Sports presenter Tom Bartels admits gambling addiction: “Lesson for life”

Anyone who has ever watched sports on television will be familiar with his sonorous voice. Tom Bartels is one of Germany’s best-known commentators and reporters. Ever since he shouted Mario Götze’s shot into the goal in the 2014 World Cup final and audibly made the national team world champions, he has been a legend: “He’s coming. Do it! He’s making it! Mario Götzeeee.” Bartels regularly gives you goosebumps with his game accompaniments.

But the 59-year-old also knows the dark side of life, as he recently admitted in the podcast “M for Marlene” by Sat.1 presenter Marlene Lufen: Tom Bartels was addicted to gambling. After graduating from high school, he began training in a bank. But the apprenticeship didn’t seem to affect him as emotionally as his later reporting career, as he explained: “I only had this training, football training and tennis. I was bored and that led me straight to the arcade.”

Over two and a half years, Bartels gambled away his training salary and accumulated a five-figure amount of debt. “I thought I had it under control and could establish a second mainstay. That went terribly wrong.” A low point in his young life.

His parents helped him out of his addiction and financial chaos. “My father said: ‘Watch out, we’ll vouch for you for this not so small sum’.” Parents and son made a pact: He would not go to college until the debts were paid off. Such a strong bond in the family – for Bartels it was the chance to make a fresh start. “Everything I lost over the course of two and a half years… It’s a dark spot in my life. But somehow not because I managed to pay this money back.”

The future reporter did what he still does today: he threw himself into work. Took a job in a factory to pay off the debt. He saved up the money this way for a year and a half. “That was a lesson for me in life.” He is still grateful to his parents today for their understanding and support, as he explained: “They were incredibly tolerant, they went along with everything. I felt a basic trust and we still have a great relationship today.”

After paying off the debt, he started in sports journalism. He studied at the Cologne Sports University and took his first steps at WDR. He has been commentating for ARD since 2006. Today he is mainly used for international football matches, the “Sportschau” and for ski jumping and swimming.

Bartels is not the first sports reporter to fall into gambling addiction. A few years ago, veteran Werner Hansch also confessed his addiction. Unlike Bartels, however, Hansch did not gamble before his career, but only after he had retired. For over ten years he gambled away everything he had on sports betting. His fortune ended up in the betting shop, his relationships and friendships fell apart because he kept asking for money that he couldn’t pay back. Today, Hansch is committed to educating people about gambling addiction and preventing them from following his (bad) example.