‘I lost £138k on Football Index – two years on from its collapse, I’m still fighting for justice’
It was too good to be true. This glitzy product, licensed by the Gambling Commission and once plastered on tube-station walls, taxis and the shirts of Queens Park Rangers and Nottingham Forest, was seemingly a sure-fire winner, an opportunity for football fans to put their money where their mouth was.
“What’s your football knowledge worth?” the tagline asked, as the sport’s “first stock market” offered users the opportunity to buy and sell “shares” in players whose values would rise and fall depending on their on-pitch performance. What could possibly go wrong?
As it turned out, everything could go wrong. To coincide with the two-year anniversary of Football Index’s collapse, some of its half a million former customers opened up to i about the devastating impact this has had on their lives, including their need for therapy and the persistent feelings of guilt after the company folded and with it went £124.5m in open bets.
As a result, some saw six-figure sums vanish. “There’s honestly not a day that goes by where I don’t think about the money I’ve lost,” one anonymous user says. “For me, it was £165k. I often think about how that would now change my life, especially given the current cost of living crisis.
“It has caused me to suffer from depression. Weirdly, I’m suffering worse from the fallout now than when it happened. Those initial feelings of anger have been replaced with guilt of letting my family down. I also promoted the platform to my wife, dad, brother and sister-law, all of whom lost money. So that’s been very hard to deal with.”
Another ex-customer, Alex, who had around £10k in the platform, adds: “The guilt and shame I feel remains to this day. I had to open up to my partner about the extent I had invested into FI and that was incredibly difficult to discuss. I have suffered with anxiety and depression and have undertaken therapy to deal with this in 2021 and 2022. Without the collapse, I don’t believe this would have been necessary.”
And amid the chaotic fallout, a current lack of any compensation, and whisperings that documentary makers are looking at covering what one MP called a “Ponzi scheme that stole consumers’ cash”, some ex-customers have migrated towards a role they certainly never signed up for. That of campaigners.
“The fight goes on,” David Hammel tells i. “It’s frustrating, but you look at Hillsborough, how long did that take for the families? That was 96, now 97 deaths. As far as I’m aware no one has directly taken their life as a result of Football Index, but there are 400 gambling suicides a year, so there may be an overlap.”
Hammel is a leading campaigner of the FI Action group, which has amassed more than 10,000 followers on Twitter and regularly updates the “victims” of their endeavours – from FOI requests to the Gambling Commission and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), to a long-standing wish to sit down with someone from Government.
On a personal level, Hammel wants to be refunded the £104k in net deposits or £138k in open bets he had at the time Football Index went into administration, a difficult mission given the Government has already stated that it will not use public money for compensation.
On a wider scale, he wants justice, to see culpability for the failure of this “flawed” product, and for those responsible to be held to account.
“Losing it because your footballers are rubbish is one thing, losing it because the company you gambled with were rubbish and lost your money and could not fulfil the bet is not acceptable,” Hammel adds. “It was a flawed concept that should never have been licensed.”
Football Index founder Adam Cole back in 2018 (Photo: Twitter @AdamColeFI)
Football Index had its license suspended by the Gambling Commission before falling into administration in March 2021, leading to an estimated half-a-million accounts being frozen. “The product should never have got off the ground in the first place,” an ex-employee went on to tell Guardian in October that year, a month after the Government published an independent report, led by Malcolm Sheehan, into the regulation of Football Index.
The report shed light on a web of confusion, with customers tangled in the middle of a product called “novel and boundary-pushing” by then Gambling Minister Chris Philip, one that was “blurring the lines” between gambling and investing.
The Gambling Commission and FCA had been debating the regulation of this product back and forth for almost two years, the report found, a lengthy period of time where customers were still pumping money into Football Index.
Consequently, the report found that “quicker decision-making and action” from the Gambling Commission could have helped scrutinise this product earlier.
It also said there were “areas of improvement” for the FCA – who had considered “dual-regulation” before changing their minds – including “speed of response to requests from the Commission and consistency of messaging on regulatory responsibilities”.
