Gambling addiction: Why elite sportspeople are especially vulnerable

Mark Williams has lost control after a decade of gambling addiction.

He’s been roaming a quagmire of debt for some time now and can no longer pay the interest on his credit cards. Still, he tried to bet £10,000. The screen displayed the words “Insufficient Funds”.

He threw the iPad in his hand as hard as he could. Then he started throwing anything unbound in the living room. He cried and cried and cursed the world and his misfortune.

Then he made eye contact with his 18-month-old daughter sitting on the floor.

“She was just staring at me,” Williams recalls. “I always carry in her mind an image of what I looked like to her.

“I calmed myself down and picked her up. I promised I wouldn’t.” ”

It was November 7, 2018. Williams remembered the day with his eyes tightly closed. Since then he has not placed a bet.

Williams was able to save his relationship with his daughter, but there was little he could do for his football career.

Once sharing the field with Wrexham young prospect and future Premier League regular Hal Robson-Kanu and Welsh Under-21s’ Joe Allen, the sport he loved all his life is no longer a priority. no longer

“I used to be the first person to enter training and the last person to leave,” he says. “But very soon I was last in and first out.

“The managers thought I had an attitude problem. I didn’t know it was much more serious than that.

“I was living a double life. It was so tiring to wake up in the morning and put on a mask and keep smiling with a non-existent smile. I avoided making eye contact with my teammates. The real me. I was afraid of being seen.

“I remember playing in an FA Cup match. My father and mother were in the crowd. It must have been a dream, but all I had in mind was spending a lot of money on a cricket match. I couldn’t do that.” I wait for the final whistle to go check the score.

“I didn’t want to be a footballer anymore. I just wanted to be in my comfort zone where I could gamble away from everyone else.”

“That’s when I felt like I was enough. That was the only time I felt like I was enough.”

Problem gambling, often called a hidden addiction, leaves no mark on the body unlike other obsessive-compulsive disorders such as alcohol and substance abuse. That’s why it’s harder to detect and easier to conceal.

A 2014 study found that gambling problems were three times more common among male professional soccer and cricket players compared to the general youth.

The powerful combination of more leisure time, more disposable income, and a strong desire to win at all costs can create the ideal environment for addictive behaviors to germinate and grow. .

“Some athletes we interviewed believe that the elite athlete personality type lends itself to gambling problems,” explains Keenan Murray, lead author of the 2023 paper.

“They are competitive by nature. Gambling with teammates increases the risk. It’s a group activity and it’s easy to see why you want to win. If there’s a gambling culture within your team, it’s It can be harmful.”

Williams also agrees with Murray’s assessment.

“When my teammate wins big and I lose, it makes me want to gamble even more,” he says. “I was always a competitive player, and I think a lot of my teammates felt the same way.”

Murray’s study, entitled “Predictors of Harmful Gambling Behavior in Elite Athletes,” focused on amateur athletes.

Players who play in the GAA are not paid and typically balance their time on the field with work or higher education. What’s more, they’re playing in a league that doesn’t allow gambling company sponsorships.

English football is a different story.Outside the Premier League, the average salary was over £60,000 a week In a 2019 survey, Players are still well paid. They are fully professional and enjoy a lifestyle with plenty of rest between intense work hours.

In addition, the country’s football players are exposed to gambling company logos and slogans.

“They are everywhere,” says James Grimes, founder of The Big Step, a campaign launched in 2019 to root out gambling advertising from football at all levels.

“They’re on the boulevard. They’re on TV. They’re on the radio. The Football League sponsors Skybet. Major stadiums and teams sponsor Skybet.”

This season, eight Premier League teams have gambling companies on the front of their shirts, and two more have gambling-related ads on their sleeves.

There is no suggestion that Tony, who has been in violation for nearly four years, has a problematic relationship with gambling, but the contrast between his suspension and team sponsorship has drawn attention.

“It’s class hypocrisy,” says Grimes. “These young people are forced to become walking billboards for online casinos and lose their jobs if they use their products.

“I think it’s the first time a Premier League manager has said what we’ve been saying for years. Maybe this will trigger something to actually happen.”

Change has come. Rather, the change will take place in 2026, when gambling companies will no longer be allowed to appear on the front of top league team shirts after a landmark agreement between clubs.

Mr Grimes called the move “disorganized” and said betting companies could continue to occupy players’ sleeves, pitchside sheds, stadium floodlight pylons and airwaves between games.

But the ban before shirts recognizes the negative effects of sport and its close association with products that can cause harm.

Similarities have been noted with tobacco advertising, which was outlawed in the UK in 2003.

