Neil Lennon warns Steve Jennings betting incident may not be isolated

Celtic's manager, Neil Lennon, believes the betting controversy surrounding Tuesday night's Scottish Premier League game between Motherwell and Hearts merely highlights the troubled link between football and gambling. The Gambling Commission is investigating an unusual flurry of bets on a player being sent off in the game, which saw Motherwell's Steve Jennings dismissed. The bets were placed in the Liverpool area, where Jennings is from, although the player denies any wrongdoing. No news on that inquiry is expected before next week but Lennon has pointed to a wider issue with players. "With the online gambling scene now, a lot of players fritter their money away very quickly, very easily," Lennon said. "Listen, betting has been there since the year dot – since I've been involved in football. "I've played with a lot of boys who were massive punters. But this is where they can sit in the house and gamble and I've had to have a word with a couple of the players [at Celtic] privately. "Sometimes it's something you can't control. As for this issue on Tuesday, nothing has been proved yet and it's not isolated to Scottish football, it's happening in Europe and something we don't want to see in the game." Celtic have been hit by an injury to Shaun Maloney which will see the former Aston Villa man miss a huge chunk of the season. Maloney, who had started the season brightly, underwent ankle surgery in London on Monday and will be out for a minimum of three months. "He had a run of consecutive games recently that he hadn't had for a long, long time," said Lennon of Maloney. "He was feeling very good about himself, confident and enjoying his football. It's just one of those things, unfortunately. "I'm sure he's devastated. I've not seen him since he had the surgery as we gave him a bit of time off. He had worked so hard to get back to where he was." Lennon also refused to discount the title credentials of Hearts, who have suddenly risen to within three points of Celtic and six of Rangers. "You can't write Hearts off with the form that they've showed. They are playing with a lot of confidence at the moment. They have got good experience and a good mix in the team. They're only three behind us, so we have to take that seriously. "I wouldn't dismiss them because you can end up with egg on your face."