The report also found that BetIndex – the company that operated Football Index – did not properly notify the Gambling Commission of the nature of the product, nor of changes made after its launch.
It was a “shocking regulatory failure” by the Gambling Commission, Hammel says, and “more worryingly” the FCA. “I’m aware of products that fit under the FCA,” he adds. “This was a financial services product. High-risk. It should not have been sold to people like me and you, only to sophisticated investors.”
The Gambling Commission and FCA have both since taken steps to improve, while the report’s findings are also expected to steer the Government’s ongoing review of the Gambling Act – a white paper that many thought would have been published by now, but could be just weeks away from release.
‘My last two years…’ by Football Index users
Two years on, i reached out to Football Index customers first contacted around the time of the collapse. They spoke of their mental health issues as a direct result of this process, as well as the lasting feelings of guilt for putting their time and money into this product…
‘It could happen again unless lessons are learnt’ – @Football_MDJ
“The emotions are still pretty raw. I’ve never really expected redress but I’d saddened that no one has at least taken some responsibility for what happened. Sadly, unless financial penalties are applied, I’m not sure any real lessons are learnt.
“People still talk about the impact of FI on a daily basis and you can see the psychological impact the collapse has had on them. The positive, I guess, is it’s made them more wary, more cautious about who to trust with their money in future.”
Nottingham Forest and QPR removed the Football Index sponsor after its collapse (Photos: Getty)
‘Lack of culpability is infuriating’ – Taylor @FITaylor3
“It’s been devastating to be honest. There are days when I think we have no hope but knowing and speaking with David and others in FI Action on a semi-regular basis does help fuel the fire for justice and redress.
“If everyone knew the full truth of what happened, I suspect it would be a real eye opener! On a personal level, I have had to get a credit card to fund the things I had planned on using the money invested for. It’s a very risky move and one I wish I never had to take.”
‘I’ve got no hope of getting the money back’ – @GingerPirlo_FI
“The past two years have been in stages of getting over the anger and disappointment of not just the platform ending – that was a massive part of my life – but how it ended.
“I used FI as my main source of income so I’ve basically moved back into regular full-time employment – so it was a big change. I’ve no hope of getting back any of the money I lost in the days leading up to the platform finishing and I don’t think those that lost everything they had will get it back either.
“The only chance the users have is if a high-profile documentary gets made to shed widespread light on the scale of this fraud.”
All this, though, does little to compensate David and the Football Index community still out of pocket, and so they have pursued the matter through what he calls their “main battle”. With Government, and through letters in their thousands to MPs across the country.
Initially, this led to a Westminster debate on 7 June 2022, secured by Liz Twist MP. During the discussion, multiple MPs spoke of constituents driven to the brink of suicide, of marriages breaking down, and the life savings lost as a result of Football Index’s collapse.
David Hammel attending the Champions League final back in 2008 (Photo: supplied)
Conservative MP Aaron Bell said his experience of the Gambling Commission was that it is “frequently behind the curve and asleep at the wheel”, while Labour MP Jessica Morden said the FCA also have “serious questions to answer”.
Primarily, the debate centred around redress, but Nigel Huddleston – the DCMS’ Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the time – reiterated the Government’s stance: “We do not think it would be appropriate for the Government to use public funds to cover losses to individuals resulting from the collapse of a gambling company.”
This, however, has not deterred Hammel and FI Action.
What now for the Football Index community?
Hammel sits on the creditors’ committee that engages with Begbies, the administrators dealing with BetIndex’s insolvency, while FI Action are also advised by Matt Zarb-Cousin, a campaigner for Clean Up Gambling who helped fund their initial investigation after the collapse.
And with Hammel stating Begbies may only recover 2 to 5 per cent of their losses – “that will be peanuts, but unless Begbies find a pot of gold that’s hidden, there’s no further money” – he therefore remains steadfast in his belief that only the Government can write the cheque capable of covering the amount they seek, an uphill battle given the DCMS have already rebuffed their pleas – including David’s idea of using fines handed out by the Gambling Commission and the FCA to cover the cost.
