Joey Barton has been suspended from all football activity for 18 months after admitting a misconduct charge relating to betting, the Football Association has announced.
Barton is alleged to have placed 1,260 bets on football matches between March 2006 and May 2013.
The 34-year-old midfielder started his career with Manchester City and has played for Newcastle, QPR, Marseille and Rangers. He also has one full England cap.
In January, he rejoined Burnley after a successful stint with the Premier League club in 2015/16 and has played 13 league games this campaign, scoring once.
A short statement from Burnley said Barton will appeal against the length of the ban.
Barton released lengthy statement on his personal website, insisting his integrity was not in question, while also admitting to a gambling addiction.
He also questioned the role betting companies play in the modern game.
"The FA have announced I am banned from all football for 18 months and fined £30,000 and costs for offences against The FA's Betting Rules.
"I am very disappointed at the harshness of the sanction. The decision effectively forces me into an early retirement from playing football. To be clear from the outset here this is not match fixing and at no point in any of this is my integrity in question.
I accept that I broke the rules governing professional footballers, but I do feel the penalty is heavier than it might be for other less controversial players.
"I have fought addiction to gambling and provided the FA with a medical report about my problem. I'm disappointed it wasn't taken into proper consideration.
"I think if the FA is truly serious about tackling the culture of gambling in football, it needs to look at its own dependence on the gambling companies, their role in football and in sports broadcasting, rather than just blaming the players who place a bet.
"I am not alone in football in having a problem with gambling. I grew up in an environment where betting was and still is part of the culture. From as early as I can remember my family let me have my own pools coupon, and older members of the family would place bets for me on big races like the Grand National. To this day, I rarely compete at anything without there being something at stake.
"Whether that's a round of golf with friends for a few pounds, or a game of darts in the training ground for who makes the tea, I love competing. I love winning. I am also addicted to that. It is also the case that professional football has long had a betting culture, and I have been in the sport all my adult life."
Barton admitted to having a Betfair account in his own name since 2004, which he had verified with his own passport.
The player posted details of what he described as the "thirty most pertinent bets as determined by the FA".
The 30 bets were broken down evenly between bets backing his own team on matches involving his team and bets backing the opposition on matches involving his team.
In the latter instance, all Barton’s bets concerned matches in which he did not feature.
Barton’s betting appeared to have a haphazard staking policy and his record over the period was lamentable.
Of the £1994.50 he staked on positive results involving his own side, including a £3 bet on himself to score first in a Premier League match while playing for Manchester City against Fulham in 2006, Barton lost £1984.50.
Barton lost £1199.40 of the £1688.00 he gambled on bets for his club to lose.
