{"id":167584,"date":"2021-03-17T07:50:58","date_gmt":"2021-03-17T14:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=167584"},"modified":"2021-03-17T12:57:13","modified_gmt":"2021-03-17T19:57:13","slug":"football-index-could-be-sold-to-rescue-investor-as-trader-anger-mounts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/football-index-could-be-sold-to-rescue-investor-as-trader-anger-mounts\/","title":{"rendered":"Football Index Could Be Sold to Rescue Investor as Anger Mounts Over Market Crash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Football Index<\/a> is looking for a buyer. The stricken soccer gambling platform could be facing a UK government inquiry as anger mounts among former customers who lost money when the Football Index market collapsed earlier this month. But it seems the company\u2019s owners are eager to salvage something from the flames.<\/p>\n

\"Football
VHS softcore porn tycoon and Football Index founder Adam Cole poses in front of an ad for his company at London\u2019s Edgware Road Tube Station in August 2017. (Adam Cole\/Twitter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Guardian<\/em> has learned the owners have enlisted the services of Oakvale Capital, a financial advisory group specializing in gambling. Oakvale is seeking an investor to come in and rescue Football Index, which styled itself as \u201cthe stock market\u201d of soccer.<\/p>\n

The platform enabled users to buy \u201cshares\u201d in professional soccer players, which could fluctuate in value depending on player performances or real-world value in the soccer transfer market. Players were offered \u201cdividends,\u201d based on the performance of their shares.<\/p>\n

Panic Selling, Shares Plummet\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

But Football Index\u2019s synthetic stock market crashed overnight on March 5. That came after the company announced it planned to slash dividends to ensure the platform\u2019s long-term sustainability.<\/p>\n

Panic selling ensued, causing the value of shares to plummet, losing around \u00a390 million in value ($125.5 million). The Times<\/em> estimates that regular traders lost an average of \u00a33,000 ($4,120) each.<\/p>\n

\n

Currently, what\u2019s left of traders\u2019 balances is frozen. Parent company Bet Index\u2019s license has been suspended by the UK Gambling Commission and Football Index has gone into receivership.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Some critics have denounced the company as a Ponzi scheme. This is Money<\/em> reports that former Football Index users are directing their anger at the company\u2019s founder, Adam Cole.<\/p>\n

Porn Baron Founder<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Cole, 70, made a fortune in the VHS softcore porn boom in the 1980s. He launched Football Index in 2015 and became its public face, marketing the site as being \u201csafer and more predictable than financial markets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Football Index was admonished in 2019 by the UK\u2019s Advertising Standards Authority for \u201ccreating the impression the product was a lucrative investment opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Neil McArthur, head of the UK Gambling Commission, resigned<\/a> as politicians asked questions about whether the company should have been licensed at all.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Law firm Leigh Day told The Guardian<\/em> it was exploring the possibility of legal action on behalf of traders who lost money.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhilst it is very early days in our investigations on behalf of the thousands of people who have lost money, there are serious questions which will need answering regarding what has happened at Football Index and what the\u00a0Gambling\u00a0Commission understood of Football Index\u2019s activities,\u201d Leigh Day partner Nichola Marshall said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Football Index is looking for a buyer. The stricken soccer gambling platform could be facing a UK government inquiry as anger mounts among former customers who lost money when the Football Index market collapsed earlier this month. But it seems the company\u2019s owners are eager to salvage something from the flames. The Guardian has learned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":167585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFootball Index Could Be Sold to Rescue Investor as Trader Anger Mounts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Football Index enlists services of Oakvale Capital as it seeks a buyer amid questions over company practices and possible lawsuits.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/football-index-could-be-sold-to-rescue-investor-as-trader-anger-mounts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Football Index Could Be Sold to Rescue Investor as Trader Anger Mounts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Football Index enlists services of Oakvale Capital as it seeks a buyer amid questions over company practices and possible lawsuits.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/football-index-could-be-sold-to-rescue-investor-as-trader-anger-mounts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-17T14:50:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-03-17T19:57:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/adam-cole.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/football-index-could-be-sold-to-rescue-investor-as-trader-anger-mounts\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/football-index-could-be-sold-to-rescue-investor-as-trader-anger-mounts\/\",\"name\":\"Football Index Could Be Sold to Rescue Investor as Trader Anger Mounts\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/football-index-could-be-sold-to-rescue-investor-as-trader-anger-mounts\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/football-index-could-be-sold-to-rescue-investor-as-trader-anger-mounts\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/adam-cole.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-17T14:50:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-17T19:57:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Football Index enlists services of Oakvale Capital as it seeks a buyer amid questions over company practices and possible lawsuits.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/football-index-could-be-sold-to-rescue-investor-as-trader-anger-mounts\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/football-index-could-be-sold-to-rescue-investor-as-trader-anger-mounts\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/football-index-could-be-sold-to-rescue-investor-as-trader-anger-mounts\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/adam-cole.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/adam-cole.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":900,\"caption\":\"VHS softcore porn tycoon and Football Index founder Adam Cole poses in front of an ad for his company at London\u2019s Edgware Road Tube Station in August 2017. 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