England international David Bentley has revealed his battle with a gambling addiction that for several years consumed his life and took precedence over his football career

The Blackburn Rovers midfielder has developed into one of the most hotly sought-after properties in English football, three years after beating his addiction.

“I got to the point where all I wanted to do was have a bet and you can’t live like that," Bentley said in a frank interview with Setanta Sports.

"You get addicted to the whole thing, trying to pick a winner. It started out just by loving it but you can’t help but get to the next level. In the end you risk losing it all. How many bets did I place every day? It depended how many races there were. It could have been anything from 50 to 100," he remembered.

"It was a joke. I was on everything - the horses, the dogs, poker and bingo. I’d wake up in the morning and the first thing I thought of was to have a bet instead of thinking about football. The more I earned, the more I’d bet. It starts off on pounds. Then it’s hundreds and then thousands.

It’s never about winning £100, you want to win a hundred grand. It was difficult to stop doing it but luckily enough I got out of it," the midfielder commented, adding that it was after revealing all to his family that he finally kicked the habit.

Jimmy James, Goal.com

10/04/2008 08:53
Goal.com