“I once went a week without eating”: Maxime Lami, the basketball player who is breaking the taboo of sports betting addiction

“One of the peculiarities of sports betting addiction is that it's invisible. You can see someone who's addicted to alcohol when they're drunk. You can see someone who wants to smoke. You can see someone who takes drugs physically and in their behavior. Betting addiction, on the other hand, is invisible. There are some suspicious attitudes, of course, but you can always tell it's something else. The only place you can see it is in a bank account. When you suffer from it, you can hide it from everyone for years. That's what I did.”

Since I was little, I've loved sports. When I was in first grade, my parents and I met the school psychologist because I was ahead of schedule, I had just skipped a grade and she wanted to talk about it with us. She asked me what I do in the morning before school. I looked at my father, a little embarrassed. He said to me: "Go ahead, tell him." I explained to the lady that every morning, I turn on the TV and put on the Infosport + channel. She asked me: "What is doping?" and, at 5 years old, I started to explain. I have always been and still am today a big sports fan. My father played a lot of handball. When I wanted to sign up at 6 years old, there was no more space in my village near La Rochelle, so I tried basketball and I never stopped. I followed the path of a teenager who aspires to the highest level: a youth center and a training center. I lived in a boarding school for young athletes in Le Havre.

It was there, at 18, that I made my first grids, with my intern friends. We were starting to get paid by playing basketball. In the sports world, around 16-17 years old, you have a bit of prevention around sports betting, so we already talked about it among ourselves. When you become an adult, it's no longer illegal, out of curiosity you stick your nose in it. I first bet €1, then €5. I made accumulators to win a lot with a small stake and be able to have fun, have a good life. I often failed because of a single result and I told myself that the next one would be the right one. It started like that.

"Sometimes I didn't sleep because when you start betting online on your phone, everything is at your fingertips. It's dangerous; it doesn't close at 10 p.m. like a tobacco shop. You can play again if you lose, even in the middle of the night, and you want to know if you won."

While I was still in residency, I learned that my mother was suffering from cancer. I think that was one of the triggers for my addiction. Betting was my escape. It was almost my only expense because I rarely go out, I don't smoke, and I don't shop often, so I considered it my hobby. For a long time, my message was to tell myself: "Other people spend their money on parties, I put it on sports betting."

Little by little, I earned a little more as a basketball player; I was earning around minimum wage. I moved into an apartment and became more independent. My parents lived five hours away, so no one could supervise me, and I had a lot of free time outside of practice, so I did pretty much whatever I wanted. I started betting €10, then €100. Those who have limits stay at €10. The others end up in what I experienced: a routine where you lose control and you spend crazy amounts of money.

"One of the things about sports betting addiction is that it's invisible. You can hide it from everyone for years. That's what I did." Maxime Lami, at home in Le Havre, at the end of May. (B. Le Bars/L'Équipe)

For a long time, I was convinced that I was in control of the situation because I'm a very methodical person. I have a small notebook with my money coming in and going out, in which I control everything, so as not to be overdrawn. I piled up credits from friends, banks, and individuals, but I always paid everything back on time, to stay under the radar. Besides that, I analyzed everything, I spent more than three hours a day on average on the FlashScore app. Sometimes I didn't sleep, because when you start betting online on your phone, you have everything at your fingertips. It's dangerous, it doesn't close at 10 p.m. You can play again if you lose, even in the middle of the night, and you want to know if you won, so you don't sleep.

Before betting, I researched stats, fitness levels, and the stakes. If a tennis player played one long week in the United States and then the next in France, I noticed that he could often lose in the first round due to the time difference, even if he was the favorite. I watched shows and listened to experts in the disciplines I was betting on. I sometimes bet on sports I didn't know about, like badminton and hockey. I called sports friends to get information. That's the adrenaline rush that drove me: to see if my analysis and strategy would be validated.

Between the ages of 18 and 24, the young man lost around 50,000 euros in sports betting. (B. Le Bars/L'Équipe)

That's the difference with gambling, which never interested me. One evening when I was 18, my father took me to the casino and said, "Here, you have €100 tonight." I lost it all in an hour and never went back. With sports betting, I felt like I knew everything and that my expertise would make the difference. Above all, I thought I could stop whenever I wanted, but that wasn't the case. I didn't do the exact calculation, but I lost more than €50,000 in total. I didn't realize it before, but today I can say it: it's a real illness.

In six years of gambling, I lied to everyone: my girlfriend, my ex, my friends, my employer, my parents. I led a life of lies, with two faces, hiding in the toilets to watch matches, creating misunderstandings in my relationship because I seemed to be leading a double life. I managed to lie to all these people for a very long time because even when I had a €1,000 bet at stake, I managed to hold myself together and remain the Maxime that everyone knows: sociable and always laughing. People didn't see anything. Inside, my mood fluctuated: I was euphoric when things were going well, I sometimes had €3,000 in cash on me. There, I was the king and I gave gifts to those around me.

After two seasons at CS Gravenchon (Seine-Maritime), the point guard will join the Rueil-Malmaison club, in the Paris region, this summer. (B. Le Bars/L'Équipe)

But when things went wrong, they were moments of great distress, which I nevertheless managed to mask. At basketball practice, I would sometimes be somewhere else because I had €500 on a tennis match. I would pretend to be there, but I wasn't as good, I could only think about that. During drinks breaks, I would pretend to go pee to check the score, then I would hide my phone in a shoe bag at the side of the court and, as soon as I could, I would go and look at it.

