Football
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14 Oct 25
20:23
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11 Aug 21
More than 50 investors, including Alastair Campbell and Fiona Millar, lost money when the football betting fund went bust in December last year
Police officers investigating the collapse of a betting syndicate led by Rory Campbell have made an arrest, The Times understands.
More than 50 backers of the fund lost their money when it went bust in December, including Campbell’s parents, Fiona Millar and Alastair Campbell, the former director of communications under Sir Tony Blair.
The collapse of the syndicate came more than 18 months after the first investors tried to withdraw their cash. After negotiations to reach a settlement broke down in January, a group of investors made a report via Action Fraud to the Metropolitan Police and handed over a dossier of evidence.
In March, the Met said it had received reports of an alleged “fraud relating to a gambling syndicate” and said that “officers are liaising with complainants”.
The Times can reveal the force arrested a man from north London last month as part of the police’s investigation. He has been bailed, and cannot be named for legal reasons.
Rory Campbell, an Oxford PPE graduate and football analyst, started the fund in 2017, promising to beat the bookies with bets on major European football leagues such as the English Premier League and Spain’s La Liga. The syndicate employed traders to place as many as 80 bets a week, each ranging from $10,000 to $30,000.
His secret was mathematical modelling that would help assess the effects of injuries, players’ relationships on the pitch and the impact of weather and fatigue from demanding match schedules. Investors in the fund were brought in by word of mouth. Sources said some early backers were paid commission to recruit more people, who each invested between £25,000 and £500,000.
By 2023, investors were told the fund had made an average return on investment of 8 per cent a year, but later that year investors reported delays in withdrawing funds.
A year on, in July last year, investors were warned they might receive only 50 to 65 per cent of their money back. They said in December that they were told the syndicate had collapsed entirely and that bad debts with Asian bookmakers were to blame. Negotiations between investors and the fund broke down the following month. The report was made to police shortly afterwards.
One of the investors who was owed money, a father of two and senior figure in British horse racing, died in February, close to two years after receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis. He had started asking for his money in 2023, but months later he had not received it. In December 2023, the investor had told friends he was “reaching the end of my tether”.
Another backer took matters into his own hands and started a separate legal action at Central London county court to try to reclaim £266,000. It is understood he settled for a fraction of what he was owed.
Speaking of studying philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford, Campbell has said he “spent the majority of my degree time playing poker, watching football and betting on football”.
He advised West Ham United as a technical scout and analyst via his company, C&N Sporting Risk, and later led the company’s aborted attempt to buy Bury FC in 2019.
A spokesman for the Met said: “At 07.45 on Tuesday, 9 September, officers executed a warrant at an address in Camden.
“A man was arrested on suspicion of fraud by false representation relating to a betting syndicate. He has since been bailed pending further enquiries.”
https://www.removepaywall.com/search?url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/police-arrest-man-over-collapse-of-rory-campbell-betting-syndicate-nfnj0b6xc
Police officers investigating the collapse of a betting syndicate led by Rory Campbell have made an arrest, The Times understands.
More than 50 backers of the fund lost their money when it went bust in December, including Campbell’s parents, Fiona Millar and Alastair Campbell, the former director of communications under Sir Tony Blair.
The collapse of the syndicate came more than 18 months after the first investors tried to withdraw their cash. After negotiations to reach a settlement broke down in January, a group of investors made a report via Action Fraud to the Metropolitan Police and handed over a dossier of evidence.
In March, the Met said it had received reports of an alleged “fraud relating to a gambling syndicate” and said that “officers are liaising with complainants”.
The Times can reveal the force arrested a man from north London last month as part of the police’s investigation. He has been bailed, and cannot be named for legal reasons.
Rory Campbell, an Oxford PPE graduate and football analyst, started the fund in 2017, promising to beat the bookies with bets on major European football leagues such as the English Premier League and Spain’s La Liga. The syndicate employed traders to place as many as 80 bets a week, each ranging from $10,000 to $30,000.
His secret was mathematical modelling that would help assess the effects of injuries, players’ relationships on the pitch and the impact of weather and fatigue from demanding match schedules. Investors in the fund were brought in by word of mouth. Sources said some early backers were paid commission to recruit more people, who each invested between £25,000 and £500,000.
By 2023, investors were told the fund had made an average return on investment of 8 per cent a year, but later that year investors reported delays in withdrawing funds.
A year on, in July last year, investors were warned they might receive only 50 to 65 per cent of their money back. They said in December that they were told the syndicate had collapsed entirely and that bad debts with Asian bookmakers were to blame. Negotiations between investors and the fund broke down the following month. The report was made to police shortly afterwards.
