ADDICTED TO GAMBLING #3: The ads are everywhere… are we kidding ourselves about the prospect of safe betting?

MPs have linked marketing to harm, and ex-Wrexham striker and recovering addict Marc Williams says sportspeople are SEVEN times more likely to have a problem

Welcome to part III of award-winning sportswriter Stephen McGowan’s investigation series into how gambling addiction blights the lives of a shockingly high number of people involved in our national sport.

On Monday, we heard from Livingston head of football operations Brian Rice about why addicts should be helped rather than punished.

In Part II yesterday, Tranent chairman Brian Johnston revealed how he lost £1million as an addict and how it took him decades to change his life.

In today’s final part, we hear from those who think gambling advertising is out of control and ask: if safe gambling a realistic goal?

Parts II and III are for paid subscribers. Been waiting for right moment to support our indie journalism? Then sign up for our Nutmeg season ticket offer now…

By Stephen McGowan

The top-flight footballer in Europe is likely to play for a league title sponsored by a bookmaker. He might be expected to wear a betting firm logo on the front of his shirt or, at the very least, on the sleeve. When he goes to take a throw-in, he might be faced by an LED fixed perimeter board with a bookie’s name in eye-catching colours. And, when he scores the winning goal, he will conduct his post-match broadcast interview in front of a board emblazoned with sponsors’ logos. At least one of them is odds-on to be an official gambling partner.

“Athletes in Europe are seven times more likely to be susceptible to a gambling problem,” says Marc Williams, the former Wales under-21 international who now devotes his working life to delivering footballers from the temptations he once succumbed to himself.

“Young players have time, boredom and the desire to escape from the pressures of the game or the injuries that come with it. That certainly played a massive part in me turning to gambling.

“You have the competitive drive that we all have as athletes and then you factor in a culture of gambling within sport. It’s part of the camaraderie and bringing a team together. It’s a game of cards at the back of the bus on the way to an away game. Factor all of that in and you begin to understand why players are susceptible to gambling.”

It’s not just young footballers. Westminster’s All Party Parliamentary Group on Gambling Reform believe there is a clear link between gambling advertising and harm in society at large. Recent figures from the Gambling Commission showed that 2.5% of adults and 1.5% of children are experiencing serious harm from gambling.