With ridiculous wealth and excess resources, NBA players, just like professional footballers or other top athletes are more likely to be interested in gambling than the average person. They are used to having a lot of money, being successful, taking risks and often winning. They bring their competitiveness and boldness to the casinos where they very often end up losing huge sums of money.

That’s not always the case and we’re going to tell you about five NBA players who are notorious gamblers and we will share their anything but ordinary stories with you.

Gambling online vs in a brick-and-mortar casino

Playing online brings the casino to players without them having to visit an actual establishment. Slots and game tables are available 24/7 and players can play them from the comfort of their own homes. Sweden only has four land-based casinos situated in the Southern part of the country but if you don’t have a chance to visit any of them you can select a casino that offers a casino bonus from our list.

In the world of poker, there is a definite advantage of playing online as poker tournaments are few and far between. Celebrity athletes like Cristiano Ronaldo can often be seen in the virtual poker rooms of PokerStars where his fans await their turn to play against him. Tomas Brolin, a Swedish former professional football player is also very successful in poker and making significant money with the game.

However, there is an undisputed charm of brick-and-mortar casinos and it seems that NBA players are after exactly that experience. The basketball players we will list above are often seen in the flashy casinos of Las Vegas and Atlantic City using cash and their check books instead of playing online anonymously making untraceable cryptocurrency deposits. So which ones have lost the most money? Read on to find out!

Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan is widely considered the best basketball players of all time. Apart from being the GOAT he is also a great businessman and managed to become the first billionaire in the NBA’s history and with a net worth of $2.1 billion, Jordan is the fourth-richest African American. That’s to say that Jordan is one of the most famous NBA stars who play casino games.

In 1993, Jordan was seen gambling in Atlantic City on the night before a game against the New York Knicks. Rumor has it that the basketball player’s retirement was due to a secret suspension by the league for gambling, however, both Jordan and NBA Commissioner David Stern have denied this several times. Jordan admitted to having lost $57,000 in 1992. The following year he made bets on the golf course and lost $1.25 million against Richard Esquinas. Golf shooting bets are his passion and he regularly plays against other celebrities and sportsmen placing high stake bets on himself.

Charles Barkley

Barkley is another former NBA star that is known for his compulsive gambling habits. In 2007, in an interview, he admitted that he had lost around $10 million through gambling. His biggest loss was $2.5 million on blackjack in a 6-hour window. The former NBA star admits to his gambling problem but since he claims that he can afford it he doesn’t rank it on the same level as if he would have a drug or alcohol problem.

Apart from his losses, Barkley claims to have won $700,000 once in Las Vegas. In 2008, he was taken to court by the Wynn Las Vegas casino because he owed them $400,000 since the previous year. He admitted to this and paid the debt and then claimed to have stopped gambling even though he had previously said that gambling is a problem he could afford.

J.R. Smith

In 2012, Smith played for the Denver Nuggets and the same year his Cherry Hills Country Club was broken into. The burglars vandalized his Mercedes and stole his expensive wristwatch, several designer sports bags and most importantly $15,000 in cash. When police asked him why he had such a large sum of cash at his house, he said he was going to use it for gambling. The shooting guard’s history and personality certainly raises attention seems to be in line with his story as we can easily imagine him visiting a flashy casino with a suitcase full of money.

Antoine Walker

Walker is probably the most well-known example of how easy it for professional athletes to get lost in gambling. The Celtics’ power forward is one of the NBA stars who play poker and he started playing in 2009 after which he quickly started losing sums he couldn’t afford. He was caught signing lots of bad checks to multiple casinos he owed money to. He was owing over $800,000 to Las Vegas casinos and was arrested when he couldn’t pay up. This not only ruined his career but in 2010 he had to file for bankruptcy.

Charles Oakley
Charles Oakley has always been a fan of casino games but he has been in control, always paying back his debts. When in 2000, Tyrone Hill, the Philadelphia Sixer’s all-star didn’t pay back the $54,000 he owed Oakley, he hit Hill and threw a basketball at him shortly before a preseason game. He was suspended for his behavior and fined as well.

The above stories prove that any sum of money can be lost in gambling and it can ruin even superstars’ careers. On the other hand, when done in moderation and just for fun it can give the glitz and glamour, former NBA stars are so used to from the basketball courts.