League: I became a pokie addict says Price

Steve Price

SYDNEY - New Zealand Warriors skipper Steve Price has spoken candidly about how an addiction to poker machines jeopardised his family life and his NRL career.

Price, who is sidelined with a knee injury, revealed how management at his former club, the Bulldogs, took the exceptional step of monitoring his bank account.

His admission follows recent revelations that Cronulla Sharks utility Michael Sullivan squandered more than A$100,000 ($109,890) on horse racing and shares.

Meanwhile, a poll of 100 players in Rugby League Week magazine yesterday showed that almost 50 per cent of players knew of fellow NRL stars with a gambling problem.

Price said his habit developed in 1994 when, as a rising NRL star, he won $250 the first time he ever put $10 in a poker machine.

Realising the addiction was becoming serious he approached club management, who insisted Price get someone to act as a signatory on his private back account to control his spending.

"I basically just got the courage to spill the beans and then we went about ways of making sure I didn't have money other than for what I needed," Price told the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

"I got a signatory on my account and if I needed money I had to put it by him what the money was for."

Asked how much he had lost over the years, Price admitted: "I wouldn't have a clue. But if I hadn't of lost all that money I would have been in a better position than I am now.

"I wouldn't say I was suicidal but I was very depressed. It was terrible."

Price said the fear of losing wife Jo and children Jamie, Kassey and Riley forced him to act in 2000 when he was at his lowest ebb.

The Rugby League Week's annual survey found gambling had replaced sex, alcohol and drugs as the code's biggest off-field problem.

The players, split among the NRL's 15 clubs, were polled on a number of issues and several expressed grave concerns about the toll gambling could be taking.

"Gambling is definitely a huge problem for a lot of us," one representative player said. "You take it up because it is a great way of stimulating that adrenaline rush you get from winning games. That's why a lot of players get stuck into the pokies when they're out injured."

NRL chief executive David Gallop questioned the poll's methodology

"Forty-six per cent of players are not suggesting they have a gambling problem. They could all be talking about one player and, based on the Cronulla player's admission, if the survey was done today, you'd expect it to be 100 per cent."

Gallop said the NRL had already installed mechanisms to help players with an addiction.

"We've got specific courses through our education and welfare committee that we've run over the last few years that deal with the issue," he said.

- NZPA