Gambling - Niall McNamee's and John Hartson's troubles

[theticklemister]

Great read here.......


Listen again to the full John Hartson interview in a BBC Radio 5 live Special on Gambling Addiction in Sport with Eleanor Oldroyd.

A fearless and robust striker, John Hartson's forthright response to being diagnosed with cancer came as little surprise to anybody who knew him well.

But there was one challenge "Big John" repeatedly shirked, his life-threatening addiction to gambling.

"You never think you've got a problem," he explained. "You're a gambler, you enjoy it, you never realise the hurt you're causing.

"Your family know you're addicted, but I used to think they had the problem by questioning me."

Then the questions stopped. Hartson's wife Sarah had had enough of him coming in from trips away, ignoring her and the children, going straight to the TV and turning on a cricket match, golf tournament or horse race he had £5,000 on.

So she packed her bags and told him she was leaving.

"I broke down and said I'd do something about this," the former Arsenal, West Ham and Celtic star remembered, his voice buckling with emotion and regret.

"When I was fighting for my life [with cancer], she was my rock. She was pregnant, she looked after the children, she was incredibly strong, and this sc**bag here came out of hospital and carried on with the gambling, after everything she had done.

"I hit rock bottom and it takes that for you to realise - the penny dropped. I will never gamble again as long as I live."


Hartson scored 206 goals in 505 club games in England and Scotland, and 14 in 51 games for Wales
'If I gamble again, I'll die'
Hartson's last bet was three years, three months and three days ago.

"Everybody is aware that cancer kills. It nearly took my life in 2009," the 39-year-old said, recalling the two emergency operations and more than 60 sessions of chemotherapy he needed when testicular cancer spread to his lungs and brain.

"Cancer takes good people away every day, but, for me, gambling also kills.

"There are four places you can end up as a compulsive gambler: out on the street, in jail, dead, or at Gamblers Anonymous (GA).

"I ended up at GA, thank the Lord, and it's not only saved my marriage and made me a better person, it's also saved my life. If I gamble again, I'll die. I'll lose everything.

"I'm ultra-determined. I don't think about gambling today. I don't buy raffle tickets, I don't buy lottery tickets, I don't go to race tracks - I go to GA twice a week.

"I'll be going until I'm 70. Why wouldn't I? It's my medicine."

Sportsmen are three times more likely to gamble
Hartson sees a lot of different people walk through the doors of those meetings - there are an estimated 400,000 people in the UK with a problem - but most of them do not come back. They have not reached their nadir yet.

"You're very selfish as a gambler, very deceitful. Compulsive gamblers are compulsive liars - they're very good at covering things up," said Hartson.

So good, in fact, many can appear, swan-like, to be gliding through life, holding down jobs, living in nice houses, with loving families. And a disproportionately large group can feed this destructive addiction whilst playing professional sport.


Former Cardiff and Sunderland striker Michael Chopra estimates he lost a total of £2m gambling
Hartson's testimony came at a conference organised by the Professional Players Federation (PPF) at Edgbaston Cricket Ground last month.

An umbrella body for the players' associations in cricket, football, rugby union and other leading sports, the PPF wanted to share some research into an issue that has been the stuff of terrace legend.

From jokes about QPR maverick Stan Bowles' inability to pass a bookmaker as well as he could pass a ball, to guesstimates of how many millions golf's favourite rogue John Daly has lost in Las Vegas, the idea that sport's competitive and wealthy young men were cash machines for the gambling industry has been commonplace.

Now, thanks to a study of almost 350 cricketers and footballers, we know sportsmen are three times more likely to have a gambling problem than young men in the general population (6.1% versus 1.9%).

That equates to nearly 200 current professionals in British cricket and football with a serious issue, and another 440 "at risk".

The study had a few more punches to deliver. One in 10 said they gambled to "fit in", one in four said they were encouraged by team-mates to do it, and nearly one in three thought their team's links with the gambling industry "encouraged" them to bet.

For football, in particular, that should be alarming.

A quarter of the Premier League's clubs have gambling logos on their shirts, the Football League's 72 clubs play in competitions sponsored by Sky Bet, William Hill backs the Football Association and pretty much every club has its own "official betting partner".

The highest suicide rate of any addiction
Sporting Chance's chief executive Colin Bland revealed that seven out of 10 of the footballers that come to the Tony Adams-inspired residential clinic are there because of gambling.

But Hartson is not looking for excuses. He realises the vast majority of people gamble rarely, and when they do, they do it because it is fun.

While he may have been frittering away a reported £50,000 a week - he does not put a figure on it himself, as the amounts addicts gamble is relative to their earnings and it is always too much - his dad takes his business clients to Ffos Las racecourse once a year for champagne and £20 each-way punts. "Not everybody gets drawn in," he noted.

