Latest news with #Starlizard
Scottish Sun
26-05-2025
- Business
- Scottish Sun
Tony Bloom to Hearts latest as Brighton owner gets green light from fans with next steps revealed
Jambos saw one of Bloom's other clubs claim a sensational league title triumph over the weekend BLOOMIN' GOOD DEAL Tony Bloom to Hearts latest as Brighton owner gets green light from fans with next steps revealed Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) HEARTS fans have emphatically backed Tony Bloom's investment proposal. The Brighton owner made an offer of £9.86million for a 29% shareholding in the Gorgie club. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 3 Hearts fans have overwhelmingly voted to back Tony Bloom's investment proposal Credit: PA 3 The Brighton owner is seeking a 29% shareholding at Tynecastle Credit: Getty 3 Bloom would be entitled to a seat on the board at Hearts Credit: Reuters Current Jambos owners the Foundation of Hearts put the proposition to their members, with Bloom requiring a simple majority from votes cast. With 70% of the organisation's 8,000-strong ownership responding, more than 98% backed Bloom's proposal. The vote marks a major step towards the Brighton chairman becoming a minor shareholder at Hearts. The club will now hold an Extraordinary General Meeting to officially approve the investment, which must then be ratified by the Scottish FA. Bloom will be entitled to a place on the club's board but is expected to select someone to sit on his behalf. Hearts fans will no doubt have been interested to see Union Saint-Gilloise clinch their first Belgian top-flight title in 90 years on Sunday. Bloom is also an investor and minority shareholder in the new Belgian First Division champions. They use the same Starlizard analytics already being used at Tynecastle. In a letter to Foundation of Hearts members, chairman Gerry Mallon said: "A total of 6,208 votes were cast, with 6,112 voting in favour and 96 voting against. "Clearly it is a huge majority in favour and this demonstrates - once again - the passion the Foundation of Hearts members have for the club and their determination to see it move forward and reap the benefits of the financial investment. Can Hearts overtake Rangers with the help of Tony Bloom's £10m investment? "We have a wonderful opportunity now, I believe, to begin to tackle the challenge of becoming a major disruptor of the long-standing status quo in Scottish football. "It will take time, but we have never been better placed to reach that position. "Tony Bloom's decision to invest in Hearts was very much founded on the many benefits he saw at Tynecastle through the club being in fan ownership, not least its financial security through the level of our pledging. "What a moment to increase our membership and drive forward together." Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page
Daily Record
10-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Record
Prospective Hearts messiah knows all about Scottish football through army of informants
Brighton owner Tony Bloom is ready to make Hearts a major force in Scottish game, armed with data gathered from every club as he stayed a step ahead of the bookies. The gambling 'genius' who aims to disrupt the supremacy of the Old Firm has employed an 'army of ants' that make him an authority on Hearts – and every other Scottish team. Brighton owner Tony Bloom's bid to buy a 29 per cent share of the Jam Tarts for almost £10million comes after his Starlizard betting consultancy built up a database detailing every shred of hard fact – and gossip – on Scottish football. The Daily Record can reveal the incredible attention to detail that saw Bloom harvest details on footballers whose wives had babies or who'd fallen out with their strike partner at training. The man who hopes to dismantle the Celtic and Rangers stranglehold on the Scottish game secretly gathered details on who might have suffered from a cold or what team might have drunk a few too many beers on the nights before a match. And he has made a fortune by getting an edge on the bookies before wading in with massive bets using his detailed info on every club –garnered from super-fans, club insiders and local journalists. Data genius Bloom, an ace mathematician, has crunched footie match statistics like never before. But the Starlizard gambling consultancy he set up has dug deeper, reaching the details that players' managers might never find out about. He has paid cash retainers to scores of sources in Scotland, England and other football nations, covering every senior club from the SPFL down to the League Two. His paid informers could include anyone from local superfans and journalists, whose sources could include coaches, kit men and medics, who might be oblivious to the fact their chit-chat is being logged and analysed. One of the Scottish 'ants' said Bloom used different layers of information, with annual retainers paid to trusted sources. The source said: 'Starlizard is interested in what players had for breakfast, if that data is available – but they want to go a lot deeper than that. 'They literally want to know who's been feeling depressed, who's not been sleeping, who's put on weight and who's not been training well. That data would work very well for Celtic or Rangers – or Hearts. 'But it can be gold dust when you're weighing up a match between East Stirling and Dumbarton, for example, where the squad is small and the newspapers aren't covering them the same way as they do the big teams. It was hard to understand at the outset why they would pay for information in such matches – but in the long run it wasn't about the size of the match, it was about the odds offered by bookies.' The source – who is keeping under wraps which team he was tuned into – said the Starlizard engagement started around 20 years ago. He said: 'It was all above board but very hush-hush. Back then, Starlizard was paying at least £1000 on an annual retainer for information from Scottish professional teams – and you'd get a bonus if the information was seen as significant and led to a big win. 'My contact gave me a template to fill in every week that included team details, how their last match went and whether or not the result went the way it should have done. But he made clear that it was 'other stuff' was really prized. He wanted to know if any player had been up for three nights with a new-born baby. 