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Scottish football bosses have secretly banned players caught breaking gambling rules.

The move has seen an international player banned from the game without fans knowing about it.

The Scottish Football Association say it was kept secret amid concerns over the player’s well-being.

The Sunday Mail has learned the prominent player, who has played for a string of Scottish sides including Rangers, was the subject of the action in the past year.

He was given an eight-match ban, suspended for six matches, by the football authorities.

His out-of-control habit had seen him rack up huge debts running to thousands with team-mates and friends.

But within weeks of his ban, the international player, who was playing in the Championship at the time, was back betting on football matches.

In messages he shared with a friend, the player ­– who we are not naming – asked for money to gamble.

He said the secret SFA hearing was “like winning the lottery.”

Asked about the hearing last April, he told pals via encrypted messaging service, WhatsApp, “Never been so nervous in my life.” After the hearing he wrote: “Best possible outcome today it’s like wining the lottery today.

“Eight-match ban, need to serve two. If I get caught doing it again I need to do all of them.

“Just hope it stays out the papers. No joke, I thought I would have been given a minimum eight games served by others all the time I broke the rules and the amount of bets.”

But within six weeks he was back trying to bet on football.

He texted friends begging for £100 to bet on two teams in May 2019.

In June he asked for £300 to put on Liverpool winning the Champions League Final, saying he’d use his wages to pay back the debt two days later.

He wrote: “Don’t you worry. I’ll sort it. They will win, don’t you worry.”

A few days later he was asking for £100 to back England against the Netherlands, which England ended up losing 3-1. A former team-mate of the problem gambler complained about how he was owed £8000 in other texts.

He texted: “When [am I going to] see my eight grand?

“Told you last time, no more money. Can’t keep giving you money out. I need it for myself…You need to get your agent on to the club and they need to pay you up. Only thing you can do. Clear all your debt. And if you are left with nothing then so be it. You need to clear your feet.”

The SFA confirmed the player had been given the ban.

The body said that under its rules, some hearings could be held in private.

Supporting medical evidence would usually by required to satisfy its threshold, the spokesman added.

He said: “Parties can request confidentiality if there is a material risk to them or their wellbeing.”

Clubs and the the union for footballers, the Professional Footballers’ Association Scotland, can request it on behalf of the players. In this case, PFAS asked for secrecy around the case.

Fraser Wishart, of PFAS said: “All our interactions with members are completely confidential.

“We provide a safe place for players to come forward to.”

Therapist Steve Pope said the SFA was “streets ahead” of other football authorities on how they treat footballers with gambling problems.

The counsellor, who has worked with a number of international players with crippling betting addictions, said: “The SFA should be congratulated on a lot of their initiatives. It is streets ahead of other football bodies.

“Private hearings would be given to players to encourage them to be honest about the extent of their problems. You have players in a fragile state.

“There are studies that show that problem gamblers are more at risk from self-harm than people with drink or drug problems.

“The football association in England should look to adopt the SFA’s progressive stance on this.”

Last year, it was revealed gambling addicts were 15 times more likely to take their own life than non-gamblers.

The study prompted calls for swifter action by the government to tackle betting addiction.

Swedish academics at Lund University monitored more than 2000 people with gambling disorders.

It found a “significant” elevated risk of suicide among participants compared with the general population over an 11-year period.

The study found that suicide rates increased 19-fold among men between the ages of 20 and 49 if they had a gambling problem and by 15 times among men and women of all ages.

The authors said their work indicated gambling disorders were associated with far higher than average rates of suicide.

Campaigners said that if the same results were applied to the UK, the Swedish study would indicate about 550 suicides a

year in which gambling played a part.

That’s more than 10 a week.

A string of high-profile players have fallen foul of rules on betting in recent years and had their punishments made public by the SFA.

Players including former Manchester City and Newcastle player Joey Barton, who played for Rangers at the time, and Rangers midfielder Ian Black were given bans, SFA disciplinary rules prohibit players, coaches, club officials and referees in Scotland from betting on football anywhere in the world.

Last week, we told how Hamilton Accies boss Brian Rice had bet on thousands of matches while in the grip of his addiction, including betting on the Iranian U19 women’s football team.