Jarkko, who played in the SM league for a long time. A Immonen says that he suffered from gambling addiction during his career.
Played a total of 644 regular season matches in the Ice Hockey SM League in Blues, SaiPa, Pelicanci, Sport and KooKoo Jarkko A. Immonen says SJRY, i.e. the Finnish ice hockey players’ association in the article (you will switch to another service) having suffered from gambling addiction for a long time. According to Immonen, it cost him around one million euros.
Immos had no shortage of money during his playing career, as he received a salary of 150,000 euros in his best seasons. He says that due to his gambling addiction, he ended up in a bit of debt.
– I earned 7,000 euros a month, but I still had to take out a loan to play. It tells you that the game problem was big. The sums were really big and I have lost around one million euros playing.
The gaming problem that started with online poker expanded to online casino roll games. Immonen was able to keep his gambling problem a secret from his loved ones for a long time. Even the wife and parents didn’t know about it.
Immonen, 38, played the last years of his league career in KooKoo. At that time, a part of Immonen’s salary was confiscated. Immonen’s secret was revealed when his wife wanted to see the bank statement.
– Then I knew that the game was lost. I lived a Double Life for about ten years without anyone knowing. Everyone saw only that backdrop. It’s even sick, Immonen tells SJRY.
Immonen spent six weeks in an intensive treatment period in Riihimäki. Life is slowly back on track.
– I’m not proud of my gambling addiction. It is considered one of the weaknesses, even though it is a disease. There has been such an atmosphere in the Lätkä world that you have to be tough and not show weakness.
Immonen encourages players to talk about gambling addiction. He hopes that clubs would also take addiction seriously. According to Immonen, for example, the club’s doctors could be someone you could talk to about it.
Be the first to report on it Iltalehti (you switch to another service).