Manchester United legend and ex-England superstar Paul Scholes has been charged by the Football Association for breaching their betting rules, and has apologised for his misconduct and addressed the incident as a “genuine mistake”.
“Paul Scholes, owner of Salford, has been charged with misconduct in relation to The FA’s Betting Rules,” the FA statement read. “It is alleged he placed 140 bets on football matches, contrary to FA Rule E8, between 17 August 2015 and 12 January 2019.”
The former English midfielder gambled an overall of £26,159 and secured a net profit of £5,831.
“I accept last week’s ruling. I would like to apologise and I understand and fully accept the fine imposed by the FA,” the ex-England international said in a statement.
“It was a genuine mistake and was not done with any deliberate intention to flout the rules.
“I wrongly believed that as long as there was no personal connection between me and any of the matches that I bet upon then there would be no issue.
“However, I understand now that this is not the case and I should have taken steps to verify this at the time.”
The 44-year-old became a joint-owner of Salford alongside former team-mates Gary and Phil Neville, Ryan Giggs and Nicky Butt in 2014.