The Sydney media has been running with Sunday’s Sun-Herald story that NRL players are hiding gambling addictions based on Cronulla’s Michael Sullivan owning up to a chronic personal gambling problem and claiming he was not alone.

It can sound like a convenient cop-out when Sharks general manager Steve Rogers admits problem gambling is present in every NRL club and needs to be looked at; while NRL chief executive David Gallop denied gambling addiction was rampant among players. But given the explosion in income for elite sportsmen around the world, and for some with plenty of time and a low boredom thresh hold, there is no doubt the thrill of the punt can become addictive.

But while there are numerous examples of retired champions with little to show for their years at the top after gambling ruined their lives, there are still many who punt big and live to tell the tale and also get to hang on to some of their pile! Golfers such as John Daly and Phil Mickelson, and star England and Real Madrid striker Michael Owen have also been revealed as big punters, so you can bet there’s any number of sporting household names in Australia who gamble one way or another, big or small.

One of the best stories I’ve heard concerns a now retired AFL superstar who won big in Las Vegas to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars and then dutifully reported his windfall income in his tax return but the ATO was having none of it. That is until they checked with the Vegas casino that was able to verify via their own records that indeed the player had enjoyed a legitimate pay day and big cheque at its expense.

Back in 2003, two Melbourne FC players were publicly shamed after failing to settle outstanding debts with another former AFL player turned bookie – Simon Beasley. The Age reported how Beasley subsequently revealed in the ensuing brouhaha that he paid out about $120,000 to one of the Melbourne players and then had to “basically nurse” him for the next six months when the player didn’t pay up on losses of more than $50,000.

You can read about the Beasley player transactions here.