{"id":395704,"date":"2026-01-08T08:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T08:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/395704\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T08:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T08:08:10","slug":"patriots-wr-kayshon-boutte-details-battle-with-gambling-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/395704\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots WR Kayshon Boutte details battle with gambling addiction"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNew England Patriots\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t“I gambled until I was completely broke. When it was all said and done, I put in around $90,000 of my own money, and lost it all.”<\/p>\n

\"New
\n\tKayshon Boutte emerged as Drake Maye’s go-to deep threat this season. (AP Photo\/Greg M. Cooper)\t<\/p>\n

Ahead of his first NFL playoff game with the Patriots on Sunday night, wide receiver Kayshon Boutte reflected on the journey he\u2019s been on to get to this moment \u2014 including his struggles with gambling addictions.<\/p>\n

In a personal essay published in The Players\u2019 Tribute titled \u201cHow The Hell Did I Get Here???,\u201d<\/a> Boutte acknowledged that he \u201cfell in love with gambling\u201d during his collegiate years at LSU.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI was 20. I was at LSU. Full ride. Whole future ahead of me. And I didn\u2019t care at all.\u201d Boutte wrote. \u201cSome people hit the slots, the tables, the apps, spend what they can spend, and go home \u2014 or put the phone down. Not me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d wake up early in the morning, and the first thing I\u2019d do was bet. I\u2019d stay up late and bet. All day. All night. I had insomnia, so if I woke up in the middle of the night, phone next to the bed, I\u2019d bet. Any little money I had, it was going straight to FanDuel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boutte noted that his struggles with gambling started after he suffered a debilitating ankle injury as a sophomore with the Tigers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At one point, the explosive wideout was seemingly poised to be the next great receiver out of LSU like Justin Jefferson and Ja\u2019Marr Chase. He set an LSU single-game record with 14 catches for 308 yards and three touchdowns against Ole Miss in the final game of his true freshman campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a sophomore, he reeled in 38 catches for 508 yards and nine touchdowns over his first six games before going down with that injury \u2014 hindering him the rest of his college career and hurting his stock before New England eventually selected him in the sixth round of the 2023 NFL Draft.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During his extensive rehab process, Boutte acknowledged, he became addicted to betting as an outlet to channel his frustrations. It had severe consequences.<\/p>\n

\u201cI gambled until I was completely broke. When it was all said and done, I put in around $90,000 of my own money, and lost it all,\u201d Boutte wrote. \u201cThat\u2019s like taking a duffle bag stuffed with 90 bands and just emptying it over a bridge or something. Throwing it in the wind. Dollars floating away. Gone.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a certain point, when you hit rock bottom, every gambling addict has this moment when you layin\u2019 in bed just seeing $0.00 on the app. And you know that\u2019s your last. And it\u2019s like\u2026\u2026.\u00a0 How the hell did I get here???\u201d<\/p>\n

Boutte said that both his return to the footfield field and becoming a father gave him the reality check he needed to step away from the constant wagering on his phone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI just looked at myself in the mirror one day and realized, Bruh, the way you living ain\u2019t healthy. And if I\u2019m being honest, I think there was probably a little bit of shame to that realization, too,\u201d Boutte wrote. \u201cGrowing up, my dad was a real hard-working dude, doing offshore, blue collar work \u2014 getting up at 5 or 6 a.m. I didn\u2019t really come from a rich household, but anything we wanted, my parents made it happen. And I wanted to be that for my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boutte\u2019s first years in New England were filled with plenty of ups and downs, as he recorded just two catches over five games as a rookie during the 2023 season under Bill Belichick.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Further compounding his woes was his arrest in January 2024 for underage gambling and fraud charges<\/a> for placing bets on sporting events while at LSU. Charges were later dropped<\/a> against Boutte in July 2024 after he completed a gambling awareness program and executed self-ban agreements in Massachusetts and with several sportsbook companies. Investigators determined he did not bet against himself or LSU.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Amid those rookie struggles and legal woes, Boutte expressed gratitude to the Patriots for sticking with him during his first years in the NFL.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI owe the Patriots organization everything. \u2026 How many of those 32 teams would\u2019ve just walked away at that point? Especially from a sixth-round pick,\u201d Boutte wrote. \u201cBut the organization knew my heart, and they stuck by me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Boutte and the Patriots have benefited this season, with a 14-3 New England team set to take on the Chargers on Sunday night in the wild-card round of the playoffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Boutte has emerged as Drake Maye\u2019<\/a>s most-trusted deep threat down the sidelines, breaking through in 2025 with 33 catches for 551 yards and six touchdowns on the season. His 16.7 yards per reception ranked fourth in the NFL among qualified players (min. 10 games played).\u00a0<\/p>\n

As he preps for Sunday\u2019s showdown at Gillette Stadium, Boutte concluded his essay with a message to others about the dangers of gambling.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next time you see a headline about a gambling story, and somebody going down for it\u2026.. Just remember that there\u2019s a person behind that headline,\u201d Boutte wrote. \u201cWhen you ask yourself, \u201cHow could they do something like that? How could they risk it all? What were they thinking?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sad part is, they weren\u2019t thinking. They were going through something. Don\u2019t give up on them. Maybe they just need some help.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Profile\t<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for the Today newsletter<\/p>\n

Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New England Patriots “I gambled until I was completely broke. When it was all said and done, I…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,84,393,394],"class_list":{"0":"post-395704","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}