Scott Davies – From a sad gambling story to an admirable change

Trabzonspor's supporters hold red flares and flags during the UEFA Europa League Group D football match between FC Basel 1893 and Trabzonspor AS at the St. Jakob-Park Stadium in Basel on December 12, 2019. (Photo by STEFAN WERMUTH / AFP) (Photo by STEFAN WERMUTH/AFP via Getty Images)

Perhaps many of us have heard about Scott Davies and his gambling addiction, maybe from the news, social media, or sports fans. What most of us have memorized was that he gambled about £200,000 – £250,000 and ruined his football career. The ones who don’t know the entire story might condemn him for his choices, ruining such a good life, when he had it all. On one side, they may be right, but there is more to the story and if listened carefully, it might even teach us a few things about life’s ups and downs and admire him for his strength, at the end of the day.

Within the next paragraphs, you’ll learn from Davies’ prospective how a tragedy can turn one’s life around and still manage to have a happy ending, leaving behind an abundance of bad memories, but also an entire dictionary of mistakes to avoid.

The gambling beginnings

Early in his career, when Scott was only 16, he moved out of his parents’ house in Aylesbury to live in digs in Reading, playing for the youth team. His wage was £50 a week, getting paid every Wednesday morning. That was when it all started. Each salary was spent at the bookmakers and since no one really asked any questions, it was the perfect opportunity to avoid the age answer. Each time he would walk out with an empty pocket, the payment for a week gone in a few hours.

At the age of 17, he started training with the first team at Reading. His wage went from £50 to £400 but since all the money would disappear so quickly, he couldn’t afford to pay for his bus home from training, having to walk three miles home every day. At the end of the season, he was rewarded with a new contract, increasing his earnings to £1800 per week. 

At the time, he was living at home and wasn’t paying rent, which led him to gamble more, not only on Roulette and horse racing but also football, which was prohibited by the FA.

Davies’ salary would run out in five or six days, which led his parents to take his bank card and fund his training, a thing that went on for a couple of years.

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£30,000 gone in a flash

After receiving his signing on fee at Reading, his parents decided to buy a house for him, with their £30,000 savings, put aside in an indirect savings account on his name. Scott promised to take care of it, desperately wanting to buy a house. You could guess what happened next, all the money from that account was gambled. They were visiting houses for sale, talking to the agents about which carpet would look best, but the whole time he knew there was no money to buy the house or even the carpet with. 

The moment they arrived home, our beloved football player broke down in tears and explained what he has done, leaving his parents in shock, the money was just there three weeks ago. That was Scott’s wake up call, at least for that moment.

A short time after, he was back at Aldershot Town for a second season, doing very well – 14 goals from midfield, at 20 years old. This has caught the big clubs’ attention – with talk of fees of half a million pounds. After that season, he went back to Reading, scoring a few goals, even against Chelsea. Seeing fans with his name on their shirt made him think ‘’This is my day now, I have made it”. He was living in a bubble.

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Gambling was why I got up in the morning

Once, after training, the footballer rushed out to get to the bookies. The next day, the manager pulled him into his office for a conversation, mentioning his appreciation towards the brilliant work done this pre-season, but as their best player, he needed to be more involved and focused. This meant coming first thing in the morning for training and staying back afterward, to put in the extra work. But that just wasn’t an option, gambling was the only reason Scott would get up in the morning and training was just in the way of that. It was uncontrollable. 

A while after, he got pulled aside by Brendan Rodgers for leaving the training early again and he replied with a lie about going to the dentist. He was asked to prove it and call the dentist. He couldn’t, just sat there like a child, unable to say a word. That day was the last one at Reading. 

Later on, he received a call from Leeds, they were interested in taking Scott on loan. It was a choice between him and Adam Clayton. Eventually, seeing on Sky Sports that they eventually signed with Clayton, he was devastated and went again to the bookies to spend £7,000 in a few hours.

It was at Crawley Town when the situation started to get even worse, betting on his own football matches. At half-time, he would go to the changing room and put bets on the second half, to help manage the result of the game. If they lost, but the bet came through, he would be in a balancing state. One day, driving home from Crawley, Scott crashed his car because he was watching a horse race on his phone. It was getting that bad.