Now I understand that fans bet but why players keep betting on Football? You are already millionaires guys. What will change your life with betting gains? Will you risk your career, your reputation, your popularity for the sake of betting?
Now I understand that fans bet but why players keep betting on Football? You are already millionaires guys. What will change your life with betting gains? Will you risk your career, your reputation, your popularity for the sake of betting?
Gambling is an addiction and most players who get involved in don’t start out betting on football but on other sports but when they get hooked and start losing money they start betting on football because that’s what they know about and have a better chance of winning on.
Keith Gillespie has spoken about this at various times when discussing his gambling issues.
For him as a footballer in the 90s when he finished training for the day usually around lunchtime/early afternoon he would be bored and have nothing else to do with his time so would go to the bookies. Not much football happening on a midweek afternoon so he would gamble on horses. As with most gamblers he ultimately lost more than he won which can add up to quite a lot of money when you have footballer wages to burn so he would then bet on football as he had more insider knowledge to try and recoup his losses until eventually he started betting on his own teams games.
Gambling addiction is real, but it takes a special kind of stupid to wager money on your own high-profile team in this day and age (Toney, Tonali, etc).
The addiction is extremely simple in terms of how it works: place a bet > yummy adrenaline while you wait for the outcome > yummy dopamine if you win. And repeat.
This same dopamine hit can be achieved by playing literally thousands of different games nowadays with access to vpns — and the players know that.
But to bet on your own teams or related league games? That, imo, is an obvious sign that one’s ego and arrogance have crept into the equation.
Sure, there is an argument that footballers who are gambling addicts eventually need to “chase the dragon” — ie. keep doing riskier and riskier things to achieve a greater high.
But unlike sex addicts who might eventually devolve into illegal prostitution (or worse things) or crack addicts who resort to unspeakable actions to get the cash for their next fix, our pin-up football gambling addicts only seems to receive overwhelming support from their respective clubs and supporters… because you know, they are “addicts” and they “need help”.
Of course they do need help. But why the heck are they able to still receive these crazy salaries while banned? This point boils my blood, as the money comes directly from supporters in the stands as well as TV subscribers.
As for the solution? Create a standard clause in every football contract that covers these exact situations; eg. “If you become banned due to gamble on football, you will receive 5% (or whatever minimal percentage you want) of your salary.
This would protect clubs and also dissuade footballers from putting money on games.