Cricket star targets gambling

A leading county cricketer is attempting to hit gambling companies for six – by seeking curbs to ‘in your face’ advertising.
Hampshire all-rounder, Chris Wood, is spearheading attempts by the Professional Cricketers’ Association – the sport’s trade union – to reduce the opportunities broadcasters offer gambling firms to plug their online products, and warning young players in academies how easy it is to form a gambling addiction.

With the new season starting on 8 April,  the 30-year-old former gambler is warning that television advertising is leading more and more people into misery, as they become increasingly addicted.

‘I found it really hard in my first six months of recovery to try to escape my feelings and emotions around gambling when all these adverts were popping up in between a football match I was watching,’ he revealed to the BBC.

And he stressed that the competitive nature of sportsmen – what he calls ‘a winning and losing mentality’ – commonly crosses over i...