Tyrone midfielder Conn Kilpatrick lifts lid on gambling addiction

Tyrone's Conn Kilpatrick                                       ©INPHO/Tommy Dickson

All-Ireland winning Tyrone midfield Conn Kilpatrick has revealed his battle with a gambling addiction.

The 24-year-old Edendork star who last month starred in the county’s All-Ireland final win over Mayo admits that he racked up debts of between £10,000 to £15,000 before friends and family intervened in 2018.

He quit gambling but suffered a relapse a year later. 

However he hasn’t had a bet in “a year and a half and it has changed my life, both on and off the pitch.” 

Kilpatrick told RTÉ’s Claire Byrne Live that his introduction to gambling came as a teenager but quickly spiraled out of control.

“I maybe started about 15 or 16 doing a wee bet with my father and my brother on a Saturday just for a bit of craic and for a bit of banter. Then as I grew older it kind of became more apparent. I was going into the bookies more, I had a few online accounts, I just seemed to find myself in the bookies quite a lot and doing quite more than what had started off as a wee fiver bet that was quite innocent. That’s how innocent it started off and it just got gradually worse.” 

Kilpatrick revealed that matters came to a head in February 2018 when friends, who were concerned with the debts he had accumulated, informed his parents. He estimated he owed between £10,000 to £15,000 at that stage.

“I think people had an inkling because obviously if I was in the bookies quite a lot, with the football, people would have been talking saying ‘did you see him?’ or ‘he’s been coming in quite regularly.’ 

 “Then in 2018 it kind of all came out. I had just borrowed too much money and stole that much money that it all caught up with me. I was maybe saying that I needed to pay the car payment or I was going on holidays and was a bit short and I needed a bit more.

“To be honest, I could come up with a lie as quick as I could do anything. Whatever I needed to say to get it, I probably did say it. When you look back some of the things I said, it was crazy. I wasn’t a great person to be around. I was coming home and if I had won I was in a great mood but nine times out of ten I had lost so I was coming in very moody. 

"Nobody could talk to me, I was always snapping back. I just wanted to go into my room and get on my phone and see who I could borrow money off, the next person, and what I was going to gamble on the next day, what football or horses. I was just kind of trying to think of ways to try and get that money back and get going again. 

“In 2018 when it first came out, I didn’t come to the forefront and say ‘I have an addiction’’, he told RTÉ.

 “Three of my closest friends landed down to my house and they’d just heard too much. They landed down and told my parents. I was actually at my girlfriend’s house and I got the phone call from my father and he said ‘come on home here’ and I just knew by the tone of his voice that you’re caught. They were worried about me. I knew who to go for money and I knew to keep it out of my close circle because then I thought it would get back, obviously I went too far and they found out.” 

Kilpatrick received counselling and quit gambling for over a year before suffering a relapse in 2019.

He admits that a fear of being seen prevented him from attending Gamblers Anonymous meetings prior to that relapse.

“I just woke up and something kind of took over me, it’s hard to explain but I never had the idea of going back on it the night before, the week before, I just kind of woke up and started again.”

“My father was just distraught. ‘How can you let this happen, do you not know what you’ve obviously done to the family and the hurt you’ve caused’ and he was 100% right.” 

He also paid tribute to his family, friends, the GPA and to former Armagh footballer Oisín McConville who have helped him lead a normal life.

“I’ve been off it now a year and a half and it has changed my life, both on and off the pitch,” he said. I can go to bed sleeping at night without worrying about who I owe money to, about where I’m going to get the money tomorrow. I can go to training. In the past I was going to training to probably get away from it and take a break from it but it was still hindering my football. Whenever I was caught it was still a weight lifted off my shoulders and if you’re big enough to own up then you deserve far more credit that you think you’re worth.”