Report: Tonali, Di Maria, McKennie among suspects in new gambling probe

Sandro Tonali and Nicolo Fagioli are again in investigators' crosshairs in a new probe into betting on illegal gambling platforms, Italian news agencies reported on Friday.

ANSA and AGI report that Newcastle United midfielder Tonali and fellow Italy international Fagioli, who plays for Fiorentina, are among a dozen current or former Serie A players suspected of illicit betting activity.

Roma midfielder Leandro Paredes and Angel Di Maria, who played the 2022-23 season with Fagioli at Juventus, are two of the other footballers named by news agencies as suspects in an investigation by prosecutors in Milan.

Current Juve players Weston McKennie and Mattia Perin and Italy internationals Raoul Bellanova and Samuele Ricci are also among those being investigated for poker games and betting on sporting events -- but not on football matches -- on banned gambling platforms.

In a statement released Friday morning, the Milan prosecutor's office announced that it had placed under house arrest "for illegal gambling activities and money laundering" five people who organised and managed the clandestine platforms from a jewelry store in the city. In addition, 1.5 million euros ($1.7 million) was seized.

The footballers are not among those arrested and will face a small punishment, most likely a fine, from the criminal case.

However, they could yet be punished by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), which is yet to announce whether it will begin disciplinary proceedings.

ANSA report that prosecutors allege that Tonali and Fagioli were rewarded financially for recruiting other gamblers to the clandestine platforms.

Tonali was banned for 10 months in October 2023 for betting on football matches, including those involving his old team AC Milan while he was still playing for them.

That ban cost Tonali the chance to play a part in Italy's Euro title defence in Germany, where the Azzurri were dumped out in the last 16 by Switzerland.

Fagioli, an admitted gambling and sports betting addict who was hit with a seven-month ban not long before Tonali's suspension, was reported as running up more than three million euros in debts.