Betting platform Football Index is on the brink of collapse with hundreds of customers set to lose thousands of pounds.
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Following its launch in 2015, the unique platform, which is centred around buying and selling shares in real-life football players, emerged as an exciting alternative to traditional sports betting.
The platform’s concept is very simple – Buy shares in players and sell them, ideally for a profit.
There are a handful of ways a customer can yield a profit from their trades. The first method is by identifying a potential world-beater, purchasing for a low price and selling on for a higher price further down the line (capital appreciation).
The second is by purchasing an already established player and earning ‘dividends’ through either mentions in the media or on-field performances.
For more information on how trading works, you can read an in-depth article I wrote on Football Index last year here.
All sounds great, right? – Well, recently the platform has restructured it’s dividend payout structure and slashed player’s sell prices (as per Guardian).
Presumably, the company realised their payout structure was unsustainable and in a desperate attempt to prevent further losses, slashed sale prices, literally overnight.
At the time of writing this, there has been no word from the company’s board of directors on how they plan on moving forward.
However, following the platform’s sudden payment restructure, shockingly, although rather expectedly, customers have been left out of pocket, with some even reporting losses well into the thousands.
Imagine the uproar if you’d placed £10 on Leicester to win the league in 2015 at 5000/1 with PaddyPower, then half way through the season, PaddyPower realised they couldn’t afford to pay you out if it won and manually changed the odds to 5/1.
That’s what #FootballIndex has done.
— Bealo (@bealolufc) March 6, 2021
Feel sick today. I see people saying they feel stupid, naive etc. We were lied to & manipulated constantly. Encouraging us to be +ve & keep investing as big things were coming. The whole time knowing they were in the shit! Long thread of lies&deceit. Time to unite #footballindex
— FI_Taylor (@FITaylor3) March 6, 2021
I hope Football Index get taken to court
This is a £100m fraud
The below is from an announcement in the last few months #footballindex pic.twitter.com/yozwjZ2kkr
— Alex S (@ASFootballIndex) March 5, 2021
To say I feel sick is an understatement…my life savings up in smoke, how can they get away with this #footballindex pic.twitter.com/3RSAiSaEIZ
— Si_FI (@SiFI50065872) March 7, 2021
Does anyone know a top, top, top notch solicitor?#FICommunity vs #FootballIndex
Not even kidding.
— G. Pirlo (@GingerPirlo_) March 5, 2021
I am 22. Lost a significant amount of my net worth but I will be okay.
I really feel bad for the people with families. The people with mortgages. People who don’t know how they are going to survive.
You did this @MikeB_FI
I hope you can sleep at night!#Footballindex
— IndexAssassin (@AssassinIndex) March 6, 2021
My life is literally in @FootballIndex hands right now lol, my missus thinks our savings is in an account I can’t touch…#footballindex
— Gingitszu (@Gingitszu) March 5, 2021