Is this like when the celebs do someting dumb then check into rehab to help their image?

The obvious problem with this concept is that anyone who has ever welched on a bet or bet over their limits or screwed people out of money or whatever else you want to accuse someone can never be a douchebag because it's likely all of them have some kind of mental issue because normal people don't do things like that. It doesn't even have to be gambling.

TBH Erick making sports bets isn't really an issue with me. Lots of people do it. My issue is that he had 250K / month coming in to pay off his debts and he never did it. In the interview he even admits that he owed 6M for almost a decade and owes 3M now.

It's funny how shocked and appalled everyone gets that he is playing poker and betting sports to pay off MILLIONS in debt. How the heck else is he going to pay it off? At least with these activities there is a non-zero chance he makes enough to pay a significant portion. Getting a "real job" he has zero chance of making a dent in it. Ever. Imagine if he owed you (and many others) 300k. Would you rather him degen it up or get a job that pays 35k a year?

He can play poker all day to pay it back, he's shown some ability to make money doing it.

He's largely regarded as a huge sports fish. The fantasy football leagues that ran that he owes money to almost entirely ran because he was in them giving virtually unlimited action to anyone who wanted it.

What would like to see people do? Take a baseball bat to him when he exits a casino?

im in no way defending eric but i would guess that "getting staked for sports bets" means something along the lines of using his fish rep to put in picks for an actual winning sports bettor and getting a small cut. i doubt anyone is backing eric on his own picks but im just speculating.

just seems silly that everyone has picked out that one sentence from this article to pile on.

Staking someone in sports betting = always a great investment.

Isn't it funny how everyone here was already aware of the contents of that article and now here it is, per his own admission.

Erick Lindgren is a dirtbag and that article finally seals it.

It wasn't a problem for him until he was out of money.

Yea like Jesse Jackson Jr.

Yea, because pieces of human garbage like lindgren are out there, we should all have our rights restricted. Didn't he use a computer to play poker and bet? Maybe we should ban computers too. This whole issue has nothing to do with gambling, it has to with debt. Don't make unsecured loans and don't make bets where the money isn't in escrow and you won't have a problem.

It's a pretty ridiculous statement. He admits inside of the article that he lost 6M(and maybe 10M) betting sports at one point.

I admit that I don't think him being stakes for sports betting is some kind of long term backing arrangement like most of us envision poker staking, but it's still pretty insane.

I agree when you say that having mental issues (such as a gambling problem) does not automatically absolve a person of their sins. But I think these things have to be looked at in context - it is clear that Lindgren has been in serious debt for a long time but it looks quite likely to me that a big part of what caused him to get into this debt, and his failure to pay it off, is related to a gambling addiction.

If he had been making bets with the intention to scam people, knowing he would never pay out if he lost, then the word "scumbag" might be more appropriate. As it stands, it looks like he got himself in a huge hole and was trying to gamble his way out of it - I think the description of "addicted, deluded and weak" would be a far better description. But really, nobody knows the motivations of Lindgren, other than Lindgren himself.

I think the other thread about the character who was accidently transferred a large sum of money and refused to pay it back due to not being "legally obliged" seems far more worthy of the description "scumbag". But without knowing the full context who are we all to judge these things?

What the frack is the difference between "knowing he would never pay out if he lost" and "got himself into a huge hold and was trying to gamble his way out of it"

They're the same thing. "gambling your way out of it" essentially means you make a bunch of bets you can't cover in hopes you win a bunch.

never knew e-dog was such a scumbag

I saw this when Brad Booth made that video and it is absolutely asinine to think that he could get a real job to live and pay for a family and pay back 3 mil in debts.
I certainly am not saying that going to rehab for a gambling problem to become a better gambler is smart but it's a lot smarter than thinking he could ever pay back these debts any way besides gambling

At the end he says he will move to vegas and get staked in cash games, tournaments and sports betting?

Not really. For example, he can have $3m of debt and see the opportunity to make a hugely profitable $200k bet that can help him pay this off - planning to pay the $200k out of his $250k pay packet that month. Then his pay stops out of the blue and he can no longer pay.

Or perhaps he has a bet coming in that he feels is a lock, and makes an additional bet with the intention of paying out with the money from the locked bet. Both end up losing.

Or he has plenty of money to pay any outstanding liabilities, but gambles away a few hundred thousand in a drunk and tilted PLO session that he can't resist, and then can't pay out on running bets when they lose.

And so on... just a delusion that gambling is the solution, rather than the problem itself.

100% agree.

But he continued to make bets even after the 250K/month was gone.

Didn't know he owed that much when I typed that up, but does anyone believe he'll be able to make 3 million with poker in today's game?

Should have put him in rehab when he had the 250k a month coming in. Then maybe he would of saved some of it.

Also. All of the things you wrote above, make him a douche bag.

Making bets you can't payout if you lose, MAKES YOU A DOUCHEBAG/SCAMMER. It's the freaking definition of it in gambling terms. There are plenty of addicted gamblers who do NOT do this. Just because Erick is addicted to gambling doesn't mean he isn't also a douche/scammer. That's absurd.

Perhaps he had expectations of future earnings that never came about. Or he had liquid assets he ended up blowing due to gambling. Or another degen did not pay him on another bet.

My point is basically that I think the pseudo-outrage about an obvious gambling addict not paying his gambling debts, from people with little or nothing to do with it is a bit laughable. Gambling is a huge problem for many people and it ruins lives, and perhaps people should not be so quick to judge and condemn people for their weaknesses.

We obviously have every different opinions on what makes a bad person. In my opinion this guy has huge issues and dug himself into an awful pit. Of course, I only have a very limited idea of the whole situation (like you, and every other person in this thread), so perhaps I am wrong. I doubt discussing it will change either of our minds.

And your point sucks. Tons of addicted gamblers don't gamble with money they don't have. THAT is what makes him a douchebag/scammer. I couldn't give two ****s if he thinks his "lock" is going to win so he bets more money with me. That doesn't make him less of a douche/scammer.

Well, I think your opinion is blinkered and naive. But neither of us are going to change our opinions by discussing this on an internet forum (has anyone, ever?) so I see little point in repeating ourselves further.

So what about the 2M he stole from FTP/Chris Ferguson and stopped returning phone calls for? Is he a scammer/douchebag because of that?