Chris Sutton has revealed that he was scoring goals in the Premier League while on £10/week.
Kieron Dyer’s revelations about the impact of gambling within the England squad has shocked supporters down south as it becomes apparent that some of the top names in the game were gambling away their massive wages.
More and more players are coming out to reveal the extent of the problem which has a few common features.
Too much money and too much time seems to be the lethal combination with Sutton enjoying the early trappings of success at Norwich as the money started to pour in with the creation of the EPL.
“As a young footballer, I loved the thrill of gambling,” the popular pundit explained to the Daily Mail. “After getting myself into thousands of pounds of debt, the thought of betting large sums of money made me feel physically sick.
“The early Nineties were an exciting time for me both on and off the pitch. I had broken into the Norwich City team during one of the greatest periods in the club’s history and was starting to make a name for myself.
“I was not long out of school, living on my own and being paid £500 a week having never had much money before
“After training, a few of us would spend whole afternoons at the bookmakers. Then, we would go back to one of our houses and bet on the dogs on Teletext.
“More often than not, we’d spend the evening at Kings Casino in Great Yarmouth. The casino made a real fuss of us — they would serve us lobster free of charge.
“It was not just the gambling that gave me a buzz. There was an adrenaline rush that came with the whole experience.
“The problem with betting all the time is that eventually you will come a cropper. I got myself into debt and I panicked.
“I went to my parents. They told me in no uncertain terms that I was chucking my money away and that I should be ashamed of myself.”
Sutton added: “At the age of 19 or 20, I found myself in the bizarre situation where I was scoring goals in the Premier League and being limited to £10-a-day spending money by my mum.
“Afterwards, I never liked the feeling the thought of gambling gave me. When I moved to Blackburn, I was being paid very good money. To make the winnings worthwhile it would mean betting huge sums of money and that was something I was not prepared to do.”
Dior claimed that England players were betting with astronomical sums at major tournaments with the losses impacting on individual performances.
Reacting to the story John Hartson told TalkSPORT that he had been approached by five EPL managers this season to discuss gambling problems with players.
