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Michael Chopra

Covered EndCovered End
edited November 2011 in Other Football and Sports

Who says footballers are overpaid ?

Chopra told of his gambling addiction, estimating he has lost as much as £2m through
betting.

The 27-year-old, who has been receiving treatment for the illness,
says he was gambling as much as £20,000 a day.

And he has even admitted to playing with injuries in the past in order to
collect his appearance fee.

"I have probably lost between £1.5m and £2m on gambling," he
told Sky Sports News.

 

"Your first bet's your worst bet. As the years have come along and I've
earned more money I've started to gamble more.

"I was gambling up to £20,000 a day at times. As soon as I'd step over the
white line I would focus on football - but as soon as I got to the dressing room
I would check my phone to see if I'd won.

"As a gambler you want to be playing to get the appearance money. I was
playing through injury to cover a debt."

Chopra, who has fought the addiction throughout the majority of his career,
said his £5m transfer from
Cardiff to Sunderland in 2007 was motivated by his desire to collect a
signing on fee to pay off gambling arrears.

"In my first season at Cardiff I had a gambling debt from when I was at
Newcastle," explained the former England Under-21 international.

"I had to leave Cardiff and sign for another team to pay that debt off."

Comments

  • golfaddickgolfaddick

    The great irony to all of this is that the photo on the BBC Sport website has a picture of him in his (Cardiff ?) strip with their sponser's logo blazened  across his chest...................SBOBET !!!!!!!!!!

     

    you couldn't make it up !

  • tangoflashtangoflash
    An overpaid footballer with gambling debts? what's the odds on that?

    It's for reasons like this that many teams now do plenty of research into a players background and personal lifestyle/habits.

    The last thing we need is a player who is up to his eyes in huge debt to be approached by some dodgy cartel to try to pay off some of his debt by helping predict an outcome to a match.
  • LincsaddickLincsaddick
     

    The last thing we need is a player who is up to his eyes in huge debt to be approached by some dodgy cartel to try to pay off some of his debt by helping predict an outcome to a match.
    Remember Kitson @ West Ham a few years ago? .... kicking the ball straight out of play from the kick off. It transpired that a lot of money had been wagered on the time of the first throw in, if memoery serves the time was 3 seconds. I think he got away with that one. My cynical self is convinced that football is as dodgy as any other sport. Pakistani cricketers get hammered for staging no balls etc ... I am sure that footballers are up to similar tricks every week and getting away with it ... betting markets nowadays are out of control .. odds on the first player to spit on the pitch or to glare at an assistant referee anyone ?
  • nth_london_addicknth_london_addick

    Chopra didnt owe that debt to a run of the mil bookie, He along with another player who i wont name owed money big money to a real nasty piece of work , whos next payment werent cash it was a part of chopra wouldve been taken if he hadnt paid up in full,

     

     

    same as the other player who needed to be moved on for the sake of his health

  • richie8richie8
    Some of the results you see nowadays I do wonder.
  • ColinTatColinTat
    Paul Kitson?  Thought he'd have better odds at when he was going to play next.

  • LincsaddickLincsaddick
    edited November 2011
    Paul Kitson?  Thought he'd have better odds at when he was going to play next.


    It was a fair while back. The game was televised and a lot of comments made but I'm sure he got away with it. That was in the days when the press, footballers, managers and administrators were all in the same boat, VERY different from the present situation when all bad news is good news for the redtops.

     

  • nth_london_addicknth_london_addick
    Didn't they blag it (kitson and all ) by saying that the whole wet spam team were in on the bet .



    The other player I know of was a hamster that club seems to have a real issue with bookies,



    Chopra owed the money to a hamster
  • EpsomAddickEpsomAddick
    Paul Kitson?  Thought he'd have better odds at when he was going to play next.


    It was a fair while back. The game was televised and a lot of comments made but I'm sure he got away with it. That was in the days when the press, footballers, managers and administrators were all in the same boat, VERY different from the present situation when all bad news is good news for the redtops.

     

    I though it was Matt Le Tissier
  • LincsaddickLincsaddick
    Paul Kitson?  Thought he'd have better odds at when he was going to play next.


    It was a fair while back. The game was televised and a lot of comments made but I'm sure he got away with it. That was in the days when the press, footballers, managers and administrators were all in the same boat, VERY different from the present situation when all bad news is good news for the redtops.

     

    I though it was Matt Le Tissier
    the plot thickens !!
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  • kentaddickkentaddick
    Matt le tissier tried doing it but mucked it up and it ended up not going into touch. Think he lost like 20 grand or something.
  • guinnessaddickguinnessaddick
    edited November 2011
    Paul Kitson?  Thought he'd have better odds at when he was going to play next.


    It was a fair while back. The game was televised and a lot of comments made but I'm sure he got away with it. That was in the days when the press, footballers, managers and administrators were all in the same boat, VERY different from the present situation when all bad news is good news for the redtops.

     

    I though it was Matt Le Tissier
    the plot thickens !!
    Sure I heard Le Tissier talk about this on radio sometime back.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/8236108.stm
  • Off_itOff_it
    edited November 2011
    I know that a gambling addiction can be a pretty serious thing and difficult to shake, etc, but I can't help reading that (about Chopra) and thinking "you w**ker".

    I guess I'm not that tolerant.

    EDIT: Just read the Big Nose piece as well. Surely he could get done for that?
  • RedArmySE7RedArmySE7
    A friend of mine (an ex pro) had friends at West Ham at the time Curbs' was there, one night they all went out for a drink and a West Ham player (now moved on) actually had a minder employed by Curbs' to make sure he didn't gamble or drink too much!
  • Off_itOff_it
    edited November 2011
    Too much money, too much time on their hands. No intelligence to do anything else.

    Still, at least it seems the latest bunch have taken to spending their time getting endless tattoos done, rather than anything too destructive )or creative).
  • tangoflashtangoflash
    At the end of the Le Tissier piece, he says: "I'd never have done anything that might have affected the outcome of the match."

    So what if the Dons had taken a quick throw that leads to a goal? Even the slightest act can change the outcome of the match.
  • paulbaconsarniepaulbaconsarnie
    At the end of the Le Tissier piece, he says: "I'd never have done anything that might have affected the outcome of the match."
    We've had a few of those.
    Nothing to do with gambling mind.
  • CAFCBourneCAFCBourne
    A friend of mine (an ex pro) had friends at West Ham at the time Curbs' was there, one night they all went out for a drink and a West Ham player (now moved on) actually had a minder employed by Curbs' to make sure he didn't gamble or drink too much!

    Sounds like he had a crap night
  • StubleyAddickStubleyAddick
    A friend of mine (an ex pro) had friends at West Ham at the time Curbs' was there, one night they all went out for a drink and a West Ham player (now moved on) actually had a minder employed by Curbs' to make sure he didn't gamble or drink too much!
    Matt Etherington?...i know he used to have gambling problems.
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