|
Written by Beatrix | Tuesday, April 20th, 2010
Brendan Fevola, pro Australian football star, after admitting to an addiction to gambling, mainly online poker, poker, poker machines, and horse racing, may currently be facing financial ruin thanks to his gambling habit. With more than $300K in outstanding debts owed to bookies, the Brisbane Lions player faces bankruptcy.
In the AFL, where Fevola plays, the average yearly wage runs around $200K. However now, he has little to show for his years of service on the pitch, officially declaring himself a gambling addict and excluding himself from getting anymore credit from bookies.
The CEO for Fevola’s team, Michael Bowers, says, “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.”
But last week, Andrew Demetriou, CEO of the AFL said of the gambling rumors, “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.”
But Fevola’s confession now confirms the rumors are true, and more stories are surfacing about the star’s gambling spree, one of which describes $10K worth of bets placed on short priced horses. In addition, Fevola has been spotted at the poker room at the Crown Casino; in fact, he was known as such a soft player that card sharks would line up for their turn to play him.
Joe Hachem, world champion poker player and close friend to Fevola, said he was not aware of the football player’s weakness for high-stakes Internet poker. Hachem claims that he played regularly with Fevola at home games, but the stakes were always low. Hachem explained, “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.”
Fevola is doing the right thing though by admitting his addiction, requesting a self-exclusion order, and taking advantage of both personal and financial counseling.
 More Related Articles
Written by Beatrix · Filed Under news · |
