With a net worth of about $50 million, Charles Barkley has enjoyed a life of luxury for decades now. But by the time he takes his last breath, there's a chance he won't have a penny to his name.
In a broadcast with golf legend Phil Mickelson, the NBA Hall-of-Famer 'joked' (or not?) about his gambling addiction, hinting to the viewers that he's going to be spending a lot more time in the casinos.
Barkley mentioned how lovely the view was at the par-3 18th finisher, and Mickelson asked if that was because you could see the casinos in the background.
“Listen, everybody knows I like to gamble,” Barkley said. “I wanna be dead broke when I keel over, Phil. I don’t want to leave all that money for my free-loading family. I’ve been taking care of them my whole life. I wanna be dead broke at my last breath.”
He was kidding. We think.
Barkley's gambling hobby is probably the worst kept secret in the NBA, if you can even call it that. Over the years, has spoken multiple times about his love for the business and has been quite open with the public about it.
"It's exciting to win money," Barkley once told Graham Bensinger. "You know, I hear all these people talking about 'you just like the action,' no I like the money actually and it always sucks when you lose but it's a great feeling when you win. I think the thing that I conquered about my gambling was I changed my mentality -- I'm not trying to win a lot, I'm just trying to win. You know, Graham, I've won a million dollars probably four or five times in a single day. But I've lost a lot more millions in a single day."
Since Chuck isn't exactly running low on funds, he can be a little looser at the casino than most folk, and he said himself that he's lost millions of dollars in a single day.
At 58-years-old now, Barkley is close to settling down for good and did recently express his desire to travel the world, play golf, and enjoy the remainder of his life here on this earth.
No doubt, he'll probably visit more than a few casinos as well. Let's just hope he comes out a winner more times than not...
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