Gambling Addiction – Daryn Cresswell

Introduction

In this special with Sunday Night, an Australian TV program, Daryn Cresswell, a former Sydney Swans player from 1992 to 2003, is interviewed about his gambling addiction. In 2010, Daryn was found guilty of defrauding a bank and spent 10 months in jail. He also wrote a book in 2013.

Quotes

“Daryn Cresswell now runs to control the gambling addiction that destroyed his life. 8 years ago, he was one of the Sydney Swans players of the century. Today, there’s a long line of angry friends, family and creditors in his wake.”

“Two weekends ago, he walked out of a Queensland jail after serving 10 months for defrauding a bank to fuel his compulsive gambling. Now that he’s out, he wants to speak out gambling and sports.”

“My thought process was just clouded by winning and betting. Nothing else came into the equation whatsoever.”

“When you can’t meet obligations, house repayments, child care, car payments, you realize I’m in pretty deep here, how am I going to get out of this … I was trying to win back to pay people that I owed, to try and pay the rent and pay for cars, try and pay for the kids’ education. And in the end, I had two attempts to try to end it all.”

“I couldn’t [stop]. I just couldn’t. It was an every day thing. I was like an alcoholic, I couldn’t stop. I didn’t understand what I was doing … I was just completely out of control.”

“The temptation to bet has never been greater, not just for players but for all of us. Gambling has gone mainstream on the small screen. Gambling advertising, particularily sports betting, is in your face, it’s everywhere. There’s something really wrong when a 7-year-old can quote you the odds for a game.”