No one knew, except my father. I think he knew before I told him, because he knows me inside and out. I was forced to call him for help several times after big losses so he could save me, because I needed money. He was always understanding, he protected my mother by not telling her everything, and he ended up lying because of me. I'm not proud of that. He tried to put things in place. He made me work at the factory in Pornic to make me realize the value of money, but it wasn't enough to trigger the trigger. The solutions he came up with worked for a while, then I relapsed. When you're addicted, you find a way around every constraint. You develop schemes to keep playing, techniques to fool everyone.

To circumvent my parents' monitoring of my accounts, I bought €100 prepaid cards that I entered on betting sites, so my credit card would be debited at a tobacconist or supermarket. My parents would see "Lidl" on my account. To them, I was going shopping. Other times, on my online account statement, I would change the name of my sports betting expenses to disguise them as transfers to friends.

For six months, I saw a shrink I was manipulating. When my father called him to ask how I was doing, he told him what I wanted him to say. I saw, in total, three psychologists and a psychiatrist. I could have seen all the people on Earth, it had no effect as long as I didn't want to stop.

"Not betraying all the people who supported me, that's what made the difference." (B. Le Bars/L'Équipe)

I was also banned from gambling, on my father's orders. But, the very next day, I had already found ways to continue playing. Going to the tobacconist's or creating an account behind my 20-year-old sister's back, with a fake email address, borrowing her ID and falsifying, in five minutes on my cell phone, a bank account statement to put her name in place of mine. The activation code arrived at my home; it was too easy. Some sites are finally starting to ask for live video selfies to activate an account. They should all do this. It's the basis for securing registrations and avoiding cases like mine.

Overall, the safeguards put in place by sports betting companies and the government are very weak compared to the number of ads promoting them on TV. I think they only serve to protect themselves legally. A toll-free number, what addict is going to call it? I did it myself. The first thing they tell you is to ban you from gambling. But it's so easy to circumvent the ban. A betting limit, what's the point if you set it yourself and all you have to do is go to the settings to change it?

I last bet in January 2025. In the weeks leading up to this switch, I had a lot of trouble. It was the first time in my life when, alone at home, I didn't have enough money to buy food. I once went without food for a week because I ran out of money. I asked my godfather and my best friend for money and put everything I had left on a match. I only hoped for one thing: to win. Otherwise... I remember watching the end of that match from the bathroom. The bet didn't go through. I sat down on the couch. I thought, "What do I do...? I can't call my dad, I won't have the strength." I got on Facebook. And I wrote this message. I sent it straight away and turned off my phone.

The message posted by Maxime Lami on Facebook on January 6. (Facebook screenshot.)

My parents, grandparents, and sister learned about this final "fall" just like that, on Facebook. Because I didn't have the courage to call them to tell them. In response to my post, I received about a hundred comments of support and encouragement, which surprised me because I didn't feel like I'd written anything powerful. It ranged from people I'd never spoken to to my best friend, who replied, "You have and always will have my support, you know that." A guy I'd just lied to. It gave me incredible strength. It triggered something in me, just like the words of my youth coach, Jean-Manuel Sousa, who encouraged me to speak out, and those of a basketball friend I admire, Théo, who said to me: "Max, I've known you for 4 years, you've been in this for 4 years. You want children, you're going to have to stop at some point." I didn't say it to his face, but if I'm where I am today, he has a lot to do with it. I also had two appointments with a hypnotherapist during this time, but I don't know how much role that played in the process.

"I said to myself, 'Go ahead, it's 10 euros. You don't care, you can go and bet.' I left my house. I had my ticket in my hand. I went to the tobacconist's. I stopped in front of it. The thing opened. And I left."

A week after all this wave of support, I found myself all alone in Le Havre. Often, it's when I'm alone that I crack. I had money with me, a 10 euro note. I said to myself, "Go ahead, it's 10 euros. Who cares, you can go and bet." I left my house. I had my note in my hand. I went to the tobacconist's where I usually go. I stopped in front of it. The thing opened. And I left. I told myself that going there would be betraying all the people who had encouraged me. That's what made the difference. I went home, put the note down. I had switched. It was the first time I'd deprived myself. To detox, I had to stop watching sports on TV for a month and a half, otherwise my head would immediately think of betting.

To detox, Maxime Lami didn't watch any sports on his screens for a month and a half. "Otherwise, my mind went straight to betting." (B. Le Bars/L'Équipe)

Since I stopped, I've been doing and taking an interest in more things, I've been organizing events, taking training courses... However, financially, I have nothing left. I'm just finishing paying back those I owed money to. I know I wasted six years of my life, but I try to see the glass as half full: I had the courage to stop and I'm lucky enough not to be banned from banking. I was even able to get a 20-year loan to buy a 25 m2 apartment in Le Havre. I think of my father, whom I disappointed a lot, who never let me go when I was falling and, on this occasion, I know he'll be proud of me.

I'm sure there's at least one person in every top-level sports team who's in the same situation I've been in, but it's hard to talk about it because everyone has their pride, and they look at you differently afterwards. When I was asked to talk about my addiction, I didn't really know what I was getting into... But actually, it does me good. For a while, I actually removed the post from my Facebook profile because I was afraid it would harm me in my career, for a future contract. My father told me it could be a stain. I told him: "You know, Dad, it's me. And if someone takes me, they'll take me because I am me."