Former Cliftonville and Portadown defender Garry Breen is approaching one year without placing a bet
Garry Breen "hit rock bottom" just over a year ago. Living in Belfast at the time, the former Irish League footballer quit Dungannon Swifts to return home to Letterkenny to live with his parents after admitting he had a gambling problem.
Breen was a casual gambler growing up. He placed the odd bet, admitting he never felt in any danger of spiralling out of control.He said: "I was working from home and stuck in the house. I was looking at the same four walls most of the time, and then getting out to train and play football. Or I would be taking my son out.
"They just said 'You're coming home for a bit'. I went home for a year and loved it. I worked for the company my father owns, and I was playing some football with a local club called Freebooters. "I left Dungannon mid-February last year. I loved the club and the lads but I needed to get away. I contacted the chairman Keith Boyd and said I needed to get home. I was in a bad place and had to move, even though I had a year-and-a-half remaining on my contract," he said.
Breen hasn't placed a bet since returning home to Kilkenny last year. He says reaching his one-year anniversary will be a proud milestone. Breen added: "My birthday is St Patrick's Day. When I moved home last year it was around Cheltenham Festival time, and we always used to go to the local. But there are two betting shops beside it, so my dad said there was no chance we were going there. Even at that, I thought I would struggle when Cheltenham came around, but I didn't even look at a paper or results. It never crossed my mind.
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