BRIAN RICE defended the betting companies that sponsor every major Scottish football competition after being handed a 10-match touchline ban following a Scottish FA disciplinary meeting at Hampden yesterday, but fears that there are more people with gambling issues within the sport that are too scared to come forward.

The Hamilton manager reported himself to Scottish football authorities after his gambling addiction became problematic and will now miss Accies' next five fixtures, with the remaining five games serving as a suspended sentence.

Rice was adamant that he and he alone was responsible for his transgressions, but admitted that he feels there are many other people in Scottish football who are wary about coming forward as they fear the repercussions.

"I’ve never at any stage said that a gambling company was to blame here," he stressed. "Only one person is to blame here and that's me. Not the club, not my family and certainly not the betting companies.

"The betting companies do a fantastic job for Scottish football. I can’t speak highly enough of what they do with their sponsorship.

"We need these companies to put money into Scottish football. There should be no blame attached whatsoever to these betting companies. The blame lies firmly at my door."

The fact that Rice reported himself to the SFA was an important mitigating factor during yesterday's hearing but the 56-year-old believes that there are others who may not wish to hand themselves in to the game's governing body.

"I think there’s lots and lots of people involved in football who are betting on football – there’s various ways of doing it – who want to stop, who are in trouble but who are too afraid to stop," he added. "And if they are in deep enough, they’ll never stop. They need something to help them. I believe they want to come forward but they’re afraid to come forward. We need to find a way to try and help them."