Sam Burgess, a former Rugby League star, is reported to have spent over $25,000 a week and over a $1million a year to fund his betting and gambling habit, according to The Australian.
The former South Sydney Rabbitohs forward retired from competitive sport last year. He was one of the reasons why the Souths won their first NRL Premiership in 43 years back in 2014 and was even named winner of the Clive Churchill Medal for the man of the match in the final.
However, he also had his fair share of controversies during his playing career and continued in much the same way when he retired.
He started working as an assistant coach with the Souths as soon as he hung his boots but has had to deal with one scandal after another since then.
The latest betting-related and gambling controversies were the last straw for the team that backed him until now, though.
Burgess stood down from his duties as a South Sydney Rabbitohs development coach a couple of days ago and is now focusing on cleaning his name up. Whether he will succeed in that, however, is a completely different matter?
Spent Up to $70,000 a Day
People around Burgess were aware that the former Souths star had a gambling habit for a long time, but they weren’t aware of how serious it actually was.
Reports now say that Burgess spent as much as $70,000 a day back in 2017. That was when his gambling sprees were the most pronounced, and Burgess had apparently put tens of thousands of dollars into his various betting accounts every day.
The former loose forward had betting accounts with bookmakers such as Sportsbet, TAB, Neds, Crownbet, Bet365, BetEasy, and William Hill.
Wasn’t the Worst of Punters
Burgess put a lot of money to fund his betting pastime but wasn’t the worst of bettors. He didn’t win as much as he deposited but was still quite adept at what he was doing.
Despite wagering heaps of money in that one year period, he managed to get over $900,000 in betting credits on his accounts in that same time.
For instance, in just three days in June 2017, he funded his betting accounts with $66,000 but managed to get $45,000 of that back.
Owner of Racehorses and a Casino Aficionado
And it seems like Sam Burgess isn’t a betting enthusiast that restricts himself to just one sport if fellow football players are to be believed.
The former Souths development coach is also said to like the occasional horse racing wager and is even a co-owner of a few racehorses.
In addition to this, he is also reported to spend a lot of time on casino floors. Some of his colleagues say that he often goes to obscure casino gaming floors to play anonymously and wager away from prying eyes.
The Australian reports that Sam Burgess has spent thousands of dollars on racehorses and has also set aside a fortune to fund his casino habit.
Keeping His Former Wife on a Tight Budget
Setting aside heaps of money to place wagers and to play casino games has meant that his former wife, Phoebe Burgess, was often under strict financial control from Burgess.
In Phoebe’s statement to police, she said that Sam Burgess asked her to sign a non-disclosure agreement in which it was clearly outlined that she cannot discuss his gambling in any way, shape, or form.
However, she managed to get around some of that and said that her spending came under greater and greater scrutiny as Burgess’ betting habit was increasing.
It all culminated with Sam having angry fits and dishing out his anger at Phoebe whenever she spent more than Sam would approve.
Phoebe said in her statement that whenever the couple discussed money, she felt the tension, and noticed how Sam became angered easily.
She went on to say that he would often snap at her if she suggested that they go over their individual spending and compare who spends more or create a budget. He would consistently say that it was her spending, her greedy habits, and her spoilt tastes that were the problem.
However, despite being portrayed as a “gold-digger” on social media, Phoebe Burgess has a pretty decent income that is estimated to be over $500,000 a year. She is a popular brand ambassador and lots of people follow her on Instagram as well.
When she talked to police, she said that despite the fact that both of them were making quite a lot of money, she couldn’t understand where it was going.
According to her, Sam was reluctant to share his half of the money with neither Phoebe nor her family. As a result, she didn’t know where half of their money was going.
