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Sports Champs Reveal Gambling Problems
24 May 2006
Several high profile cases involving the gambling problems of top athletes on both sides of the Atlantic have come to light in recent months. While the media may focus intensely on a sportsman’s winning streak, it is just as interested in reporting on his troubles. In the U.S., news that Charles Barkley lost $10 million at casinos has proven just as interesting to the American public as Wayne Grady’s reported gambling addiction is to the British public. So how do top athletes, who often have inexhaustible supplies of cash, cope with gambling problems?
It is no secret that in the sporting world, large sums of money are often squandered on gambling on sports events and at casinos. However, unlike the everyday compulsive gambler who must eventually suspend gambling due to limited funds, sports stars and celebrities can bankroll themselves into great debt, sometimes rapidly depleting their fortunes. One well known British footballer, who retired in the mid nineties, lost a staggering one and a half million pounds in several years gambling before he sought help for his compulsive habits.
In the United Kingdom, several well known stars have turned to gambling awareness groups and charities for support, providing valuable publicity for organizations in desperate need of funding. Some stars have even gone on to feature in awareness campaigns and fund-raising drives for charities and have helped to increase the casino industry’s awareness of the problems associated with gambling addiction. And although the term “addiction” may still be a dirty word in some corners, owning up to a gambling problem has usually worked in a star’s favour.
