Excessive Courtroom Submitting Lifts Lid on Tony Bloom’s $800M Betting Empire

• Lawsuit reveals internal workings of Tony Bloom’s Starlizard syndicate
• Courtroom paperwork describe secret unique accounts run through frontmen
• Plaintiff Ryan Dudfield claims 7% share of Cottrell-linked income

A brand new submitting in London’s Excessive Courtroom this week supplied a glimpse into the internal workings of  StarLizard, the secretive playing syndicate run by poker professional Tony “The Lizard” Bloom, proprietor of English Premier League membership Brighton & Hove Albion.

Tony “The Lizard” Bloom, pictured at Ascot Racecourse in June 2025, is among the most profitable sports activities bettors on this planet. New courtroom filings present a glimpse into his extremely secretive world. (Picture: Getty)

The filings are related to the continued civil case towards Bloom by former enterprise accomplice Ryan Dudfield, who claims he’s owed a share of StarLizard’s income – to the tune of $17.5 million (US$23 million).

StarLizard is among the world’s most profitable betting syndicates. The paperwork allege it makes use of rich frontmen with a fame as shedding gamblers to position bets, together with “footballers, sportsmen, and businessmen.”

Since sportsbooks typically refuse to take bets from profitable gamblers, rich losers are an ideal entrance for Bloom’s syndicate, and their betting accounts are extremely valued, in keeping with the filings. Inside StarLizard, these accounts are known as “secret unique accounts,” and are fastidiously managed from throughout the syndicate’s workplaces in London’s Canary Wharf, the filings declare.

Cottrell Matches the Invoice

Certainly one of StarLizard’s frontmen is reportedly George Cottrell, an aide to Nigel Farage, chief of the UK’s populist, right-wing Reform Get together, the paperwork allege.

Cottrell actually matches the profile. Born into an aristocratic household, he is named a high-stakes gambler who as soon as misplaced $20 million enjoying poker in a single night.

He’s additionally a convicted fraudster who spent eight months in jail within the US for wire fraud. In 2014, he was promoting himself on the darkish internet as an offshore funding skilled who may launder cash out and in of the US.

When two FBI brokers posing as drug sellers reached out for his providers, Cottrell agreed to satisfy them in Las Vegas to flesh out a deal.

He was initially charged with 21 felonies, together with conspiracy to commit cash laundering, wire fraud, blackmail, and extortion, earlier than finally pleading responsible to at least one rely of wire fraud after taking a plea deal.

Revenue Cut up

Dudfield alleges he was entitled to a 7% share of the income generated by way of betting exercise run through George Cottrell’s accounts. The profit-split divided returns 60% to the syndicate, 33% to Cottrell, and seven% to Dudfield, in keeping with the submitting.

The plaintiff claims the syndicate misled him by telling him operations utilizing these accounts had ceased, whereas in actuality it continued to position substantial volumes of bets and generate winnings to which he argues he was contractually owed a share, in keeping with courtroom paperwork.

He says income generated by way of Cottrell’s accounts would have entitled him to funds price round $17.5 million.

StarLizard’s total income are believed to be about £600 million (US$800 million) per 12 months — sufficient to finance Bloom’s 2009 takeover of Brighton & Hove Albion and his later acquisitions of Belgian staff Union Saint-Gilloise, Scotland’s Coronary heart of Midlothian, and Australia’s Melbourne Victory.