PFA Scotland communications chief Jack Ross reveals about 40 players are now getting help for their gambling addictions
FORMER Falkirk and St Mirren defender insists betting is a major problem and is having a detrimental effect on mental health of too many footballers.
Jack Ross talks about gambling to Hugh Keevins
DailyRecord
JACK ROSS has had two works of fiction published for the children’s book market.
But he deals in the hard facts of life in his day job with PFA Scotland.
And that’s why the former Falkirk and St Mirren defender turned union representative won’t be supporting the idea of “Have a bet Saturday” floated by ex-Albion Rovers manager Jimmy Lindsay in Record Sport this week.
Ross has spent the past three years trying to educate players on the pitfalls of getting involved in betting on football.
And he can’t go along with a casual acceptance of gambling as an integral part of the game in Scotland.
Not when he watches one player being counselled on his betting addiction inside the union’s offices on a weekly basis.
Not when he knows there are approaching 40 other players being helped through their gambling issues by Andy Todd, the union’s gambling service manager.
And not when he’s spent the last 12 months working to help set up a programme involving the Scottish Association for Mental Health which will deal with players affected by the emotional problems arising from their gambling difficulties.
The issue came to the fore this season when Rangers star Ian Black was found guilty of betting on 140 matches, including games involving his own team.
Now Ross is involved with prominent players who have agreed to talk on camera for an educational film being prepared by the union to hammer home the point gambling isn’t acceptable simply on the grounds everybody does it.
“We have a duty of care aspect attached to our work,” he said. “And we, the players’ representatives, can’t deny our responsibilities where they’re concerned.
“The challenge before us is to educate players on what they could be throwing away if they get involved in betting on football.
“And there is a direct correlation between the dangers of gambling addiction turning into the creation of mental health issues prompted by stress and strain.
“When I go to speak to players at their clubs I begin by telling them as an ex-pro I understand they don’t want to sit and listen to me preach at them.
“And I don’t put myself up on a pedestal as a paragon of virtue who has never had a bet on football.
“I put on the occasional football coupon when I was starting out at Dundee but didn’t know the rules as they related to betting back then. Ian Black (right) leaves Hampden with agent, Barry Hughes, after being banned for breaching betting rules
Tony Nicoletti/Daily Record
“Now my job is to tell the players there’s never been a more difficult time to have a lengthy career in Scottish football.
“And to warn them they shouldn’t risk their prospects of longevity in the game by getting caught up in gambling and the worries that can accompany having a bet.
“Worries created by gambling have the power to impact on a player’s ability to perform at his best on the park.
“And a player’s mental condition is as important as his physical fitness. When focus is deflected away from the game because you have a worry like a gambling addiction it means careers might not develop as they would’ve done under normal circumstances.
“And in some cases they can be derailed altogether.
“The ultimate aim for us is to be in a position where we can offer access to clinical assistance for players who need it.
“But it’s going to take funding if the union is to be able to offer psychological support.”
The ordinary fan might read what Ross has to say and feel dismayed at talk of emotional problems, psychological support and counselling services.
Players just go out and play and the only things they worry about are form, results and whether their wages are in the bank. Isn’t that supposed to be the case?
Not in Ross’s experience.
He added: “People on the outside looking in at football think players are a privileged part of a profession to be envied and they’re right.
“But when gambling becomes a problem or new careers become a lifestyle transition when football is over as a living it’s like falling off a cliff in the emotional sense.
“That’s why it can be annoying when people say the union doesn’t do enough to look after its members.
“We are putting support mechanisms in place, whether it’s to do with gambling, addiction, mental health or our anti-doping programme.”
When Ross was 18 years old his apprenticeship in the game was abruptly ended when Dundee released him.
His next four years were spent playing junior football with Lochee United and Camelon, doing a degree in economics at university and generally growing up.
“Emotionally I was stung by what happened at Dens Park,” he said. “I had to rediscover my appetite for the game as well as my belief in myself as a player.
“But the junior game, when I was in dressing rooms with everyone from labourers to people who ran their own successful businesses, matured me as a person and I was ready to go back to the senior game when I was 22.
“I probably had a bet or two then as well but I was never that fussed. I did it because others did, I suppose.
“But it’s different for young players now because accessibility to betting concerns is so vast.
“My generation literally walked into a bookies office to put on coupons or whatever. Today you can do it via your mobile telephone or go online.
