Paul Merson has revealed that he relapsed into gambling addiction and lost £160,000 meant for a house deposit while betting on table tennis during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Merson has spoken openly about his gambling addiction, which has cost him £7million during a 30-year battle. The 54-year-old former Arsenal midfielder placed his first bet aged 16 and that experience led him down a slippery slope that included addictions to alcohol and cocaine, as well as two failed marriages.
Last year, Merson presented a BBC documentary about gambling in which he examined his own life and asked whether enough was being done to prevent more people like him from suffering at the hands of betting companies. At the time, he told The Mirror he was “frightened to death” of relapsing – and that is exactly what had happened the year before.
