Opening up on his gambling addiction, former Arsenal star Nicklas Bendtner has admitted that he was addicted to gambling.
He also stated that he lost £400,000 in single night and that was a wakeup call for him that he had a problem.
Former Denmark striker also stated that he took to gambling while he was off the field due to injury. At that he was not aware that the problem exists, it was only when he went down £400,000 in one go, he realized the problem.
Bendtner told BBC, “At times it could seem like an addiction, I always felt I had it under control but that night was the sort of turning point for me. I knew this isn’t the lifestyle I want. When I had a lot of injuries on the pitch, I couldn’t find that excitement level of going on, playing in front of 60,000. There wasn’t anything that lived up to that. The only time I could get that competitive feeling was going to the casino.”
He added, “The higher the stakes, the higher the adrenaline rush. I was £400,000 down but ended up winning quite a lot of it back and only ended up losing £20,000 on the night”, reported Goal.
He credits his recovery to seniors and calls that period a learning curve.
Bendtner who is 32 now had a successful career and has played for many teams including Arsenal, Birmingham and Sunderland.