Graham Gooch to fund PCA's gambling awareness programme

Graham Gooch, former England captain, is funding a Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA) gambling education programme which is being delivered to current county cricketers.

The programme, being delivered jointly by the PCA and Paul Buck, Chief Executive of EPIC Risk Management, will be funded by a GBP 50,000 donation from the Graham Gooch Scholarship, an initiative set-up 16 years ago to help develop young cricketers. Gooch has requested that the money is used to educate county players about the dangers of gambling addiction.

Buck will be visiting all 18 first-class counties to deliver sessions which will draw on his own experience of gambling. From placing a winning GBP 10 each-way bet on a horse in Leeds in 1994, Buck ended up owning racehorses but he hid his gambling addiction from his family and friends. The secret addiction finally became public after Buck, a bank manager, stole more than GBP 400,000 and then attempted to take his own life. He was jailed for two years and eight months in 2012 after he confessed to stealing money to fund his gambling.

"There are a lot of dangers in the world for young people now and I am particularly interested in helping out with the education of young cricketers with all the worries and concerns of online gambling and getting into bad habits," Gooch said. "If we can educate people, make them aware of the pitfalls and get insight from people who have been down that route and fallen foul then, hopefully, they can be warned about the potential dangers.

"Personally, I have never been a gambler but I do like going to a horse racing track and having a bet there. I've also hosted Ladbrokes in hospitality boxes at Test Matches so I don't have any issues with gambling. But sportsmen, in particular, do find themselves with time on their hands. When I played, people would go to a betting shop if they wanted to have a flutter. Now the temptation to bet online is great. In the social media world it's very easy to get into that. You have to be very careful that it doesn't consume you and cause major problems for you and your family down the line."

Gambling, as with any vice, can cause havoc to family and personal life but it is a pastime in the UK which more people are taking up. A recent study by the Gambling Commission found that 48 per cent of all adults in the UK had gambled in the preceding four weeks, up from the same period last year, and another study suggested that problem gamblers now cost the UK GBP 1.2 billion. As part of the PCA's addictive behaviour programme, the stories of Craig Spearman, the former Gloucestershire and New Zealand batsman who became a gambling addict, and Phil Mawer, a former compulsive gambler whose wife drank herself to death as a consequence of his habit, are told in an effort to warn players of the personal dangers of gambling.

"Paul's session was a real eye-opener," said PCA Chairman Daryl Mitchell, who was among the Worcestershire players and coaching staff who attended one of the sessions. "It's an amazing story but an extreme one, going from having a very high-powered job earning lots of money to a prison cell. It's a shocking story, but the way Paul put it across was fantastic.

"It's all about creating awareness. Hopefully it's prevention rather than cure and will stop players across the country from falling into the pitfalls of gambling. It's not just about looking at yourself but also looking out for your team mates. As cricketers we spend a lot of time together in dressing rooms and hotels up and down the country. It's really important that we all look out for each other. If we see any concerning habits we need to speak up and look after each other as best we can."

There are, of course, other dangers resulting from gambling that cricketers now need to be aware of. The recent allegations of corruption and spot-fixing in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) are a timely reminder that gambling can influence the cricketers in a number of ways. Unscrupulous bookmakers, willing to illegally pay thousands of pounds to players in exchange for them performing certain pre-arranged deeds on the pitch which people can then bet on happening, can still find their way to players. Gooch's own county, Essex, have had experience of this in the past. Former players Danish Kaneria and Mervyn Westfield - who now works for the PCA as part of their education programme - were both convicted of spot-fixing in 2012 while playing for the county.

Support for PCA members - past and present county cricketers - on a range of matters including gambling, mental health and corruption is available through the PCA's network of Personal Development and Welfare Managers and a 24-hour confidential helpline.