Home / Poker News January 2013 / The Poker Grapevine – Erick Lindgren’s Gambling Problems
The Poker Grapevine – Erick Lindgren’s Gambling Problems
Posted by: Jo Martin - Mon, 2013-01-14 06:57
A few short years ago, poker professional Erick Lindgren was one of the best-known and most successful players on the live circuit. After online poker's Black Friday however, it quickly became obvious that Lindgren had a bunch of serious problems, having been a Full Tilt member being only the smallest one of them. He disappeared off the poker scene and for a while there nobody really knew what was going on with him. It wasn't until March 2012 that somebody came forth claiming that Lindgren owed him money, which he had lent him to feed his fantasy football betting addiction. As it later turned out, the person who outed him, represented but the tip of a rather dire problem gambling iceberg. Several others came forth claiming that Lindgren owed them money as well, and the stage for the perfect meltdown had been set.
Other, even more serious, issues came to light as well later. Howard Lederer for instance alleged that Lindgren had received a large loan from Full Tilt Poker by mistake, money which he decided to keep anyway, despite the fact that the
online poker operation had asked him to return it.
Finally, last month Lindgren himself decided to come clean on the issue. In an interview granted to a prestigious poker magazine, or Lindgren admitted that at one point, his gambling debt shot past the $10 million mark. The scene of the interview was a rather telltale location as well: a Newport Beach, California rehab center.
Although he was obviously trying to work through his addiction, while attempting to pay back his debt, it was still unclear how the bankroll-less poker player could ever come up with as much money as needed to settle the issue. Lindgren's gambling addiction problem is definitely not the first one of its kind in the poker world.
