“You go insane. The insanity of constantly keeping on doing it.”
Paul Merson has opened up about the extent of his gambling addiction during his appearance on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday morning.
The former Arsenal and England midfielder has also battled problems with drugs and alcohol but told Susanna Reid and Piers Morgan that he considers his gambling addiction to be “worse”.
“I’ve just found that when you want to get drunk or high you have to put stuff in your body. If you don’t have the first drink you don’t get drunk.
“With gambling you don’t have to put anything in its just there. And it just grips you – you are constantly looking at your phone and it just grips you.”
After facing problems with alcohol and drugs in the past, Paul Merson reveals his battle with gambling addiction was the hardest. pic.twitter.com/tZIY3LsayE
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) March 26, 2019
Merson, who appears regularly on Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday panel, also revealed he found himself betting on Lithuania under-20 basketball matches during the height of his addiction.
“‘I’ve lost millions. The money [lost] is not the problem, it’s the sanity, more than anything. You go insane. The insanity of constantly keeping on doing it.
“After the bet goes on, you are like, ‘what did I do that for?’ It’s a weird feeling. You search and search to get the bet on, to get all excited, and as soon as you have done it you’re like, ‘I can’t believe what I’ve done’. Then the self-worth comes in and you hate yourself.”
Merson appeared on GMB after opening up about his addictions on ITV documentary Harry’s Heroes – The Full English where he admitted he was “struggling badly” with a relapse of his gambling addiction.