But some who do get it bad: gambling has the highest suicide rate of any addiction.


Niall McNamee (in green, playing for Offaly) contemplated suicide when his gambling got out of hand
Sitting alongside Hartson during the conference's main session was Gaelic footballer Niall McNamee. He told a similar tale of the disease's progressive nature - moments of relief that became more fleeting as tolerance to betting's buzz builds.

But he also spoke about bad company, lies, stealing and, ultimately, despair.

"I remember waking up one morning with a knot in my stomach," said McNamee. "It was the most gut-wrenching pain. I had no money to go gambling with, or to buy drink to numb the pain.

"The thought came to me that if I jumped out of the window that would end it all. It terrified me. I have had friends who have died from this addiction."

Thankfully, this was his rock bottom, and he got help. McNamee, who is still one of the game's top forwards, is now a well-respected voice on problem gambling in Ireland, and at 29 is about to launch his own business.

'I should be living in a £4m mansion'
For Hartson, the first symptoms appeared as an 11-year-old potboy at a social club in Swansea. Fascinated by the fruit machines, he memorised the reels and was called over by the adults whenever they had a few nudges.

It sounds innocent enough, but before long he was pouring his money into those machines and begging for money for match fees at the weekend. A decade later he would have accounts with all the top bookmakers and was so consumed by gambling that he would struggle to hold a serious conversation.


Hartson is still a hero among fans of Celtic, where he scored more than 100 goals in a five-year spell
"I can concentrate now and focus on what people are saying, but five years ago I couldn't," he admitted. "My life is so much better now. I'm a better husband, a better father, and I've got money coming out of my ears!"

And just as his cancer foundation is helping people deal with that affliction, he now hopes he can persuade a few footballers to think about their futures.

"I was in a lot of trouble physically and mentally when I quit," said Hartson, who went out with a whimper at West Brom.

"I should be living in a £4m mansion on the edge of the Vale of Glamorgan but I'm not because of all the money I wasted. I've got a nice house in Swansea, and it's paid for, but that's what I should have when you think about the money I earned.

"I would like players now to aspire to the big house."

'We're at a tipping point'
Betting is an integral part of our culture - three quarters of the UK's adult population have gambled, most likely on the National Lottery, in the past year - and betting companies have moved into the sponsorship space vacated by tobacco and, to a lesser extent, alcohol. Without them many sports would struggle.

But listening to the speakers at the conference, it was impossible to avoid the conclusion that British sport needs to look again at its relationship with gambling.


Former Gloucestershire and New Zealand cricketer Craig Spearman said that when his gambling problem escalated, "at times the pain and self-loathing pushed me to the brink".
More must be done to protect the vulnerable, identify problems earlier and make sure gambling is a happy mug's game, not a debilitating illness.

Simon Barker, the assistant chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, notes that prevention through education is cheaper than emergency interventions. His counterpart at the Professional Cricketers' Association, Jason Ratcliffe, said sport was only "scratching the surface" in terms of what was needed.

The Responsible Gambling Trust's chief executive Marc Etches has managed to persuade the gambling industry to donate more than £6m of its profits to fund education and treatment, but he knows it is not enough.

"We're at a tipping point," said Etches. "The industry needs to recognise that it's in the business of risk, and it needs to take more responsibility."

[T Fearon]

Same story about any form of addiction.  I am a regular small gambler (rarely a day would pass without me having a wager) but it is small, affordable and done more for an interest than any delusion of making serious money. Don't succumb to winning streaks or anything like that and probably over any given period I break even.

[seafoid]

Watching World cup matches on ITV was very interesting. All the gambling ads at half time- a huge change from a few years earlier.
And one quarter of premiership teams are sponsored by betting firms. Gamble responsibly is bullshit for those prone to addiction.

[T Fearon]

Same could be said of smoking,alcohol etc.Sadly there will always be those unfortunates with addictive personalities

[seafoid]

Same could be said of smoking,alcohol etc.Sadly there will always be those unfortunates with addictive personalities

they shouldn't be allowed advertise at half time

[T Fearon]

Why? It's not an illegal activity. You might as well say RTE shouldn't broadcast the lottery draws

[RealSpiritof98]

Tony did you listen to the show? why are you trying to down play what is a serious problem? a problem that is on the rise fast esp. among 14-24 year olds. We all know about all the addictions, if you havn't any thing positive or at least informative to the subject why would you clearly try and water it down.

