{"id":302963,"date":"2023-12-13T04:45:17","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T10:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=302963"},"modified":"2023-12-13T22:48:39","modified_gmt":"2023-12-14T04:48:39","slug":"ac-milan-coach-denies-knowing-of-tonali-gambling-prior-to-70m-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ac-milan-coach-denies-knowing-of-tonali-gambling-prior-to-70m-sale\/","title":{"rendered":"AC Milan Coach Denies Knowledge of Sandro Tonali Gambling Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stefano Pioli, manager of Italian soccer giant AC Milan, insists the Seria A club knew nothing of defensive midfielder Sandro Tonali\u2019s gambling issues before his move to Newcastle United.<\/p>\n

\"Stefano
Stefano Pioli addressing media Tuesday, ahead of his team\u2019s UEFA Champions League clash against Newcastle Utd. On Wednesday night. Pioli said he still believes Newcastle got a great deal for Tonali, despite currently being unable to play him. (Image: BBC<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In October, the player was banned from soccer for 10 months, just four months after his high-profile move to Newcastle. That\u2019s after he admitted to betting on games, including those he participated in, via illegal gambling sites, a violation of Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and English Football Association (FA) rules.<\/p>\n

Newcastle paid \u00a355million (US$70 million) for the 23-year-old in the summer, the highest ever for an Italian soccer player. But club executives might have thought twice if they knew he came with baggage, or at least demanded a discount. The club has refused to comment on whether it intends to take legal action against Milan.<\/p>\n

Pioli told the media Tuesday he had no inkling of any problem and still believes Newcastle got a \u201cgreat deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

No, I didn\u2019t know anything about Sandro\u2019s problem,\u201d Pioli said. \u201cHe was polite, respected, and gave respect to others, and was a sensible boy. Even if I think I have a close, open relationship with a player, I don\u2019t only talk about football. But what they do outside, I don\u2019t know everything about them.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Pioli was speaking at a press conference ahead of Milan\u2019s Champions League clash at Newcastle on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

Organized Crime Connection\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Tonali\u2019s gambling habits were uncovered during an investigation by Italian police into illegal online gambling with links to organized crime.<\/p>\n

Investigators questioned Tonali and fellow Italian international Nicolo Zaniolo at Italy\u2019s training camp on October 12 as the team prepared for a crucial Euro 2024 qualifier against England.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Zaniolo, who plays for the EPL\u2019s Aston Villa, denied betting on games. He did admit to playing online poker and blackjack, although he told police he didn\u2019t know the sites he used were illegal.<\/p>\n

