Luke Bateman has been praised for opening up about the addiction that nearly ruined his life. The former NRL player turned book influencer spoke out on the second episode of I’m A Celebrity about how he was exposed to gambling in his late teens.
The now 30-year-old said it quickly consumed his life outside of footy because he had a lot of downtime and plenty of cash in his wallet. He told Barry Williams and Nath Valvo how dangerous it can be, especially for young men.
“From the moment you’re 18, what you do is you train, you play, and then you go to the pub and gamble. And that’s just like bred into the culture,” he said.
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He claimed “every second bloke” in his team had a gambling issue “to some degree”, but he took it to the “nth degree”.
Nath asked whether this attraction to gambling was because athletes wanted to chase that win.
But Luke said it was mainly due to being 18, 19, or 20 years old and having a lot of money to play with.
“And you got no respect for [the money], and you have a lot of spare time,” he said.
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“And then also you’re like, you’re culturally just, not forced into it, but you’re just culturally exposed to it from literally 18.”
He was 18 when he joined the Canberra Raiders’ Under 20s team, which he stayed in until 2015, before joining the senior Raiders squad until 2019.
During this time he earned as much as $400,000 a year, and while he managed to keep his addiction a secret for most people, it was leading him down a very dark spiral.
How bad did Luke Bateman’s gambling addiction get?
Last year, he told Triple J’s Hack programme that his mum was paying his mortgage at one point because he didn’t have any money.
He said while there was a big culture of going to the pub with his teammates and betting on sport, he said he could also put big bets on through phone apps.
“Someone might think you’re just sending a text or whatever, and you just put a $10,000 bet on,” he said.
He estimated he lost around $500,000 over several years to gambling.
Luke copped a brutal injury in 2019 that made him see the two routes his life was going to take: going further down the rabbit hole without the NRL salary, or getting help.
He checked into rehab and was able to wean himself off his gambling addiction.
“I’m very open and honest and direct when it comes to all of my struggles in my past,” he said in a confessional video on I’m A Celeb.
“I’ve kept that part of myself very secret for a long time, and I think that addiction thrives in secrecy.”
Viewers at home praised him for continuing to speak out on the vice that affects many Aussies.
“Good for Luke…I think it’s so important to be honest about such issues,” wrote one person.
“Exactly why football players need to work or study. Too much spare time on their hands is dangerous,” added another.
“I like Luke that’s cool he’s so honest,” wrote a third.
How bad is gambling in Australia?
According to government figures, playing lotto or lottery games is the most popular form of gambling in Australia, with 28.6 per cent of men and 24 per cent of women partaking.
The next most popular is betting on horses or dogs, at 10.1 per cent for men, followed by betting on sports in general at 9.3 per cent, and poker machines at 7.3 per cent.
The second most popular form of gambling for women is instant scratch tickets at 5.6 per cent, then poker machines at 5.1 per cent.
The Grattan Institute found in 2024 that Australia has the highest gambling losses in the world, with our average annual losses per adult totalling $1,635.
In 2022-23, Aussies bet $244 billion on legal forms of gambling, and lost roughly $25 billion.
The Institute also revealed that while the number of people in Australia who gamble is dwindling, the amount they’re playing with is increasing.
Two per cent of people who gamble have severe problems, which is around 1 per cent of the adult Aussie population.
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These gamblers spend about 60 times as much as people who do not experience problems.
But those are the ones with the biggest addictions. Roughly 10 to 15 per cent of people who gamble still experience some degree of harm.
The Grattan Institute found that the pokies are responsible for 51 to 57 per cent of gambling problems and is the most problematic form of gambling in Australia, which is largely due to their widespread availability at pubs and clubs.
Sports betting and race betting are next on the list at 19 to 20 per cent of harm, while casinos are around 10 to 14 per cent of harm.
If gambling is a problem for you go to Gambling Help Online or call 1800 858 858.
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