UK soccer player places 6,397 bets, receives ban from the sport

• Ryan Brown, who most recently played for Cheltenham, has been suspended from sport for three-and-a-half years
• His ban started in March 2025 and will last until September 2028, as confirmed by the Football Association
• Brown is said to have placed 6,397 bets, with the bulk of these wagers placed over the past several years

A former soccer player who has played for numerous teams, among which are Cheltenham, Shrewsbury, and Exeter, has received a three-and-a-half-year ban from the sport by the Football Association, the country’s governing body, after an investigation uncovered a gambling pattern that went back eight years.

A soccer player placed thousands of bets in eight years

"This is a most serious case which includes a number of egregious examples of breaches of The FA Rules against betting," the regulator said. His ban is set to run through September 2028, after it was imposed in March this year.

Ryan Bowman, the man in question, is said to have placed a total of 6,397 in the space of eight years. Bowman has admitted that he had indeed acted in this way and was released from the last team he was playing with – Cheltenham.

While the soccer player’s betting activity can be traced back eight years, it was really over the past several years that he truly started to pick up and place a frankly incredible number of wagers.

He is said to have placed 2,600 bets between December 2020 and July 201 alone. Then, he placed another 3,100 wagers between August 2021 and July 2023. By these numbers, Bowman was placing anything between five and ten wagers every day to make this work.

Bowman’s gambling history is long, and there are various instances of the player betting on himself to score, for example.

Cheltenham parts ways with Brown on amicable terms

Bowman has maintained that while he has placed wagers, he has never actually placed on outcomes that he could influence negatively to secure the wager, i.e. throw a game or feign a play.

Despite this, Cheltenham parted with the player on amicable terms, although acknowledging his wrongdoing: "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."

The player is not said to have suffered from gambling-related harm or addiction, as none of the coverage available suggested as much. However, his compulsive gambling could be a sign that Brown may need to seek help.

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