Why? It's not an illegal activity. You might as well say RTE shouldn't broadcast the lottery draws

I wouldnt be to sure about that, the rise of internet gambling has caught quite a lot of countries off guard regarding legislation and regulation, some have chosen to act some have not. If you actually dig deep enough there is substantial 'turning of the other cheek/blind eye' in this country and many more to betting markets are illegal. I understand many people can hold there own and enjoy a small wager and well within their means and they are well within their rights to do so. But betting companies are Venus Fly traps, they want you in with hollywood dream of the big win and then to lose and lose big. If you have a profitable account, they cancel it-end of story!!

If anyone can recall Boxing Day, nearly every firm had tweeted out a 10 timer football accy from heaven to win a punter £500k, it was funny how similar each story was but with a different firm, putting Bullshit out there on one of the biggest punting days of the year.

[seafoid]

Why? It's not an illegal activity. You might as well say RTE shouldn't broadcast the lottery draws

I don't remember it as a feature of football matches  when I was younger . It's taunting addicts and many will fall for it.
It don't think it's ethical.

[T Fearon]

I am in receipt of such enticing offers daily,but I am disciplined to at least be selective.Gambling is an industry,just like alchohol,tobacco etc.Are you suggesting it should be banned?

My accounts with bookmakers are not profitable from their point of view,but they don't close them in fact they sent me to Man Utd V Liverpool just before Xmas just for placing a £5 bet on a premiership game ( a bet that was successful too)

[From the Bunker]

Some serious gamblers at work! You realise when you hear about winnings. You see you'll always hear of a €50 bet that came in at 5/1 or a €30 that came in at 10/1! And that all sounds good, but you realise there are the umpteen bets (of €30, €50 etc) that don't come in that you don't hear about. Fortunately for a lot of them (and their families) they are not computer literate, so their gambling is restricted to the local retail outlet from 10am to 6pm.

[seafoid]

I am in receipt of such enticing offers daily,but I am disciplined to at least be selective.Gambling is an industry,just like alchohol,tobacco etc.Are you suggesting it should be banned?

My accounts with bookmakers are not profitable from their point of view,but they don't close them in fact they sent me to Man Utd V Liverpool just before Xmas just for placing a £5 bet on a premiership game ( a bet that was successful too)

It should be regulated properly. No need to ban it.

[illdecide]

Lads gambling has always been a problem but it has got much worse since on-line gambling was introduced as people can now gamble 24/7. I gamble myself and I know sometimes I gamble more than I should but I have never gambled money that I couldn't afford to lose having said that I can understand how easy it is to let it get a grip of you as gambling is very addictive. I walk into Sean Graham bookies on a Fri afternoon for a weekend football coupon and the young students from Queen's wearing their GAA tops gambling on anything that moves is frightening, they're obviously gambling their student loans.
Having read big John's article and the frightening stuff from Niall McNamee I hope there can be some sort of legislation in the future to stop or limit the advertising of gambling, I have also seen 3 guys from my own club (22 year olds) attending GA in Newry who were in serious trouble thru gambling. Its a serious problem that's getting worse, it was just compared to other addictions but I thing its actually the worst of them all as you can drink and drink until your drunk and can't drink anymore but you can gamble non stop until everything is gone and more.

[T Fearon]

Regulation will drive it into pubs,clubs etc.All addictions can be beaten with willpower and adequate support.I have been gambling modestly since the late 70s,and I think my largest ever bet was £10.Im afraid it would only take me to lose a substantial amount of money once (if I was silly enough to stake a serious amount of money in the first place) to deter me from ever doing so again.

By the way if you have online betting accounts you get bombarded with copious email/text offers so the TVs ads make no difference.

On the same subject Skybet's enhanced 5/1 on a Chelsea,Man City,West Brom treble tomorrow is well worth a fiver,but nothing larger!

[Syferus]

I heard Osin Mc talking about his own addiction to gambling and he was very adamant about how easy it is to hide your addiction and service yoir addiction with the advent of online gambling. Really looks like an epidemic at this stage. Online gambling is a whole new ball-game.

[theticklemister]

Regulation will drive it into pubs,clubs etc.All addictions can be beaten with willpower and adequate support.I have been gambling modestly since the late 70s,and I think my largest ever bet was £10.Im afraid it would only take me to lose a substantial amount of money once (if I was silly enough to stake a serious amount of money in the first place) to deter me from ever doing so again.

By the way if you have online betting accounts you get bombarded with copious email/text offers so the TVs ads make no difference.

On the same subject Skybet's enhanced 5/1 on a Chelsea,Man City,West Brom treble tomorrow is well worth a fiver,but nothing larger!

I disagree with Ye there that all addictions can be beaten with support. Depends on the individual.