PREMIER - Everton, Townsend explains his gambling addiction

As reported on Everton official site, 30-year old English winger Andros Townsend explained how downloading a betting app for the first time during one of his loan spells was the trigger for a gambling addiction.

Townsend breached FA betting regulations by gambling on matches in competitions in which he was involved and in the summer of 2013 was banned for four months – three of them suspended.

He sought help but acknowledges today, “The only reason I stopped was I knew if I did it again my career was pretty much over”.

“It was much later,” relates Townsend, “I realised how much of a problem I had.

“You speak to a gambler or alcoholic and they think they have control.

“‘I have a system, I can get out at any time’.

“That is obviously not the case.

“If you have an addiction, you are never completely over it.

“I am 90-per-cent clean and have not had a bet since it was bad.

“But, maybe, you see odds flash up on a screen, or for one reason or another it is in the back of your mind.

“It is not a problem – but it is an ongoing battle to not slip back into it.”

Townsend’s solution is to feed the obsessive element of his character with healthier pursuits.

He learned Greek – his mother’s native tongue – and five years ago had “six or seven months” consumed by the game Pokemon Go.

“I was spending hours driving to parks in London trying to look for Pokemon,” says Townsend.

“It was insane but kept me away from worse stuff.

“I make sure my mind is occupied to prevent me from thinking about gambling.

“It is much easier with two children taking most of my time. But I make sure there is never 30-45 minutes when I am twiddling my thumbs.

“When the kids are in bed and my wife is doing something else, I will play F1 on the PlayStation.”

Talking publicly and so eruditely about the subject, as Townsend has over the past two years, represents a double-edged sword.

“The more you speak about it, the more you’re thinking about gambling,” says Townsend.

“But it has been great to help other people in their own battles, with gambling or alcohol".