\u2018Traumatic\u2019 Investigation <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Both players were sent home from the training camp and haven’t played for their country since. Italy\u2019s head coach Luciano Spalletti described the experience as \u201ctraumatic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Tonali was facing a maximum three-year ban from the sport under FIGC rules. But his lawyer was able to secure a plea deal for the player. This involves eight months of rehab activities and at least 16 public appearances in support of problem gambling programs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Also in October, Juventus midfielder Nicol\u00f2 Fagioli was banned for seven months\u00a0as part of a settlement with the FIGC after breaching rules surrounding betting on matches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stefano Pioli, manager of Italian soccer giant AC Milan, insists the Seria A club knew nothing of defensive midfielder Sandro Tonali\u2019s gambling issues before his move to Newcastle United. In October, the player was banned from soccer for 10 months, just four months after his high-profile move to Newcastle. That\u2019s after he admitted to betting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":302964,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[86644,82966,1074],"tags":[89128,88241,88383,89127],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAC Milan Coach Denies Knowing of Tonali Gambling Prior to $70M Sale<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"AC Milan\u2019s Stefano Piolo denies knowing about Sandro Tonali\u2019s gambling problem prior to $70 million sale to Newcastle United.\" \/>\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\/ac-milan-coach-denies-knowing-of-tonali-gambling-prior-to-70m-sale\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AC Milan Coach Denies Knowing of Tonali Gambling Prior to $70M Sale\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"AC Milan\u2019s Stefano Piolo denies knowing about Sandro Tonali\u2019s gambling problem prior to $70 million sale to Newcastle United.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ac-milan-coach-denies-knowing-of-tonali-gambling-prior-to-70m-sale\/\" \/>\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=\"2023-12-13T10:45:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-14T04:48:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Pioli.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"662\" \/>\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\/ac-milan-coach-denies-knowing-of-tonali-gambling-prior-to-70m-sale\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ac-milan-coach-denies-knowing-of-tonali-gambling-prior-to-70m-sale\/\",\"name\":\"AC Milan Coach Denies Knowing of Tonali Gambling Prior to $70M Sale\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ac-milan-coach-denies-knowing-of-tonali-gambling-prior-to-70m-sale\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ac-milan-coach-denies-knowing-of-tonali-gambling-prior-to-70m-sale\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Pioli.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-13T10:45:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-14T04:48:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"AC Milan\u2019s Stefano Piolo denies knowing about Sandro Tonali\u2019s gambling problem prior to $70 million sale to Newcastle United.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ac-milan-coach-denies-knowing-of-tonali-gambling-prior-to-70m-sale\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ac-milan-coach-denies-knowing-of-tonali-gambling-prior-to-70m-sale\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ac-milan-coach-denies-knowing-of-tonali-gambling-prior-to-70m-sale\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Pioli.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Pioli.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":662,\"caption\":\"Stefano Pioli addressing media Tuesday, ahead of his team\u2019s UEFA Champions League clash against Newcastle Utd. On Wednesday night. Pioli still believes Newcastle got a great deal for Tonali, despite currently being unable to play him. (Image: BBC)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ac-milan-coach-denies-knowing-of-tonali-gambling-prior-to-70m-sale\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sports Betting\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"AC Milan Coach Denies Knowledge of Sandro Tonali Gambling Problem\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"AC Milan Coach Denies Knowing of Tonali Gambling Prior to $70M Sale","description":"AC Milan\u2019s Stefano Piolo denies knowing about Sandro Tonali\u2019s gambling problem prior to $70 million sale to Newcastle United.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ac-milan-coach-denies-knowing-of-tonali-gambling-prior-to-70m-sale\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"AC Milan Coach Denies Knowing of Tonali Gambling Prior to $70M Sale","og_description":"AC Milan\u2019s Stefano Piolo denies knowing about Sandro Tonali\u2019s gambling problem prior to $70 million sale to Newcastle United.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ac-milan-coach-denies-knowing-of-tonali-gambling-prior-to-70m-sale\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2023-12-13T10:45:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-12-14T04:48:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":662,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Pioli.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ac-milan-coach-denies-knowing-of-tonali-gambling-prior-to-70m-sale\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ac-milan-coach-denies-knowing-of-tonali-gambling-prior-to-70m-sale\/","name":"AC Milan Coach Denies Knowing of Tonali Gambling Prior to $70M Sale","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ac-milan-coach-denies-knowing-of-tonali-gambling-prior-to-70m-sale\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ac-milan-coach-denies-knowing-of-tonali-gambling-prior-to-70m-sale\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Pioli.jpg","datePublished":"2023-12-13T10:45:17+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-14T04:48:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"AC Milan\u2019s Stefano Piolo denies knowing about Sandro Tonali\u2019s gambling problem prior to $70 million sale to Newcastle United.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ac-milan-coach-denies-knowing-of-tonali-gambling-prior-to-70m-sale\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ac-milan-coach-denies-knowing-of-tonali-gambling-prior-to-70m-sale\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ac-milan-coach-denies-knowing-of-tonali-gambling-prior-to-70m-sale\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Pioli.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Pioli.jpg","width":1000,"height":662,"caption":"Stefano Pioli addressing media Tuesday, ahead of his team\u2019s UEFA Champions League clash against Newcastle Utd. On Wednesday night. Pioli still believes Newcastle got a great deal for Tonali, despite currently being unable to play him. (Image: BBC)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ac-milan-coach-denies-knowing-of-tonali-gambling-prior-to-70m-sale\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sports Betting","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"AC Milan Coach Denies Knowledge of Sandro Tonali Gambling Problem"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302963"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302963"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":303178,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302963\/revisions\/303178"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}