“But the game’s rules with regard to gambling on matches are very clearcut and ignorance is no defence. If you don’t know those rules by now you never will and that applies to managers and chairmen as well as players.”
Ross is disappointed when players claim to be uncertain of what the rule book says or not to have understood his message when he visited their club on an instructional basis three weeks ago. Michael Moffat is facing a betting probe
Particularly when the player who publicly expressed his uncertainty over Ross’s message, Ayr United’s Kevin Kyle, didn’t actually attend the meeting he was referring to.
Now another Ayr player, Michael Moffat, has been issued a notice of complaint by the SFA’s compliance officer Vincent Lunny for betting on matches, including six games involving his own team.
None of those bets were placed on Ayr to lose.
All of which leaves Ross cold.
He said: “The rule book makes no distinction between betting on your team or backing against them.
A breach of the gambling rules is a breach either way.
“If players bet on any matches they run the risk of being caught and can have no complaint.
“But we’ve had calls to our office sympathising with Michael over the random nature of singling out individual players for investigation when the problem is so widespread.
“But the bottom line is we have to treat the game properly.
“My greatest frustration is when people call for us to put educational programmes in place and I know I’ve been involved in doing that since 2010.
“It was PFA Scotland who had the foresight to realise what was going on and instinctively knew how to go about addressing the situation.
“We’re not looking for sympathy. We’re doing our job and we know everyone might not want to take the information we’re offering on board.
“I sometimes study the body language of the players I’m talking to on my visits to clubs and the impression I get is they don’t want to look as if they’re interested in what I’m saying in case they get criticised by their team-mates.
“But we’re dealing with an important issue. Commercially speaking, this is a difficult time for Scottish football and we have to protect the game’s reputation.
“And what effect do these gambling stories have on parents who might be concerned about their children starting out on a career in the professional game?
“It isn’t possible for PFA Scotland to eradicate betting entirely but we can raise awareness of the problem.
“And we can’t treat that problem flippantly by talking about ‘Have a bet Saturday’ because gambling can lead to match fixing if players get into financial difficulties and make themselves vulnerable in the eyes of those who would try to take advantage of them.”
Estimates of today’s betting volumes are staggering. Declan Hill, in his seminal 2008 book on match-fixing, The Fix, quoted “a recent study for the American journal Foreign Policy [that] estimated the entire Asian gambling industry, both legal and illegal, at $450bn a year.” That’s perhaps 20 times the revenues of all of European professional football. When the sums bet on games dwarf the players’ wages, it’s no wonder match-fixing has become a global, stable and mature industry.
Investigators in several European countries are now pursuing match-fixing cases. A trial in Bochum, Germany involves 47 allegedly fixed games. Hill has even produced evidence suggesting fixes at World Cups. Unfortunately, match-fixing is almost impossible to prove. Everyone involved always denies. Police can end up trying to chase mafias in multiple countries. Sepp Blatter, head of the global football authority Fifa, has finally begun talking about the problem. However, the number of football officials in Europe who work full-time on match-fixing is probably about five. That might not be quite enough.
Match-fixing is now the biggest threat to football.
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Former Ohio State University Quarterback Art Schlichter is being investigated for his alleged role in a ticket scheme, sources say.
NBC4 has learned that Art Schlichter is expected to meet with federal and state investigators in the coming days to talk about a sports ticket scheme that allegedly victimized dozens of people, who collectively lost more than $1 million.
Schlichter is the former standout quarterback for The Ohio State University, and whose promising NFL career collapsed under the weight of a gambling addiction. Compulsive gambling led to fraud and forgery convictions that sent him to more than 40 different prisons over an 11-year period of time.
Involved in the latest alleged scheme is the 68-year-old Anita Barney, of Dublin, who Schlichter apparently befriended after a speaking engagement two years ago. Her attorney Bill Loveland said, "She is a victim of Art Schlichter."
The attorney said Barney was persuaded to invest money in a ticket operation that she believed to be legitimate. But Schlichter allegedly continued to convince Barney that if she was ever to recoup her investment, she would have to invest more and more money. When she ran out, she apparently borrowed hundreds of thousands of dollars -- sometimes from friends.
Court records sow more than a half-dozen claims have been filed against Barney, including a claim from car dealer Bud Hatfield, who invested nearly $30,000 with the promise of season tickets to Buckeye football games.
Barney has apparently made attempts to pay back some of the loans, but sources say, she will likely file bankruptcy.
