Michael Chopra: £2m gambling hell...

Former Newcastle United striker Michael Chopra has revealed he has blown a staggering £2,000,000 on gambling...

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/7285032/

...it's nothing out of the ordinary these days for someone to get themselves into a mess with gambling addiction, but £2m??? ...

I suppose it's all relative to your income but even so...

 

****ing idiot. He could have given it to me.

 

I've seen this first hand, it's not nice.

 

Yeah same here mate, I second that. A family member of mine has been in bother over it and it's a real ordeal for everyone concerned.

 

Perhaps Michael was heavily backing himself to score? ...

 

I've seen it in numerous people and have been there myself for a brief period of time. I wasn't quite in the same vein as hardcore gamblers, but if you're losing more than you can reasonably afford to then it becomes a problem, whether thats £2 or £200,000.

 

"In my first season at Cardiff I had a gambling debt from when I was at Newcastle," added Chopra. "I had to leave Cardiff and sign for another team to pay that debt off."

So what he's saying is the only reason he went to Sunlan was to get a signing on fee to pay his debt??

 

I have to say i've never gambled - never seen the appeal.

My Grandad always said it was "...a mug's game..." and although harsh, I think it's quite fair.

I believe more needs to be done to prevent people getting addicted to gambling - every other advert is for a gambling web-site these days... anyone with a problem has such easy access.

It's a very real problem.

 

If I get started Joker, I'll bore you to sleep. There is quite a lot of help for gambling addicts, but like any other addiction, it only works if you are prepared to help yourself a little bit too along the way. If only the Government could see it that way. Every licensed betting operator has a social responsibility to ensure they protect problem gamblers, and part of this is actually telling people that you think they've got a problem. And funnily enough, people don't like being told that they gamble too much. I could write 10,000 words on this, but I think anyone who read that will probably be making an extra strong coffee now.

Your Grandad was right though.

 

I have to say that I have dreadful luck and will only play with a set amount of money on the very rare occasion i gamble. i will say right. i'm going into the casino with £25 and if i lose i'm turning around and leaving. i'll only stay if i win something with the intial bit of money i started playing with. as you can see £25 hardly makes me a prolific gambler but its having the nerve to turn and leave if you're over your limit.

 

If the Government want to help with this problem they should reduce the amount of TV advertising that goes on.

They banned cigarette & alcohol adverts so why not gambling?

You go ahead and write as much as you like Dave - I for one would be fascinated... purely because I simply don't understand the addiction.

How many corner kicks? ... wtf?

 

This is not in the slightest bit sarcastic - your Granda clearly had a massive impact on you, mentioned him quite a few times!

I'd have the odd £1 on the football and £5er at poker between mates, but never been overly into it!

 

I'll keep it very brief. Before the Gambling Act 2005 (or 2007, can never remember) a betting shop was much like a sex shop. Covered windows, double doors etc. so Joe Public walking past couldn't see inside. The whole point was that it was an offence to entice people to gamble. The new legislation took away all those restrictions so that bookmakers could open up their shops and start putting posters in the windows and adverts on the tele. But in true UK Government fashion, they placed unworkable restrictions on other things instead, a few different governing bodies were set up, it cost the bookmakers an arm and a leg in license fees and the responsibility just got shifted about a bit

The simple fact is that if you want it and you know where you can get it, you'll go and get it. If you're a smoker and all trace of cigarettes are hidden away under the counter at your local shop, you still go in and say "20 Lambert" and you still get 20 Lambert. Even when off-course gambling was illegal in this country, people would still get addicted to it and spunk a weeks wages away on the nags!

As for corners betting, the decline in the quality of horse racing has led to the increase in the need for other betting markets. The amount of **** people bet on is quite staggering.

 

Absolutely true. The amount of publicity gambling recieves now is ridiculous - look at Bwin's deal with Real Madrid, Sporting Bet with Wolves and 188 Bet with Bolton.

It's hard as a football fan, having this smeared in your face at every possible chance not be tempted into giving gambling a go.

 

on a lighter note...i've been putting the lotto on since i was 16yrs old. i'm knocking on the door of 28 now and i've never even won a tenner! that shows you how lucky I am...

 

I've won the odd tenner here and there. Had a couple of good wins on horses and football too. But I'm probably still down overall. I often wish I could just see all the money I've wasted on gambling, lottery tickets, drinking etc. laid out in front of me.

 

...straight out to see your 'turf accountant'? ...

 

the problem with gambling is that it is only ever a one way thing - the only person in the transaction taking a gamble is the punter. The bookie will have whatever market the punter is betting on nicely set up so that they make money regardless of the outcome of the event.

they are shops. they sell odds and the more turnover they have the bigger the profits - this is the reason for all their advertising.

they are a bunch of thieving scumbags.

 

That's the whole point of bookmaking though. It's meant as a leisure activity, whereby people can add entertainment to watching sporting events by having a flutter on them too. Bookmakers are there to make a profit, they wouldn't be there if they didn't.