'He wanted to hear if players had been out wetting that baby's head on the Thursday night. He wanted to know if they were complaining about a hangover the next day. Essentially he wanted the club gossip – but it had to be based on reality, stuff that would have the possibility of affecting a match outcome.' Data gathered could also include expected crowd numbers, distance of travel, injuries and pitch conditions. Bloom is known as The Lizard at the poker table – where he's won millions – because he is so cold-blooded and unafraid to lose, such is his trust in probability theory. He can't control luck or freak results – but he believes that he will always win in the long run if his calculations are correct. Where he believes the bookies have offered the 'wrong price', at overly generous odds, he has seen a way in his poker and his racing and football gambling to make money. That is where his research comes into play. Starlizard employees are mainly young adults with little gambling industry experience, who must undertake not to use information to gamble themselves. The source said Bloom's army of informants would be assured that their information would never be used against the clubs they were revealing secret data on. He said: 'There was never any suggestion of any match fixing or using underhand methods. 'The information would never be published and no one would be the wiser if stuff about their private life was passed on. It all just got rolled up in a massive betting strategy, along with data from all over the world.' Starlizard executives have stressed that their data is a major weapon against match fixing in football – as they track suspicious betting patterns, that can be mapped on to unusual mistakes made by players in games. Data supplied by the army of ants would be given to number crunchers at Starlizard's HQ – who would make a decision of which games would be worth a bet and how the stake might be weighted. The source said: 'The Starlizard model was based on one massive network of people, all focused on beating the bookies with data – and giving gambling advice to rich clients. 'The beauty in that is that Tony Bloom would make money even if he lost. His success would be judged over a series of bets or a season.' Bloom, 55, is beloved among the Brighton fans because he is a fan himself and even travels by train to away games alongside Seagulls supporters. He has transformed the club after taking control in 2009, applying a data driven transfer strategy that has been the envy of the world – identifying players with promise and projecting future values that will make money for the club within a few years. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Bloom invested more than £360million of a personal fortune made from his online sports betting empire to turn Brighton into a Premier League club, with a future-proofed 30,000 stadium. Starlizard was set up in London in 2006. Bloom, as head of a US sports betting syndicate, also set himself up as the biggest client. Millions of pounds are staked by rich people worldwide – mainly in Asia – on matches where Starlizard reckons it can see an edge. Bloom has also lived the high life as a top racehorse owner, winning massive races on the flat – and bagging a 100/1 winner at the Cheltenham Festival in March, with Poniros in the Triumph Hurdle.
Korea Herald
31-03-2025
- Sport
- Korea Herald
Starlizard Integrity Services identifies 159 suspicious football matches played globally in 2024
New report analyses over 74,000 games in national and international competitions, as well as friendly matches. LONDON, March 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Sports integrity specialists Starlizard Integrity Services (SIS) have identified 159 football matches played around the world in 2024 as suspicious. In a major study, monitoring and analysing 74,386 football matches played in 2024, SIS found that 159 - representing 0.21% of the analysed matches - showed indicators of potential manipulation. This is a drop from the 171 suspicious matches identified in 2023 (0.23% of that year's analysed matches). The SIS 2024 data revealed that: Matches analysed by SIS are categorised as "suspicious" when they are found to have suspect betting patterns associated with them that may be indicative of match-fixing. While the level of suspicion will vary across matches depending on the nature and amount of evidence discovered, SIS believes that all matches so identified would warrant further investigation. Furthermore, note that annual figures are likely to change after the publication of a report, as a result of SIS analysing matches retrospectively – for example, in response to new intelligence or in support of subsequent investigations. The full report can be downloaded at: Affy Sheikh, Head of Starlizard Integrity Services, commented: "We are encouraged by the findings of the 2024 report, which show a slight decrease in the number and proportion of suspicious football matches compared to the previous year. Any fall in the level of suspicious matches is to be welcomed as it may indicate that efforts to enhance the integrity of football are making a positive impact. That being said, the data also highlights ongoing concerns, particularly an apparent shift towards the South American region. This, together with the continued high prevalence of suspicious betting on First-Half Only markets and the persistence of suspicious activity in friendly matches, underscore the ongoing need for vigilance and robust measures to combat match manipulation. Starlizard Integrity Services remain committed to working with our partners across the globe to ensure the integrity of football at all levels, particularly through our Komodo anti-match-fixing platform, which is available for free to sports governing bodies and law enforcement agencies". About Starlizard Integrity Services Starlizard Integrity Services (SIS) is the specialist integrity division of Starlizard, the London-based sports betting consultancy. Starlizard's detailed understanding of sport and sporting performance, as well as its active involvement in betting markets, affords a unique perspective, enabling the company to know better than anyone else in the world when betting markets and sporting contests look wrong. Starlizard has been providing independent integrity services for sports governing bodies and associations since 2010, and established SIS in 2017 as a dedicated resource to focus entirely on this work. Combining its deep insight into how betting markets should behave with detailed on-pitch performance data analysis and research, SIS is ideally placed to identify suspicious matches and betting patterns. In 2023, SIS launched its award-winning Komodo online anti-match-fixing platform, which is free to use for sports governing bodies and law enforcement agencies, providing them with alerts and suspicious match reports designed for evidential use. For more information, visit
