Football Index was a platform that allowed customers to create, buy and sell bets to one another on the performance of footballers as a means of making money. It was presented as so much more than just betting, advertised to customers repeatedly by Football Index as “the world’s first football stock market”.
In March 2021, BetIndex, trading as Football Index, suspended operations and appointed administrators, with customers potentially losing thousands of pounds. I have sympathies for those who have been affected, including some of my constituents, who have written to me and asked that I attend yesterday’s debate on the matter.
It is clear that the ultimate blame for this Ponzi scheme lies with the operator. The directors should be held to account. Those that have lost out would like restitution and justice as well as compensation. But we must be better at protecting people, as a Government and as a state.
I am also very concerned that people are vulnerable in other ways now. There are other online products out there that, in my opinion, share some of the same characteristics, such as some cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Government needs to look at how we can regulate these “products” too.