Will a gambling sponsorship ban be a silver bullet? Grimes isn’t sure.

“It definitely helps prevent harm. But it doesn’t work by itself. That’s why we also advocate making our products safer and ensuring independent funding for research and treatment.” ’ he says.

Grimes speaks enthusiastically. He said he was driven by a “mission” and was “angry” at football and the industry for letting him down.

When he was 16, he placed 5-pound accumulators for four teams and took home 90 pounds when all were victorious. He still remembers clubs like Histon, Stevenage, Peterborough and Torquay.

“I thought I understood football,” he says.

“It was around this time that my interest in coaching began. By the time I was 17, I had a UEFA qualification. I had worked in the academies of Sheffield United and Doncaster Rovers. Football is my life. That was it. I believed in football with all my heart.”

His stake was even bigger. So was the money he owed to his friends, family, and “shady companies that no longer exist.” In total he lost about £100,000.

He struggled to keep his job. Once he had nowhere else to go and spent several nights sleeping at the train station.

“I was lucky that I didn’t die because it could have easily happened,” he said. “I was on the verge of doing something really bad. I don’t think people understand that this is a potentially deadly addiction.

“I have spoken with parents who have lost a child to gambling-related suicide. They have read their suicide notes and often cite gambling as a major factor. better security measures would be put in place”, but it is far from there. ”

Grimes believes education is at the heart of the solution. Williams is no different, now under contract with Epic Risk Management. The company is a private consulting firm that uses it to tell others about the real-life experiences of athletes with gambling problems. Major clubs in the Premier League such as Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea are customers.

“When I talk to footballers in their rooms, they can relate to the stories I share,” Williams explains. “Sometimes I get emotional.

“I’ll be in a room with people with familiar names, and I’ll hear the pins drop. They’ll recognize the characters, the emotions, the pressures I’m talking about. Even if I’ve played at a higher level than I’ve achieved, the theme is still the same: I feel like I’ve had enough.

Unlike Big Step, Epic does not advocate a separation between football and gambling. The company has partnerships with seven gambling companies and is funded by the industry.

“We have no intention of outlawing gambling in this country,” says Epic senior director John Millington. “Sports betting can be a healthy and enjoyable pastime for many people.

“We seek to equip people, especially vulnerable athletes, to prevent future problems. We know we are making a difference. Through the stories of the athletes we work with, we aim to remove the stigma around harmful gambling.”

It resonated with Williams, who said he was so ashamed of his addiction that he never thought he’d come clean to his manager and teammates.

Murray’s research found that athletes with problems were more likely to talk to their families. Therefore, it is essential to open a safe space for athletes who want to ask for help.

More and more athletes are speaking out in public.

For the 2021 documentary, former Arsenal player Paul Merson interviewed three former footballers recovering from gambling addiction: Keith Gillespie (Newcastle and Northern Ireland), John Hartson (Arsenal and Wales), I got Scott Davis (Reading) together and we talked about their lives and lives. loss.

Four of them believe they lost £15m gambling.

Former Marson and Hartson Arsenal captain Tony Adams founded the Sporting Chance Clinic in 2000. The clinic provides current and former athletes with support and treatment to overcome a variety of addiction disorders.Adams told The Times in 2022 Sports Chance magazine estimates that more athletes are addicted to gambling than alcohol, describing gambling as “the drug of choice for Premier League footballers”.

Perceptions about addiction are changing, but some mental blocks remain.

“There is a problem with athletes asking for help compared to the general public,” explains Alex Mills, director of education and communications at Sporting Chance, which cared for more than 1,000 people last year. .

“There’s a macho side to it. You need an ego to succeed in that world, but that can often equate challenges with weakness.”

All interviewed for this article agreed on the important aspect that gambling addiction is a mental health problem and should also be viewed as a cost to society. The white paper, published on April 27, has sparked conversations among those with the least power to effect change.

Regulation in the gambling sector has undergone the biggest change in nearly two decades, with various measures proposed. According to the paper, it is proposed to limit slot machines to “particularly vulnerable demographics” aged 18 to 24.

Other regulations may impose checks if gamblers lose large sums of money. A gambler is triggered if he loses £1,000 in 24 hours or £2,000 in 90 days.

This measure targets people who are already addicted. But some argue that sensitive fans and wealthy young players with money and time remain vulnerable.

“The later you introduce someone to a product, the less likely they are to become addicted,” says Grimes.

“Children as young as 9 and 10 years old are also exposed to this situation. Unless we permanently eliminate gambling from our sport, we will have generations to deal with this problem.” will be.”

Title graphic: Natalie Leeds

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