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Jordan Gambling
by Jerry "Jet"
Whittaker
June 05, 2006
Basketball superstar Michael Jordan is ashamed of how
far he permitted gambling to take over his life,
although he draws the line at being labeled a compulsive
gambler. The 42-year-old is embarrassed by his addiction
to placing bets and admits his weakness rose from a
sportsman's desire to always win. Michael Jordan is one
of the most popular names in the world, and among the
most dominant and gifted athletes ever to play
professional sports. He began betting small, might be
$100 on a hole or a putt. But as his assurance on the
golf course grew, so did the amounts of the bets. Jordan
had ample of money and he was a good golfer.
Michael Jordan’s growing interest in gambling
Michael Jordan craved the competition inside him. It was
this passion that led to his obsessive
gambling. He
gambled on just about anything. Although these were not
essentially sanctioned by the team, it went largely
ignored. These activities carried on into the pros, and
with the huge influx of money, the stakes progressively
increased. He played poker with his teammates on road
trips and was called as quite the shark. Bulls’ coaches
would warn the younger players not to engage in
recreation and play poker with him he was that good. He
even gambled on the out-come of video games. But it was
golf, his second passion, which resulted in to be his
downfall.
Michael Jordan in news of his addiction
In
1991, Jordan and a group of friends go on a week long
gambling spree at his Hilton Head home in North
Carolina, golfing all day and playing poker all night.
But till that time it ended, Jordan and he were into
James Slim Bouler for $57,000 and Eddie Dow for
$108,000. This in and of itself wouldn’t be such a big
deal excluding for the fact that Bouler was a convicted
cocaine dealer and had two probation violations for
carrying semiautomatic weapons. This was just the
commencement for Jordan. Then, almost one year to the
day after initially paying Bouler the $57,000, Michael
Jordan was in court at Bouler's trial for drug and
money-laundering charges. Under oath, during a nine
minute testimony, Michael Jordan confessed that the
$57,000 was not a loan but indeed a gambling debt.
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