Ryan Bowman gets 3-and-a-half year ban from football after pleading guilty for placing 6,397 bets June 2022- Sept 2023.
Ryan Bowman, a former striker for Shrewsbury and Cheltenham, has been suspended for three and a half years for violating Football Association betting rules. An independent commission hearing the case found in its written findings that the 33-year-old acknowledged placing 6,397 bets between June 15, 2022, and September 13, 2023.
Of those wagers, 108 were discovered to be associated with Exeter games or contests while he was a member of that club, and 243 were associated with Shrewsbury games or contests while he was a member of the Shropshire team.
The independent commission which issued the ban said this was “a most serious case” which “includes a number of egregious examples of breaches of the FA rules against betting”.
Bowman’s wide use of other people’s accounts was deemed a major aggravating factor by the commission, which also stated that it had “no doubt this was a further attempt by [Bowman] to hide his extensive football betting activity, which he knew at all material times, was against the rules.”
Bowman was under investigation, according to Cheltenham, who signed him to a one-year contract last July. However, it wasn’t until October that they realised the “full extent” of the situation.
“Club officials supported Ryan through what has been a difficult time for him and despite his departure from Cheltenham Town this summer, again we would like to place on record our thanks to him and wish him and his family all the best for the future,” the club said.