Wayne Rooney, one of the most successful England footballers, has revealed some details about his gambling addiction at the time he started playing at Manchester United FC.
The 34-year-old player has opened up about his problem gambling even though several months ago, he agreed to join Derby County Football Club after an agreement that is being sponsored by a local gambling operator. In August 2018, Derby County revealed that under a recently-signed agreement, Wayne Rooney would become part of the club. The move, however, has been obscured by the fact that it had been sponsored by the local bookmaker 32Red. Also, as part of the deal, Rooney is wearing the same number on the back of his shirt.
The announcement fuelled some criticism, regardless of the fact that the Football Association has given its approval to the move, and the football club has confirmed that Rooney’s wages would be paid by the club itself, rather than the gambling company. In fact, the relationship between the betting operator and Rooney has been subjected to further scrutiny considering the fact the footballer has encountered some gambling problems early in his professional career.
Now, Wayne Rooney has shared some details about his compulsive gambling habits in a move aimed at protecting other people from falling victim to the same addictive behaviour.
Boredom and Easy Money Were Main Reasons for His Problem Gambling, Rooney Says
The 34-year-old professional football player used the tribune he got in a promotional video which 32Red released to share that his problems with gambling started when he was “a young lad”. Rooney revealed that he was pushed to gambling mostly by boredom and the fact that it was easy enough to simply place some bets by using his phone.
The football player also shared that at that point, betting through his phone did not even felt like spending real money and he certainly had not felt as if he had gone into a bookmaker’s shop to place bets. Rooney also confessed that he had quickly managed to lose a pretty large sum but he had not even realised the actual stakes he had placed as bets. The fact that he had even generated some winnings at the start made things even worse because he thought the amount won was easy money, and after that, things ended up with him losing a lot of money.
At the time he joined Manchester United back in 2004, Rooney was granted a massive salary for an 18-year-old lad at the time – £55,000 per week. The fact that he was so young and already had his hands on so much money was also what pushed him into uncontrollable gambling. Rooney, however, encouraged people who are dealing with gambling addictions, saying that he managed to realise his mistakes early in his career and quit gambling before he fell into the dangerous spiral that, unfortunately, is devastating to many other players.
As mentioned above, the player’s revelations regarding his former gambling habits came as part of the “Stay In Control” campaign of 32Red that is focused on highlighting the dangers that are usually associated with compulsive gambling and gambling-related harm.
- Author
Daniel Williams
