Randy Livingston spent his NBA career and many years after in the throes of a gambling addiction that manifested itself primarily in trips to riverboat casinos.
“Every year, I would make a lot of money during the season. … I would lose all the money in the summer basically,” Livingston said this week in an interview that ran in full on Friday’s Daily Delivery podcast. “Whatever I had made, I would go to the casino boat and by the time it was over with, I’d have enough just to pay the bills. Then the race was on again to get an NBA job. Then the same thing would happen for 11 years straight.”
Once a can’t-miss prospect, Livingston was out of the league by 2007. It took another decade and a rock-bottom moment at a casino that he had agreed to never visit again before he became clean from his addiction after going through a 30-day inpatient treatment program.
Livingston and his wife, Anita Smith, live in Australia and both serve as responsible gambling ambassadors for FanDuel.
However you choose to gauge the righteousness of a gambling platform engaging in gambling education, Livingston is grateful for the platform to share his message with a wider audience.
“They basically just helped amplify the message, and that’s what I was looking for in a partner. … I’m excited about all the things that we’re doing now, but that is my story and that’s how I changed and it was not easy,” he said. “It’s been eight years now and I’m sober and you know, I’m blessed every day. It seems like every time I go speak about it or share my story, I gain strength.”
Having a chance to hear Livingston’s story this week was apt for multiple reasons.