Brighton owner Bloom faces questions over claims he bet on own football teams

Tony Bloom, the billionaire owner of Brighton & Hove Albion FC, is facing questions over claims he was an anonymous gambler behind $70m (£52m) in winnings - which allegedly included bets on his football teams.

- Anna Isaac Rob Davies

Bloom - one of the world’s most successful professional gamblers - is claimed to be the “John Doe” referred to in a US legal case that tried to unmask who has benefited from the lucrative winning streak.

Approached by the Guardian, Bloom declined to answer whether he was the “John Doe” in the court filing issued this year. Bloom denied betting on his own teams or competitions that involved them, and a source close to him described the allegations as “entirely false”.

MPs, including the former shadow sports minister Clive Efford, called on the Football Association (FA) to investigate the allegations.

The Guardian revealed this week that Bloom faces a separate UK court claim that he uses frontmen to place substantial bets for a gambling syndicate he controls. Papers filed at the high court allege one of the frontmen was George Cottrell - a former aide to Nigel Farage and a Reform UK insider.

The US court case, which has not previously been linked to Bloom, also centres on claims that a gambling syndicate has been using a frontman to mask its role in winning vast sums.

Bloom’s syndicate was publicly accused of placing bets on his own football teams by a co-founder of the online gambling company Rollbit, which brought the US legal action.