TLDR Former Stoke City player Tony Kelly lost more than £500,000 to gambling during his football career. He founded Red Card Gambling, a charity that teaches young footballers about gambling risks. Kelly says the UK’s new gambling levy, set to raise about £100 million a year, spends too much on research. He says bet365’s owners, the Coates family, have not replied to his requests, and Stoke told him he was not welcome at a match. Kelly says Tranmere and Coventry show clubs can survive without gambling sponsors.
Former Stoke City player Tony Kelly lost more than £500,000 to gambling during his football career. He now runs a charity that warns young players about the risks, and he says it needs more money to keep going.
Kelly made 179 professional appearances for clubs including Stoke, Leyton Orient, Bury, Colchester United, Cardiff City, and Hull City. He told Gambling Insider this week that without his addiction, the number could have passed 400.
His losses were far more than his salary in the lower divisions. He says stress over money made his form uneven, and he never told his managers.
Former Stoke manager Lou Macari, Kelly says, would describe him as “out of this world” one week and unrecognizable the next.
Red Card Gambling Seeks More Funding
Kelly founded Red Card Gambling after his recovery. The charity runs education programs, mostly for young footballers, and he tells his story in his latest book, My Redemption: It’s Full Time.
He says clubs keep asking him to speak to academy players aged 16 to 19. He has a waiting list, but the charity needs more funding to reach them.
Last year, the UK government brought in a statutory levy on licensed gambling operators. It replaces a voluntary system and aims to raise