“Where there’s a will there’s a way, when there’s enough political pressure, things happen,” Zarb-Cousin tells i.
“That’s what FI Action have got to do. After the devastation of what happened, they want justice and realise it will be a long fight. And they’re ready for that. Their expertise, diligence, tenacity, it’s admirable. They’re superb and deserve something from this.”
The turbulent political landscape these past 24 months has not helped FI Action’s cause either. Beyond the fact we are onto our third Prime Minister and fourth Chancellor since Football Index’s demise, the role of Gambling Minister has been a hot potato too – occupied by Chris Philp, then Damian Collins, then Paul Scully and now currently vacant.
“It’s just getting in front of a Gambling Minister,” says Hammel, who recalls he had a meeting lined up with Philip on 7 July 2022 – a day the MP ended up resigning as Gambling Minister in protest of Boris Johnson’s leadership.
“The meeting was 10.30am, he resigned two hours earlier,” Hammel adds. “Now I think the Government are waiting to see what Begbies can get before they start engaging with us again. That’s my team’s gut reaction.
Chelsea fan David Hammel once played at Stamford Bridge and met Ron ‘Chopper’ Harris (Photo: Supplied)
“The £124.5m is a small figure given what the Government spends, but life-changing for people like me. I’ve still got my house, my wife, my kids, but it was savings.
“I don’t expect a hard-pushed taxpayer to foot the bill. There are other avenues of money that can be ring-fenced for us. We just want to get around the table and have that discussion and negotiation.”
A DCMS spokesperson said: “We sympathise with those who lost money due to the failure of Football Index. Last year we commissioned an independent review into the regulation of the firm and the improvements it recommended for the Gambling Commission and Financial Conduct Authority have been implemented. This includes strengthening the Gambling Commission’s approach to the regulation of new and novel products such as Football Index.”
Football Index users urged: ‘Keep writing to MPs’
Following the difficulties experienced in trying to arrange discussions and meetings with ministers, Hammel feels that unless things change and ministers are more open to establishing channels of communication, then a change of Government might be the best chance. i contacted Labour’s Shadow DCMS Secretary Lucy Powell but has not received a response.
Since we spoke, Hammel has secured a meeting with the DCMS, set for 25 April, while in the meantime, Football Index users have been urged to continue the fight with their MPs.
“With political pressure anything can happen,” Zarb-Cousin reiterates. “You can get manifesto commitments. It should be a route FI Action takes. It’s imperative people keep writing to their MPs, because that’s what leads to change. It’s a collective force that is needed.
“However it happens, the task from our perspective is to increase the avenues of possibility, and hopefully the reforms will happen.”
Attention turns to the white paper, then, and whether the Gambling Review will reference Football Index. Zarb-Cousin believes an ombudsman is necessary, one that could retrospectively offer redress to Football Index users but also ensure a collapse of this kind never happens again.
“If a product is marketed in the way this was marketed, and the Gambling Commission stood idly by as the directors said ‘max out your credit cards’, that’s just an appalling situation, and the regulator is culpable,” Zarb-Cousin adds.
“Just because the regulator hasn’t said anything about it, it doesn’t mean what has been said is okay. We’re hoping that will change in the review. Until it changes, treat the gambling industry with caution.”
The Gambling Commission said: “Because gambling is a leisure activity and not an investment opportunity its regulation does not extend to continuous, real-time monitoring of the financial health of operators, and neither does it provide significant financial protections should a gambling business fail.
“We appreciate the hurt consumers must feel as a result of losing their stakes because Football Index failed but throughout our efforts were focused on securing the best outcome for consumers within the scope of our regulatory powers.”
An FCA spokesperson said: “We have every sympathy with those who lost money through this collapse. While this was a gambling product and so not regulated by the FCA, we recognise our communication with the Gambling Commission should have been better. We have already strengthened our relationship to ensure we work much more closely with them.”
Football Index founder Adam Cole last tweeted on 27 May 2021, in which he said he was hopeful of the “best outcome” for customers following BetIndex’s insolvency.
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