The experience of gambling problems in British professional footballers: a preliminary qualitative study

Abstract

Media reports suggest high rates of gambling amongst professional footballers but little is known about how footballers develop and then seek help for gambling problems. Here, we report the findings of in-depth, qualitative interviews with 11 British professional footballers who had, or who were, being treated for gambling problems at a residential clinic. These individuals experienced gambling as a highly salient feature of life as a professional football player in UK professional leagues. Often gambling began as part of social networks of young players, but then progressed to gambling problematically in isolation. Factors that facilitated this transition included structural aspects of professional football as an occupation (e.g. high salaries, spare time, gambling as a shared leisure pursuit) as well as the competitive and emotional challenges of the game (e.g. loss of form, injury or contract release and their effects upon mood). Seeking help was delayed by a reluctance to disclose problems to peers and club managers, but facilitated by recommendations from other players with similar experiences.

Keywords:

• Problem gambling
• football
• mood regulation
• qualitative
• social norms
• Theory of Planned Behaviour

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Tony Adams, Colin Bland and the staff of Sporting Chance clinic for the opportunity to conduct this research. We would also like to thank the players who agreed to be interviewed; we hope that this manuscript provides some helpful interpretation of their collective experience. We thank Rebecca Cassidy for helpful comments on an early draft of the manuscript. We would like to dedicate this paper to the late Peter Kay whose rapport with the players and commitment enabled the completion of this project.

Disclosure statement

Rogers is in receipt of an unrelated grant from the Responsible Gambling Trust (http://www.responsiblegamblingtrust.org.uk/). All authors declare no financial relationships with any organisations that might have an interest in the submitted work or any other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

Box 1. Interview schedule.

Box 2. Gambling as social inclusion.

Box 3. Income enhances gambling involvement.

Box 4. Gambling, depressive symptoms and mood regulation

Box 5. Gambling following career-ending injury

Box 6. Footballers’ initial unwillingness to seek help