DISGRACED snooker participant Mark King admits his lifelong playing hell started as a child enjoying Yahtzee together with his nan over PENNIES.
The Romford-born star’s crippling habit took maintain whereas rising up in Essex and it even concerned enjoying playing cards with a ten-year-old Ronnie O’Sullivan, who hailed from the identical space.
2
2
And as King acquired older, cash was wasted on fruit machines with £250 jackpots, in addition to bookmakers, horse and canine races in betting retailers, plus roulette machines — “absolutely the crack cocaine of playing”.
However, extremely, that buzz for a flutter — which just about destroyed his life and has stunted his snooker profession — started when he began enjoying the favored cube sport together with his grandmother.
King, 51, who’s presently serving a five-year ban handed out in November for match fixing, defined: “From a younger age, I used to remain spherical my nan’s home on a Thursday. We performed Yahtzee, an old-school sport.
“My nan used to offer me a bag of two pences. She would put them in entrance of me.
“However that’s how I began betting and studying that form of stuff.
“I used to go to the snooker membership in Romford, the membership the place Steve Davis first began.
“And I used to be enjoying on the fruit machines — all day, every single day. At the moment, fruit machines have been 10p a go and the jackpot was £100.
“I used to be solely ten or 11 years outdated and I wasn’t allowed to play them.
“As soon as I put in a single pound and received £16. I acquired 4 bells. I assumed, ‘Oh my god, I’m wealthy’, and I needed to run with it in my pocket to the bathroom.”
King, who turned skilled in 1991, turned a “compulsive gambler” and infrequently spent his days in betting retailers earlier than he would play in rating competitions later that very same night.
And if it had not been for his playing habit, King reckons he would have “undoubtedly received extra tournaments”.
The 2016 Northern Eire Open champ recalled: “I performed John Higgins within the semi-finals of the 1998 Welsh Open. I misplaced 6-5.
“I used to be within the betting store all day till 6pm.
“The primary canine race was at 11am and I feel I did a few grand. I used to be not in the perfect way of thinking.
“I ought to have been resting, sleeping, and preparing for an enormous sport. I used to be solely 24.
“I had simply began attending to that stage the place I used to be doing higher in competitions, getting additional, and knocking on the highest 16. However I simply needed to guess.
“It hurts me to say it however I’d have a row with my spouse, simply so I might get out and punt.
“As soon as I did about £3,000 within the betting store. I owed a bookmaker and I instructed him to attend as I had a cheque to come back from the German Masters.
If I ever have one other guess, then my marriage is finished. It’s gone.
Mark King
“These days, you may gamble 24 hours a day.
“You possibly can sit on the john and do £10,000 in your cell phone.”
King first attended Gamblers Nameless conferences in 1997 and has solely suffered 4 “breakouts” the place he has relapsed.
And his final guess was now 13 years in the past.
The daddy-of-two admitted: “If I don’t go to my weekly GA conferences then I do know I’m in bother.
“If I ever have one other guess, then my marriage is finished. It’s gone.
“My life is good now. It’s depraved. I’ve a stunning household and a few pretty canine.”
Speaking on the Cue Sport Hub YouTube channel, King doesn’t talk about the prolonged match-fixing ban slapped on him within the winter.
Checklist of all-time Snooker World Champions
BELOW is an inventory of snooker World Champions by 12 months.
The report is for the fashionable period, extensively thought-about as relationship from the 1968-69 season, when the World Skilled Billiards and Snooker Affiliation (WPBSA) took management of the game.
The primary World Championships ran from 1927 – with a break from 1941-45 due to World Battle II and 1958-63 due to a dispute within the sport.
Joe Davis (15), Fred Davis and John Pulman (each 8) have been probably the most profitable gamers throughout that interval.
Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan share the report for the most titles within the fashionable period, with seven every.
- 1969 – John Spencer
- 1970 – Ray Reardon
- 1971 – John Spencer
- 1972 – Alex Higgins
- 1973 – Ray Reardon (2)
- 1974 – Ray Reardon (3)
- 1975 – Ray Reardon (4)
- 1976 – Ray Reardon (5)
- 1977 – John Spencer (2)
- 1978 – Ray Reardon (6)
- 1979 – Terry Griffiths
- 1980 – Cliff Thorburn
- 1981 – Steve Davis
- 1982 – Alex Higgins (2)
- 1983 – Steve Davis (2)
- 1984 – Steve Davis (3)
- 1985 – Dennis Taylor
- 1986 – Joe Johnson
- 1987 – Steve Davis (4)
- 1988 – Steve Davis (5)
- 1989 – Steve Davis (6)
- 1990 – Stephen Hendry
- 1991 – John Parrott
- 1992 – Stephen Hendry (2)
- 1993 – Stephen Hendry (3)
- 1994 – Stephen Hendry (4)
- 1995 – Stephen Hendry (5)
- 1996 – Stephen Hendry (6)
- 1997 – Ken Doherty
- 1998 – John Higgins
- 1999 – Stephen Hendry (7)
- 2000 – Mark Williams
- 2001 – Ronnie O’Sullivan
- 2002 – Peter Ebdon
- 2003 – Mark Williams (2)
- 2004 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (2)
- 2005 – Shaun Murphy
- 2006 – Graeme Dott
- 2007 – John Higgins (2)
- 2008 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (3)
- 2009 – John Higgins (3)
- 2010 – Neil Robertson
- 2011 – John Higgins (4)
- 2012 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (4)
- 2013 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (5)
- 2014 – Mark Selby
- 2015 – Stuart Bingham
- 2016 – Mark Selby (2)
- 2017 – Mark Selby (3)
- 2018 – Mark Williams (3)
- 2019 – Judd Trump
- 2020 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (6)
- 2021 – Mark Selby (4)
- 2022 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (7)
- 2023 – Luca Brecel
- 2024 – Kyren Wilson
Most World Titles (fashionable period)
- 7 – Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O’Sullivan
- 6 – Ray Reardon, Steve Davis
- 4 – John Higgins, Mark Selby
- 3 – John Spencer, Mark Williams
- 2 – Alex Higgins
An unbiased disciplinary committee discovered him responsible of 1 depend of match fixing and offering inside info on a match.
King appealed the choice and branded it as “c**p” that “I can cope with”.
It’s believed he has been pressured to promote his snooker desk throughout authorized motion with baize bigwigs.
To pay their payments, his spouse works in a faculty and he’s basically now a “home husband”, doing a little labouring whereas “shopping for and promoting just a few ins and outs”.
Reflecting on his 33-year profession, King added: “I look again and assume, ‘What a plank I used to be!’ I a lot favor the particular person I’m now.
“I can fall asleep now and I would not have to fret about owing folks cash.
“I additionally would not have to fret about coming residence at foolish o’clock within the morning.
“I used to be like a firework that went off and once I gambled, every little thing round me acquired hit — my spouse, and my children. I used to be a horrible particular person.”
Bear in mind to gamble responsibly
A accountable gambler is somebody who:
- Establishes time and financial limits earlier than enjoying
- Solely gambles with cash they will afford to lose
- By no means chase their losses
- Doesn’t gamble in the event that they’re upset, indignant or depressed
- Gamcare – gamcare.org.uk
- GambleAware – GambleAware.org
Learn our information on accountable playing practices.
For assist with a playing downside, name the Nationwide Playing Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or go to gamstop.co.uk to be excluded from all UK-regulated playing web sites.
