Ex-gambler Colin Hendry selling… online gambling

HE is the troubled former Scotland captain who admitted a gambling problem after his wife died.

So when footballer Colin Hendry signed up to become an ambassador for an online betting firm, a few eyebrows were bound to be raised.

The 50-year-old, pictured, now has a role with Scandinavian betting platform Matching Visions.

In June 2010 he was bankrupt, owing £1million to the taxman and with significant debt to friends and gaming firm Spreadex.

Friends said at the time he would spend nights at his computer placing bets.

Yesterday, Mr Hendry’s former friend Hector McFarlane, who has been in dispute with the retired player over a £90,000 loan, said: ‘Hendry admitted gambling my money away. Now he accepts a role with an internet gaming company. Shame on him.’

Matching Visions allows people to place bets over multiple online gambling sites.

The firm says it will use Mr Hendry in showpiece football games and ‘secret’ roles. He is currently promoting the company in Malta at a gaming conference.

Mr Hendry has said the death of his wife Denise led to a spiral of drinking and debt.

In an interview with the Daily Mail last year, he said: ‘I don’t gamble at all these days. People do associate me with that but that’s pretty harsh and wrong.

‘When I went bankrupt, probably 1 per cent of the debt was due to that [online gambling]. It was mostly to do with tax for a film scheme, investments and so on.’