Professional Football Star Facing Bankruptcy After Online Poker Addiction
April 16, 2010 11:17 amHaving admitted to being addicted to online poker, horse racing and poker machines, professional football star Brendan Fevola now stands on the brink of financial ruin, with outstanding debts of around $300,000 owed mainly to the bookies.
The Brisbane Lions Australian rules football star competes in the AFL, where the average wage exceeds $200,000 a year. However, his addiction to gambling has meant he now has nothing to show for his years of competing on the pitch and has now officially declared himself a gambling addict and excluded himself from receiving credit from the bookies.
As Lions CEO Michael Bowers explains; “Effectively, every bookie in Australia should now be on notice that they should not extend any credit to him, they should not bet with him.”
Last week AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou moved to counter rumours about Fevola’s gambling addiction by saying: “I don’t think that’s necessarily true. There are players that like to punt, play poker. That doesn’t necessarily lead to addiction. I enjoy the punt.”
However, with Fevola’s confession the cat is now squarely out of the bag and stories about the football stars gambling sprees have begun to surface, including his modus operandi of placing $10,000 bets on short-priced horses.
Also, card sharps at the Crown Casino’s poker room apparently viewed the Lion’s player as a soft target and would apparently line-up for a chance to relieve him of his cash.
Commenting on Fevola’s addiction to online poker, close friend and world champion poker star Joe Hachem said that he was unaware of Fevola’s taste for high stakes internet poker. He said he had played regularly with Fevola and other members of the team at home games but they had always been for low stakes and, as he explains:
“It was never big money. It was always just about the fact that we were together. We play for something small, just like $50 – it ends up being what we pay for the pizza and beers.”
With his gambling addiction admission and self-exclusion order, Brendan Fevola is now hoping to get his life back on track and is currently receiving financial and personal counselling.