No matter what period in history we talk about, people have always enjoyed gambling. You can take a look at a lot of these and you will see this to be a fact. Of course, the form we see now was widely different a couple of decades ago, let alone centuries. The games were entirely different back then.
Today, the industry has taken a certain shape and it grows continuously. One of the main aspects that leads to this conclusion is accessibility. With everyone owning a mobile device these days, nobody should be surprised by this statement. Also, there are many online casinos out there, like realmoneycasinoonline.ca, to choose from.
Due to the accessibility, gambling is no more limited to those of certain social status. But that doesn’t mean that famous people are not interested in this form of entertainment. Today, we want to focus on a couple of football players who enjoy it very much. Let’s check them out.
1. Gianluigi Buffon
The first individual we want to point out is a legendary Italian goalkeeper, Gianluigi Buffon. He is among the longest-serving goalkeepers in the sport, being more than 40 years old. Mr. Buffon is widely known as a person who is interested in gambling, due to many obvious signs of this fact.
He was accused of illegal gambling activities several times, in 2006 and 2012. According to some reports, we can see that the total amount of money is higher than $2 million. Ultimately, he wasn’t indicted, and he remained a free man. The next fact is that he was an ambassador for various poker tournaments in Italy.
Since he is easily among the oldest active goalkeepers in the world, many are interested in knowing how long will his professional career last. There are even many bookies who presented odds on how long his career will prolong itself. It is something you should definitely check out and maybe make a wager.
2. Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the legends of this sport, right? There’s no person out there who is not aware of his name, clubs where he played or some of his records. It is practically impossible to come across someone who doesn’t know this. The main reason for his popularity is his exceptional football skills.
What does he have to do with gambling and casinos? Well, he is affiliated with numerous poker tournaments. He appears in numerous commercials made for these events. He even participated in one of these, for commercial reasons. But that doesn’t mean he is not a capable player.
Since no person in the world doesn’t understand how focused and strong-minded he is, nobody should have any doubt that he commits significant time and effort into adopting all needed skills. There are even a couple of videos of him playing poker with professionals.
3. Mario Balotelli
Mario Balotelli was once considered one of the most talented players in the world. While this career hasn’t reached the peak everyone believed it will, he will be remembered as one of the most colorful characters in the history of the sport. Sadly, not for his skill, even though he is quite skillful.
His gambling activity was very well-known while he was a player for Manchester City. A decade ago, he was successful in winning more than $35k in a local casino. The staff stated that he was quite generous towards them and he also gave a significant percentage of money to charity.
Different from many athletes who are associated with gambling, he is not known for his poker skills. Instead, many people claim that he specializes in slot machines and roulette. We cannot only see that he is a capable gambler, but he is also a good person who wants to help those in need.
4. Tony Adams
One of the legendary faces of the English Premier League, and an iconic captain of Arsenal, Tony Adams is widely known for his interest in gambling, but only for this activity. We can see that he had a lot of problems with alcohol, which even got him to jail for a couple of months due to driving under influence.
However, he wasn’t as skillful as a gambler as he was a footballer. He was quite versatile. He played numerous games, like roulette, sports betting, and poker. Sadly, he hasn’t proven successful. A significant percentage of his wealth was spent on these games, which is a bad thing to experience.
After he retired from professional football, he decided to open a clinic that helps those who require recovering from gambling and alcoholism. He even spoke on this topic, saying that a vast majority of athletes are in danger of ruining their careers this way. He did a lot to help and prevent these cases.
5. Diego Maradona
After Pele, the biggest name in the sport, Diego Armando Maradona, was known for his many vices. However, we feel that his gambling interest wasn’t as known as some other ones. Little is known about the fact that he runs some sort of illegal gambling place in Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires.
Besides that, he participated in numerous tournaments where he has shown some of his skills. Over the years, he was spotted in numerous casinos all over the world. According to several sources, he enjoyed playing card games, like poker, blackjack, and many more of them.
Also, these sources stated that he wasn’t too much interested in the passion of playing these games. Instead, he was interested in these solely for money, and he was surprisingly clear-minded while participating in these events. Some of these interesting stories can be found all over the internet.
Summary
As you can see, a lot of professional athletes truly enjoy gambling. A vast majority of these stories are entertaining, but some of them are completely sad, due to the events that occurred after. Here, you can check out some of the most popular names in football who’ve enjoyed gambling. Plus, there are no signs that those, who are still active, are not interested in this sort of activity anymore.