DISGRACED snooker player Mark King admits his lifelong gambling hell began as a kid playing Yahtzee with his nan over PENNIES.
The Romford-born star’s crippling addiction took hold while growing up in Essex and it even involved playing cards with a ten-year-old Ronnie O’Sullivan, who hailed from the same area.
Mark King opened up on his gambling addictionBut, incredibly, that buzz for a flutter â which almost destroyed his life and has stunted his career â began when he started playing the popular dice game with his grandmother.
King, 51, who is , explained: “From a young age, I used to stay round my nan’s house on a Thursday. We played Yahtzee, an old-school game.
“My nan used to give me a bag of two pences. She would put them in front of me.
“I used to go to the snooker club in Romford, the club where Steve Davis first started.
“And I was playing on the fruit machines â all day, every day. At that time, fruit machines were 10p a go and the jackpot was £100.
“I was only ten or 11 years old and I wasn’t allowed to play them.
“Once I put in one pound and won £16. I got four bells. I thought, ‘Oh my god, I’m rich’, and I had to run with it in my pocket to the toilet.”;
And if it had not been for his gambling addiction, King reckons he would have “definitely won more tournaments”;.
The 2016 Northern Ireland Open champ recalled: “I played John Higgins in the semi-finals of the 1998 Welsh Open. I lost 6-5.
“The first dog race was at 11am and I think I did about a grand. I was not in the best frame of mind.
“I should have been resting, sleeping, and getting ready for a massive game. I was only 24.
“I had just started getting to that stage where I was doing better in competitions, getting further, and knocking on the top 16. But I just wanted to bet.
“It hurts me to say it but I’d have a row with my wife, just so I could get out and punt.
If I ever have another bet, then my marriage is done. It’s gone.
Mark King
“Nowadays, you can gamble 24 hours a day.
“You can sit on the loo and do £10,000 on your mobile phone.”;
King first attended Gamblers Anonymous meetings in 1997 and has only suffered four “breakouts”; where he has relapsed.
And his last bet was now 13 years ago.
The father-of-two admitted: “If I don’t go to my weekly GA meetings then I know I’m in trouble.
“If I ever have another bet, then my marriage is done. It’s gone.
“My life is brilliant now. It’s wicked. I have a lovely family and a couple of lovely dogs.”;
Talking on the Cue Sport Hub YouTube channel , King does not discuss the lengthy match-fixing ban slapped on him in the winter.
An independent disciplinary committee found him .
King appealed the decision and branded it as “c**p”; that “I can deal with”;.
It is believed he has been forced to sell his snooker table during legal action with baize bigwigs.
To pay their bills, his wife works in a school and he is essentially now a “house husband”;, doing some labouring while “buying and selling a few bits and bobs”;.
Reflecting on his 33-year career, King added: “I look back and think, ‘What a plank I was!’ I much prefer the person I am now.
“I can go to sleep now and I do not have to worry about owing people money.
“I also do not have to worry about coming home at silly o’clock in the morning.
“I was like a firework that went off and when I gambled, everything around me got hit â my wife, and my kids. I was a horrible person.”;
Remember to gamble responsibly
A responsible gambler is someone who:
- Establishes time and monetary limits before playing
- Only gambles with money they can afford to lose
- Never chase their losses
- Doesn’t gamble if they’re upset, angry or depressed
- Gamcare â gamcare.org.uk
- GambleAware â GambleAware.org
Read our guide on .
For help with a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or go to gamstop.co.uk to be excluded from all UK-regulated gambling websites.