One of the investors who was owed money, a father of two and senior figure in British horse racing, died in February, close to two years after receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis. He had started asking for his money in 2023, but months later he had not received it. In December 2023, the investor had told friends he was “reaching the end of my tether”.
Another backer took matters into his own hands and started a separate legal action at Central London county court to try to reclaim £266,000. It is understood he settled for a fraction of what he was owed.
Speaking of studying philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford, Campbell has said he “spent the majority of my degree time playing poker, watching football and betting on football”.
He advised West Ham United as a technical scout and analyst via his company, C&N Sporting Risk, and later led the company’s aborted attempt to buy Bury FC in 2019.
A spokesman for the Met said: “At 07.45 on Tuesday, 9 September, officers executed a warrant at an address in Camden.
“A man was arrested on suspicion of fraud by false representation relating to a betting syndicate. He has since been bailed pending further enquiries.”
https://www.removepaywall.com/search?url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/police-arrest-man-over-collapse-of-rory-campbell-betting-syndicate-nfnj0b6xc
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Replies: 31
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kind regards
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There's no fool like a rich fool, what mugs decided to invest in this nonsense
His secret was mathematical modelling that would help assess the effects of injuries, players’ relationships on the pitch and the impact of weather and fatigue from demanding match schedules. Investors in the fund were brought in by word of mouth. Sources said some early backers were paid commission to recruit more people, who each invested between £25,000 and £500,000.  |
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Thinking of opening a syndicate..email me @ Mug****Rus
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another dodgy dossier?
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Campbell must have been inspired by a similar story 16 years ago, The 'King of Betfair' Elliot Short AKA I lay it short. He conned his own family members. Kind Regards.
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Don't forget Blatch too, he was another con artist.
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The thing is, there are several syndicates out there who are very clever and who do make good money. This was either a proper con job, or - more likely - the lad had a few winners and thought he'd unlocked the secret to gambling and could make a mint before the inevitable crash.
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the daughter get screwed by loads of desperate blokes, the son f**ks 'em.
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The family aren't the brightest. His dad couldn't even handle a rat in his kitchen.
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hard to believe people actually handed over money on the premise as we,ve been told,that they picked results on injuries effecting dressing room moral etc,etc,I,d more likely believe they though rightly or wrongly they were betting on bent games, no ones going to lay out big money on the strength of early gossip about injuries team selection from supposedly inside the dressing room,saying that there's a lad on BORO twitter who goes very early on team,formation,transfers,injuries etc and has a very good record on been correct,no idea if he or anyone uses it for betting purposes
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It's obvious that some folk on twitter do have team news
before teams are published. And prices do move. Footballers are not allowed to bet, |
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yeah and i'm not allowed to visit prossies
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the lad on boro twitter got a lot of stick for saying boro would be changing to a back 4 for the stoke game, saying he was handing team news to the opposition,he turned out to be right though
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Obviously team news leaks and you might put £50 on it.
But risking 10 to 30k without seeing how the first 20 minutes of a football game plays out is the road to the poorhouse. As young Rory and his foolish investors found out. |
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Yeah, but the prices change due to team news
They are in and out before kick off and locked in profit. us mere mortals may well gain from watching some of the game, |
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Rory was a guesser and likely taking recycled prices
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I think you'd be very lucky to hear leaked team news before the bookies
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I would be lucky, indeed.
Others are getting it and altering prices by using it. My mate was a football agent, he attended games at sjp when his players were playing. Sometimes he offered me a ticket,... Not difficult to work out who was in team. |
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Yeah. Still think it is easier to watch games and know when a price is serious wrong and worth backing or laying.
Not that I'd ever bet £10k  |
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So who are the people leaking team news, coaches or someone less important like the kit man
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Broadcast people normally get info
15 minutes before the scheduled time Under curfew NORMALLY  |
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Garnacho's brother was famous for leaking team news
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Sam 'Ace' Rothstein knows if a player's missus is on the blob.
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So who are the people leaking team news, coaches or someone less important like the kit man
They leak the strictly results and you can't even bet on that, some folk just want to be popular, and an itk. Usually they are quickly out of the know, but a new shrewdie pops up to fill the void, possibly groomed as somebody who was confirming original leaker. |
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Investors ...
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good money to be made betting on the women's football based on the players menstrual cycles.
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people do that in tennis
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And let’s face it, a kit (wo)man would know!
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You'll be starting a smear campaign next.
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