some things don’t match then the scenario would change and, based on the findings, the size of the fine for Tonali could also increase, as well as lengthening the time for plea bargaining.
From a sporting point of view, although there is maximum confidentiality surrounding his testimony, Tonali admitted to having placed bets on football, appearing extremely co-operative with the investigators.
The prosecution is interested in reconstructing, through the player’s network of contacts, the illegal system created by the managers of the platforms, which can be accessed through an invitation, to thus arrive at the names of the organisers.
Some of these sites have already been identified and the blackout procedure has been started in Italy, but the suspicion is that there are others.
