The country music star John Rich is speaking out this week to open up about his past crippling gambling addiction. Indeed, Rich is going so far as to say that this addiction was “disrespectful” to God.
Rich’s Gambling Addiction
Rich, 51, has not played a hand of blackjack since 2010. In a new interview, he’s revealing that he struggled with his gambling addiction after finding success in country music.
“I mean, find me a find me a grown man that never had a horrible problem, I’d like to meet him,” Rich told Fox News. “I’m human like everybody else.”
Rich went on to recall the podcaster Shawn Ryan recently asking him on his show about his life when he started finding success in country music in his 20s and 30s.
“I said, ‘Oh yeah, man, I love a blackjack table.’ You know, and I was good at it,” Rich continued. “But it got to the point where it was a dominating thing for me. Like I would go way out of my way. And then it’s probably like — I was never into drugs — but as you hear about drugs, you gotta take more and more and more and more and more to get to the same level. Well, gambling’s the same way.”
“You start out at $5 a hand, and then it’s $20, and then it’s $50, and then it’s $100, and then it’s $1,000, and then it’s $5,000,” he added.
Rich Sees The Light
Then came a day in which Rich he realized that it “was so disrespectful to take what God had given me and blessed me with success, and I’m taking this success and instead of giving it to people, helping other people with it, or helping my own family with it, I’m putting it on a stupid blackjack table, hoping that the cards turn in my favor and I can make some more money.”
“It just seemed so gross to me that I was living that way and thinking that way that I just stopped,” he confessed. “I just literally went ‘bang.’ I didn’t ratchet it down little by little, I literally just stopped. 2010 was the last time I played a hand of blackjack.”
Rich felt like this was God “convicting” him. Indeed, he believes that it was God “letting me know how disappointed and displeased he was on how I was handling and managing what he had given me.”
“I mean, number one, he gives you the ability to go earn the money in the first place, and then he makes the money come in. So the whole circle is all him,” Rich explained. “None of it’s you. And so, you take it as if it’s yours and go out here and recklessly put it in harm’s way.”
Rich concluded by saying that his gambling addiction changed the way he looked at earning money and spending it.
We applaud Rich for being so open about this deeply personal issue. God bless him for continuing to use his platform by serving as an inspiration to us all!