Former Newcastle winger Gillespie - who once lost £62,000 in two days - warns that gambling in football is as bad as ever

Former Manchester United and Newcastle winger Keith Gillespie has warned that gambling in football is as much as problem now as it has ever been.

The 38-year-old - now retired - has lifted the lid on his gambling problems in his new autobiography How Not To Be A Football Millionaire, serialised in the Daily Mirror.



Gillespie reveals in his book that he once lost £62,000 in the space of two days in October 1995, and he is concerned that gambling has become much easier now with online betting.



Counting the cost: Retired winger Keith Gillespie

Suspended: Andros Townsend was suspended earlier this year for gambling on matches

‘The same conditions that were there when I first started earning big money are still there now,’ Gillespie told the Daily Mirror’s Oliver Holt.

‘You finish training and in the afternoon you go home and, if you’re not married, you’re probably going home to an empty house or a hotel room.

‘You’re bored and you’ve got time on your hands, and a lot of money to play with.

‘In the old days, when you were physically going to a bookmaker’s shop, you could only lose what was in your pocket. Now, with internet accounts and telephone accounts, it is a lot easier to lose a lot more money a lot faster.

Old days: When Gillespie was playing there was no mobile betting

‘There has been plenty of publicity about players with gambling problems but I guarantee you that there are a lot more out there who have not been named yet.’

Tottenham and England winger Andros Townsend was suspended earlier this year for breaching betting regulations.



He revealed: ‘It all started while watching games in my hotel room.

Nomad: As well as spells at Manchester United and Newcastle, Gillespie played for Leicester and Sheffield United

‘I was bored and there were TV ads promoting bets you could have on the matches I was watching.

‘So I downloaded the phone app and started having small wagers to make watching games as a neutral fun. It was like giving myself a team to support.’