Athletes That Have Promoted Responsible Gambling

We often talk about responsible gambling at GOSUBETTING, trying to raise awareness for it, telling you that excessive gambling can lead to mental health issues and financial difficulties. Remember that betting is a super fun activity. Nonetheless, it should only get enjoyed in moderation and with proper budget management. If you are not willing to take our word for it. Here are five world-famous athletes who will tell you the same thing.

Wayne Rooney

The former England and Man United captain is the man of many nicknames. He has gotten called the White Pele, Wonder Boy, and Roonaldo. Most of these monikers were well earned, as Rooney was the youngest EPL goal-scorer at sixteen. Plus, the youngest person to net a goal for England at seventeen. He has also scored one hundred and three goals in the Red Devil jersey and fifty-three in the Three Lions one. Over his career, Wayne, now a football manager, has too made headlines for his behavior off the pitch. For example, he once lost half a million pounds in two hours at a Manchester casino. Rooney has also noted that he gambled massive sums online, placing wagers on his phone on sports and casino games like roulette.

In 2020, the ex-phenom starred in a video for 32Red’s Stay In Control awareness campaign on gambling, where he warned about the dangers of chasing losses, noting that it is easy to get sucked into a bad situation if you are not careful. While Rooney has gone on record several times that everyone who bets on sports or games of chance should do this carefully, many have called him a hypocrite for teaming up with an online casino and bookmaker (32Red) to spread his word, a sponsor of his then-club Derby.

Charles Oakley

Any list of the toughest NBA players likely features Charles Oakley. Oak Tree played in the National Basketball Association for nineteen seasons, splitting his time in the best basketball league in the world between the Chicago Bulls, the NY Knicks, Washington Wizards, Toronto Raptors, and Houston Rockets. He gets considered one of the best defensive players ever and a top rebounder, finding his place in the e Virginia Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in 2016. Oakley only made one All-Star game, but he still gets remembered by virtually anyone who watched the NBA in the 1990s for his fierce demeanor and determination.

In 2022, Charles, through his foundation and a Wager Score partnership, went to universities and spoke at various events to raise awareness on how people should gamble warily. For those who have not heard of Wager Score, this is an app that delivers insights and analytics for smarter betting. It works with top gambling operators BetMGM and Entain. The focus of the Wager Score campaign through Oakley was to target university students and give them a quick education on how to bet with care, using quality software tools that would help them not let things get out of hand.  

Amani Toomer

NFL punt returner and wide receiver Amani Askari Toomer played in the main American football league from 1996 to 2009. Aside from a short stint, a month with the Kansas City Chiefs, Toomer spent his entire career with the New York Giants, a team that he won a Super Bowl championship with (in 2007 – Super Bowl XLII).

Amani is a committed advocate for responsible gambling who has participated in numerous campaigns/events discussing this practice. Now, if you are curious to hear this renowned wide receiver who played in an infamous NFL final on betting wisely on an episode of Martin Lycka’s Safe Bet Show available on YouTube, then search for it on the world’s most used video platform if you want to watch it. It should come up instantly. The Safe Bet Show gets hosted by Martin Lycka, the Senior Vice President for Responsible Gambling at Entain, a serial entrepreneur, and a co-founder of Wager Score.

Connor McDavid

GOSUBETTING readers from Canada are sure to know Connor Andrew McDavid, the captain of the Edmonton Oilers. Hailing from Ontario’s Richmond Hills, this center ranks as one of the top offensive players in the NHL and has regularly gotten compared to Canadian legend Wayne Gretzky. He has won the Ted Lindsay Award four times and the Art Ross one five times.

Technically, athletes should not appear in gambling-related ads shown in Ontario per the province’s regulations. Yet, McDavid can get seen in a new thirty-second BetMGM clip, but one where he informs a friend about this brand’s responsible gambling tools. In interviews, Connor has noted that he feels very strongly about people wagering with moderation. Still, some have posted online saying they believe this is nothing but a ploy for BetMGM to get its cut of the Ontario market share, a region that recently legalized online sports betting. McDavid is a face that all Canadian sports fans recognize, so his likeness builds brand recognition for BetMGM.

Joey Barton

English Premiership watchers from the 2000s probably remember Joey Barton, Man City and Newcastle’s noted midfielder from 2002 to 2011. Overall, he made two hundred and sixty-nine appearances in the EPL and managed the Bristol Rovers in League One. In 2017, Barton got banned from English football for a period of a year and a half on betting charges he wagered on his sport while still actively participating in it. The decision forced Barton into early retirement from playing.

Barton has since been very vocal about his football betting habit, stating that he created a Betfair account in his name in 2004. Over time, he noticed through his site account profile that he had placed over fifteen thousand bets through it, averaging £150 on football wagers. Joey has also popped up in multiple video interviews in recent years, giving his views on responsible gambling and what the FA and individuals can do to curb gambling addiction in the UK, noting that there is a heavy culture of gambling in English football. In his autobiography, Barton revealed that during his six-month prison stay in Walton, he was the institution’s unofficial bookmaker, accepting wagers on the then-running 2008 European Championships.

Top Bitcoin Betting Sites