Football stars are gambling huge sums on cryptocurrencies.
It is quickly now becoming one of football’s fastest growing crazes as players at all levels are investing in bitcoins and similar currencies.
The Professional Footballers’ Association have now set up a specific training course to deal with the crypto issue in the union’s wellbeing department.
Players have been seeking help and it has also been referred back to the PFA as a major issue within football as top stars have millions of pounds of cash which they are effectively gambling on the digital currency.
But there are big fears that players could be frittering away huge sums in investments without fully understanding the full risks attached.
The PFA now fears that players who have already got gambling or similar addictions could be particularly vulnerable to the damaging new craze.
Financial experts even warn there are “huge risks” attached to bitcoin currencies as the market can be “extremely volatile.”
It means the values can go up drastically - but then crash to leave players badly out of pocket.
That has led to experts believing high-earning footballers could see it as a different form of gambling, putting huge sums into cryptocurrencies in the hope they will go up in value.
Players are known to be placing huge sums based largely on the names of currencies or even it having attractive symbols.
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They are also using apps trading currencies which are set up to encourage compulsive use.
There have also been reports that players who have had gambling problems in the past are using apps and buying cryptocurrencies like bitcoins - but still not seeing the link with their previous compulsive and addictive behaviour.
Players have already given feedback to the PFA on the issue and it seems certain to become a growing problem within football if the warning signs are not heeded.
