'Don't bury your head in sand': ex NI football star on gambling addiction
Keith Gillespie speaks out as new figures show province has highest number of problem gamblers in UK
Football star Keith Gillespie told today how he has struggled with a gambling addiction as shock new figures emerged about the extent of problem across Northern Ireland.
The former Manchester United and Northern Ireland international urged addicts to be “honest with themselves”.
He was speaking to Downtown and Cool FM in the wake of a new survey which shows the province has the highest level of problem gamblers in the UK.
Latest figures from the Department for Communities shows that the 2.3% here is twice as high as the nearest region, which is Wales.
Gillespie (42) who made is debut for Manchester United at the age of 17, reportedly lost millions of pounds through gambling.
He said: “It's sort of like a culture with a lot of Northern Ireland people where gambling is a big part of their lives, and it was certainly a big part of my life.
"I had similar problems in my career and I got people to speak to and advice along the way so it's important you have the right people around you.
"Once you do that then things can be a lot easier for you. You're not dealing with the problem on your own when you get other people involved. So that's an important thing to do first and then you can seek the help that is out there.
"The best thing to do is be open and admit it because a lot of people will put their heads in the sand."
The Gambling Prevalence Survey shows that the four most common types of gambling here are scratchcards, the Lotto, events and sport betting and other lottery type scenarios.
Scotland and Northern Ireland also share the highest rates for the amount of people participating in gambling in the UK, at around 67%.
The main findings of the survey are:
When compared to other regions of the UK, the level of participation in gambling in Northern Ireland is higher than the rates in England (62.0%) and Wales (61.3%), but similar to the most recent participation rate for Scotland (67.8%).
Compared to other regions of the United Kingdom, the proportion of the population found to be 'problem gamblers' is higher in Northern Ireland (2.3%) than in Wales (1.1%), Scotland (0.7%) and England (0.5%).