Bateman, like many young men, was caught in a cycle that contributes to Australians losing more than $25 billion a year on legal forms of gambling \u2014 the largest per capita losses in the world.<\/p>\n
The former Canberra Raiders player stressed that his impressive pay packet did not save him from desperation.<\/p>\n
He estimated he lost $500,000 to gambling over just a couple of years.<\/p>\n
“I was earning $400,000 a year and I was broke,” he said.<\/p>\n
“My mum was paying my mortgage because I had no money and I couldn’t buy groceries.”<\/p>\n
Bateman described his battle with gambling addiction as “debilitating,” but admits he wasn’t alone.<\/p>\n
“I would say half the football team had gambling addictions.<\/p>\n
“Probably not to the same severity that I had, but \u2026 that’s what we did as a football team.<\/p>\n
“When we had spare time, it was like ‘let’s go to the races’ or ‘let’s get out of the pub and have a beer and a bet.'”<\/p>\n
Fighting a daily battle<\/p>\n
It was the convenience of gambling that Bateman said drove his addiction.<\/p>\n
“My biggest problem was that I had a bookie on my phone,” he said.<\/p>\n
“It made it super easy for me to be very secretive about it as well because I could have been at an event \u2026 a wedding \u2026 and I could be sitting at the table \u2026 and putting a bet on.<\/p>\n
“Someone might think you’re just sending a text or whatever, and you just put a $10,000 bet on.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Luke Bateman (centre) says he wasn’t able to buy groceries, despite his huge NRL salary, because of his gambling addiction. (Getty Images: Mark Nolan)<\/p>\n
Bateman described the shame he felt, especially as someone who many saw as a role model.<\/p>\n
“You’re someone who should be wealthy, and you’ve got no money,” he said.<\/p>\n
“What are people going to think of me?”<\/p>\n
‘Me in a coffin or I get help’<\/p>\n
It was a career-ending knee injury in 2019 that the former player credits with helping him take hold of his life \u2014 but not before a severe struggle with depression.<\/p>\n
“I actually got to the point where I said, ‘No, this goes sort of one of two ways.’<\/p>\n
“It ends with me in a coffin or I get help \u2026 I’ve ridden this train to the end of the track.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Luke Bateman’s TikTok account exploded after he joined the platform to share his love of fantasy books. (Supplied: Simon & Schuster Australia)<\/p>\n
Bateman checked into rehab, and six years later, he said he was now free from addiction.<\/p>\n
Loading…<\/p>\n
He wants to see more done by the federal government to crack down on Australia’s gambling problem, although he is unsure about what specifically needs to change.<\/p>\n
The Albanese government continues to face pressure to crack down on gambling ads, after stalling on its promise to take action in the face of resistance from wagering firms, sporting codes, and media companies.<\/p>\n
“Should there be reforms in the space? Absolutely,” Bateman said.<\/p>\n
Winning at all costs<\/p>\n
Now 30, Bateman said he reflects on his NRL career with more maturity.<\/p>\n
While he does not blame football for everything and he has taken “ownership and responsibility” for his struggles, he will not defend the sport.<\/p>\n
“It’s not a culture or industry that really develops mature, wholesome, integrated men, in my opinion,” he said.<\/p>\n
“There are a lot of parts that are very corrosive to young men \u2026 especially once you get to the professional level.<\/p>\n
“The main point is win at all costs, and any price you have to pay to win \u2014 be that cheating, breaking rules, lying \u2014 whatever you have to do to win is justified.”<\/p>\n
On BookTok, criticism and moving forward<\/p>\n
The latest chapter in Bateman’s career is an unexpected return to his biggest passion.<\/p>\n
After a brief stint as a reality TV star on The Bachelor, the farmer has rebuilt his life as a book influencer, sharing his joy of reading with his hundreds of thousands of followers on TikTok.<\/p>\n
“I have been known for a few different things throughout my life, but it’s really meaningful to be most well-known for the one thing that I am actually passionate about,” he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
#BookTok has created a space for readers on TikTok to share their love of literature.\u00a0 (Source: TikTok)<\/p>\n
His recent announcement that he had signed a two-book deal for a fantasy series drew a mixed response on #BookTok, with some questioning whether he deserved the opportunity over more established or diverse writers.<\/p>\n
“All these people were saying things about me without knowing anything about me,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I’ve written since I was a kid \u2026 I started writing my book before any sort of online traction.”<\/p>\n
But Bateman said he can appreciate the frustration from fellow book lovers.<\/p>\n
“I was kind of like, ‘hey, I understand this anger and even though you’re angry at me, I’m one of you.'”<\/p>\n
As for what is next, he hopes it will be something that will give him the chance to give back.<\/p>\n
“I’m not exactly sure what the future holds, but whatever it is, I know that it’ll be helping people.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Luke Bateman was at the peak of his NRL career in 2019, his life outwardly exemplified the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[579,578,134,576,554,555,111,139,577,69,580],"class_list":{"0":"post-341","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-addiction","9":"tag-gambling","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-luke-bateman","12":"tag-mental-health","13":"tag-mentalhealth","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nrl","17":"tag-nz","18":"tag-triple-j-hack"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}