Why do so many footballers gamble?

Most of the time we don’t get to see much of what happens in the private lives of footballers and other sports stars. While the highest profile players may get relentlessly followed by paparazzi; most of what reaches the front pages is carefully choreographed, agreed, double checked and approved by clubs first, meaning we know little other than what we’re allowed to.

But in recent years we have heard a number of worrying stories of players suffering from gambling addictions, wasting vast sums while hurting themselves, their families and careers. Michael Chopra, formerly of Ipswich, had to ask his club for a loan to pay off significant gambling debts and was eventually banned from horse race betting after being accused of fixing. Dietmar Hamann has admitted to losing £300,000 in a day on cricket matches and David Bentley has described how he began betting as a teenager; eventually losing control. These individual, sad cases are simply the tip of the iceberg and surveys have found almost 3% of sportsmen had sought help with gambling and Peter Kay, of Sporting Chance Clinic, has described a hidden “epidemic”.

One, controversial, model of gambling behaviour suggests that sufferers may have lowered levels of norepinephrine; which is released in the brain at times of heightened emotion like when I play pixies of the forest with no deposit bonus. Footballers, who deal with high pressure situations each match, are perhaps likely to have naturally lower levels; which would explain part of the phenomenon.

What the stories of problem gamblers likely means of course is that gambling is widespread amongst footballers, but that the public only gets to her about it when things get out of control. The Mirror’s “Secret Player” seems to confirm this suggestion, describing how high stakes gambling, debts and bravado were a big feature of Premier League and England squad nights out.

Its worth remembering that footballers are young men with large incomes and few responsibilities outside of training. Gambling can be a way to show off or to demonstrate that they’ve “made it”. If a player is happy to lose a weeks wages on a bet it represents, to some minds, a show of confidence in the future. It is also possible that the behaviour is a result of frustration or boredom; footballers lives are so regulated they are unlikely to drink or socialise as much as their peers in “normal” jobs.

Gambling is also one of the few vices which players can indulge without having to worry about being slated in the press. While big nights out always have the risk of a stray camera phone snapping an embarrassing shot, playing slots at an online casino like Mr. Smith has no equivalent risk.

Many factors contribute to the prevalence of gambling in professional sports. However the football community may be concerned about discussing any concerns publically, as so much sponsorship revenue comes from big gaming firms. Most of us know when to draw the line and treat gambling as a fun pastime and football clubs should start teaching their young players to do the same, or risk the tragedy of more careers senselessly ruined.