Chris Wood Comes Clean on His Cricket Betting Addiction

With the global acceptance of online betting related activities, it always good to learn about the harmful effects of excess gambling. While it is true that India is currently being spoilt for choice when it comes to cricket betting sites and that the bookmakers themselves are rushing to grab a piece of this lucrative market, it is always important to be exercise caution when it comes to gambling. Case in point, the left arm pacer from England, Chris Wood who battled for 11 years to try and come to grips with his betting addiction.

In hindsight, Chris Wood did have a particularly rough child hood with his mother leaving the marital home when he was only eight years old. This no doubt had left a scar on Wood that was probed via gambling therapy nearly two decades later. Chris Wood was turning out to be a bright prospect for England and had signed his first professional contract when he was only 18 years old. This was the same time that he had started placing bets on football with his friends.

Wood had the following to say “As soon as I moved down to Southampton, it all went to my head and the ego came out. “I genuinely thought back then that I was going to could spend my money and act the way I did, because I’d retire at 35 having played for England. I have absolutely no idea when it came from. It’s scary that was something ingrained in me.”

His journey into gambling started off with football but very quickly ventured into horse racing, volleyball and even ice hockey. What started off as s cheeky bet ballooned into thousands of pounds being bet on each game sometimes in the middle of the night. Wood would proudly tell his team mates when he had won big bets but would never disclose his losses. While his professional career was taking off with his county winning three trophies between 2010 to 2012, his personal life was in turmoil. Wood was drowning in debt, credit cards and broken relationships.

A knee injury in 2016 left him bed ridden for 6 weeks and plunged his life further into darkness. Desperate to turn his life around, Wood reached out to Tony Adams’s Sporting Chance charity. From that point onwards Wood decided to accept his and treat his betting addiction. Having come a long way from his gambling past, Wood now visits teams to talk to them openly about his harrowing experiences with betting.