Sources say Schlichter will face criminal charges, but Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien told NBC4 he could not comment and would not confirm that Schlichter is under investigation.
Former Colts' quarterback Art Schlichter allegedly sold dozens of Super Bowl tickets he never possessed for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and gambled away the money, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
People who purchased those tickets are stranded in Dallas without any way into Cowboys Stadium.
Apparently, it was all part of the Ohio State All-American quarterback's larger scheme. The Dispatch reports Schlichter has been fraudulently presenting a plan to broker and sell Buckeye football tickets as an "investment opportunity" and used the millions he solicited to fund a sports gambling addiction.
One alleged victim of the scheme is Anita Barney. Schlichter came to know Barney through her son, Alan, who he visited in a Columbus hospital while quarterbacking Ohio State in 1980. Then 10, Alan was nursing numerous injuries after being the the lone survivor of a fatal plane crash. Over the years, Schlichter maintained a connection with the family and contacted Ms. Barney to "invest" in his scheme. Reports say the 68-year-old widow has had to borrow up to $200,000 just to stay afloat after losing money to Schlichter's scheme.
Since 1994, Schlichter has served time in 44 prisons mainly for fraudulent behavior connected to his gambling habit.
In the story Schlichter seems genuinely upset by his behavior, but is at the mercy of an addiction he can't control. Then again it's easy to sound upset after you've been caught.
Former Ohio State quarterback Art Schlichter, already known as one of the nation's most-notorious compulsive gamblers, is the target of an investigation by local and federal authorities centering on a sports-ticket scheme that has swindled numerous people out of several million dollars, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Former Ohio State quarterback Art Schlichter, already known as one of the nation's most-notorious compulsive gamblers, is the target of an investigation by local and federal authorities centering on a sports-ticket scheme that has swindled numerous people out of several million dollars, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Ten days after his own goal had eliminated his team from the 1994 World Cup, Andres Escobar was gunned down by gang members outside a nightclub. The real tragedy though, is how little it surprised followers of Colombian football.
In the early hours of Saturday, July 2nd 1994, Colombian international Andres Escobar paid his bill at Medellin’s notorious Padua disco, and left. Ten days earlier, Colombia had been eliminated from the World Cup Finals after a defeat against the USA, and Escobar’s own goal in that match had been endlessly replayed since. As he went to unlock his car, a group of men appeared, and chanted: “OWN GOAL, OWN GOAL” at him. The ringleaders were the two Gallon brothers, well known in Medellin for their connections with drug smuggling and prostitution. Normally unflappable, Escobar got angry. Awakened by the row, the Gallon brothers’ chauffeur strolled over and shouted: “What does this faggot want?” Without waiting for a reply, he fired six bullets into Escobar’s chest, screaming “OWN GOAL” each time he pulled the trigger. Escobar was left to bleed to death inside his car. Forty other people were shot dead in Medellin that night.
Leading Colombian stars had been fearful even before the tournament began. “Many of us received notes warning us what would happen if we did badly”, recalls former Colombian striker Freddy Rincon. Conspiracy theories suggested that Escobar’s murder was ordered by Colombian gambling syndicates, furious that his defensive error had cost them millions of dollars. The rumours are well wide of the mark, but the fact that many remain willing to believe them proves that Colombian football has a sinister soul.
...However, at a time when there is an intense spotlight on any possible gambling irregularities within a sport as a result of alleged instances in cricket and snooker, is it naive to accept that football will never be susceptible to such breaches of sporting integrity by its players?
In my role as chairman of PFA Scotland, I have been heavily involved with the creation of a gambling awareness project which is aimed at educating players in our country on the regulations surrounding betting in football, and the implications of doing so.
This scheme, which is funded by the Professional Players' Federation (PPF), an organisation which covers more than 15,000 sportsmen and women and includes bodies such as British Athletes' Commission and Professional Golfers' Association, will also make our members aware of the implications of breaching any regulations and possible punishment associated with it.
I have, however, witnessed at first hand the almost complete acceptance of gambling as being integral to the life of a football player. A young apprentice player progressing into the first team will do so while probably being well versed in the many ways of betting, and its perceived attractions.
Any chairman, manager or team-mate will prefer this player to be capable of performing at their best and not to be distracted by off-field interests dominated by gambling.
These shifts in outlook have always been for the good of the game, and it may be that the sport's warm embrace of gambling needs to be loosened in order to safeguard the integrity of the game and to make players more aware of potential problems.
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