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A former Premier League star has revealed that when his gambling addiction was at its peak, he was losing a quarter of a million pounds a night.
Wigan defender Steven Caulker, who has played for the likes of Tottenham, Liverpool during a 14-year career, says most people don’t understand the pressure that top-flight players are under.
Steven had a long road into the professional game, being rejected by a number of clubs before managing to get a trial at Tottenham. He was so certain he wasn’t going to pass the audition at White Hart Lane he forgot his boots, stopped off for a Burger King on the way, and that ironically led to him being relaxed enough to allow his natural ability to shine.
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But Steven’s addiction to gambling was a constant struggle for him, and the huge pay packets he collected as a Premier League player only magnified his losses.
“When I was earning £20 a day from shoplifting I’d still lose it on Penny Up The Wall,” he told podcaster Dodge Woodall, “I constantly had that need for a buzz. But when I started going to casinos, it went out of control.
“At the age of 18 I’d be in there until two or three in the morning. Losing and losing and chasing my losses. I'm not one of those gamblers who could tell you ‘Oh I won my first bet’ or stuff like that, I was just chasing my losses constantly.
“As I moved through the leagues and started to earn more and more money my gambling got worse and worse and worse. But what happens is casinos start opening new doors.”
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Steven started being invited into exclusive private rooms with free Champagne and food, but his massive loses far outweighed all the little perks. He explained: “In those moments where you're winning you’re on top of the world. Everyone’s in there drinking Champagne and thinking it's amazing.
“But when you're losing there's there's no worse place to be. At my peak, I was spending a quarter of a million, or more…it wasn't a glamorous lifestyle.
“I was so desperate to get my money back that the only thought that goes through my head is ‘just keep increasing it’ and the casinos and the bookies just kept making it easier for me.
“I first spent six figures in a night when I was 21 or 22, and once I’d done that, that was it…”
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The casino operators would have known he had a problem, but Steven knows that ultimately he’s responsible for his own downfall. He adds that for the most part his team-mates didn’t know how he was spending his nights and would be playing football the next day.
Although there were a few exceptions: “When I was at Swansea we had a squad of gamblers and drinkers. It was the best year ever.”
But Steven was soon to his rock bottom. “The only relief I found was in alcohol,” he later told The Guardian. "It would silence the voices of doubt and self-hate, temporarily anyway, but I’d be too drunk to go into training, and the blackouts – I’d have no memory of anything.
“It could be Monday and I’d have no memory of what had happened since Saturday night. I’d wake up, roll over and look at my phone, and there’d be texts from people saying: ‘Did you really do this last night?’ ‘The manager wants to see you.’”
Steven admits that his problems with booze and gambling blighted his football career and led him to consider suicide. Today, at 31, he has spent the last couple of years helping in orphanages, homeless shelters and schools.
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- Premier League
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