I face lifelong battle with gambling, admits NI striker

Addiction: Kyle Lafferty NORTHERN Ireland striker Kyle Lafferty has said he will battle his gambling addiction for the rest of his days.

The Hearts star, who is originally from Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, was speaking at the weekend after attending his first meeting of Gamblers Anonymous last week.

Lafferty has also urged football to reassess its relationship with bookmakers as he publicly admitted gambling was a vice he had been wrestling with his entire career.

The 30-year-old says he faces a lengthy fight battling his demons.

“I was at a Gamblers Anonymous meeting last Wednesday with John Hartson and a guy picked up his 35-year pin,” Lafferty explained. “He’s gone to every single meeting — two a week. I spoke to him after and I said: ‘Why so long?’ He said, ‘You need to do it’,” he told ESPN.

“There was another guy who said: ‘Whenever you think you are over it there is a chance you could fall back in’.

“You need as much help as you can and there are lots of people who are helping me, and then there will be others who will want me to fail. I’ve finally got my mind in the right place. I’m going to do this for my family and myself.”

He says he is impossible to escape gambling temptation in football.

“Everywhere you look in Scotland it’s the William Hill Cup, the Ladbrokes Premier League and you are playing a game and bet365 is going around advertising boards,” he said.

“No matter what app you put up on your phone there is something to do with betting, like live scores.

“You can’t get away from it. Everywhere you look there is something to do with betting.

“I think people need to look at it because if you have a problem it is difficult to get away from it, unless you are going to be brave and come out about it and get help, and it’s difficult.”