Premier League ace ‘blows £15million fortune on gambling addiction and is forced to downsize home’
The £40,000-a-week midfielder has struggled to overcome his addiction to card games and online casinos
A PREMIER League footballer gambled away £15million after getting hooked on card games and online casinos, it has been claimed.
The £40,000-a-week midfielder, who cannot be named, was forced to downsize his family home after allegedly struggling to keep up with his mortgage payments because of his addiction.
The Brit is the latest online gambler to be outed by a whisteblower.
They told : “He has a VIP rating.
“You can see from his account that he is being invited to all the big race days, parties and football matches."
While a source added: “It is desperate when you think how much he has earned throughout his career. They have the posh cars but they are all leased because of his financial situation."
It comes the day after it was claimed an England football star bet £500 on his own transfer to a top flight club in a bid to win £5,000.
But the unnamed player’s illegal bet was blocked when suspicious staff at the betting app realised who he was, so he did not win a penny.
Despite trying to cheat, the site still let him set up another £40,000 account for roulette, a source at a top bookmaker claimed to the
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An average punter would have been banned but bookies deliberately target players by offering them a range of freebies and invites to glamorous events, the insider said.
Another Premier League ace also lost £500,000 on mobile phone casino games in just 12 months, it was alleged. And a Scottish star begged bookies to close his betting account after losing £25,000 on slot machines, saying: "My gambling is out of control."
The shocking levels of problem gambling among football players are now under intense scrutiny.
It comes after Burnley midfielder Joey Barton was banned by the FA last month for 18 months for placing 1,260 football bets over 10 years. Football players are banned from betting on their own sport.
The insider told the Daily Mirror: “Top players get invites to big sport events. They give them goodies so they get them to spend money, and free food and booze when they get there.
“One PL defender at a struggling club lost £500,000 on his mobile phone.”
At one point the account was £1.2 million up, but by the end the player had just 39p left, the source said.
A worldwide ban on betting on football came into force at the start of the 2014-2015 season for all those involved in the fame from the Premier League through all the leagues to the lower levels.
FA chairman Greg Clarke has ordered a report into whether the English game's governing body should end its partnership with betting companies.
The FA signed a "long-term" deal with Ladbrokes in June 2016 to become its "official betting partner" following a similar agreement with William Hill.
The organisation also has commercial deals with alcoholic drinks firms such as Budweiser.
The report - ordered at the start of the season by Clarke - into whether such agreements are appropriate is due to be published later this year.
"We are actively considering what our position will be and should be," Clarke told the Times on Friday.
"I have thought about the relationship between betting and football, and alcohol and football, and I raised this at the start of the season when I took over as chairman.
"At the end of the season, when that paper is produced, the FA board will take a measured decision on what our position should be."
Of the 20 Premier League sides, 11 have betting companies' logos on their shirts while the three English Football League divisions are sponsored by Sky Bet.
The FA's regulations on gambling stipulate that a player should not “instruct, permit, cause or enable” any person to bet the “result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of, or occurrence in, a football match or competition.”
Players are also prohibited from relaying to others “any information relating to football” which has been “obtained by virtue of his or her position within the game”.
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