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Barkley says he will stop gambling

Mon 19th, May 2008

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Responding to criticism of a gambling debt amid reports that he owed a Las Vegas casino $400,000, Basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley said his gambling days are over, at least for now.

"I gamble probably once every two or three weeks to a month," Barkley said on the pregame show on Turner Network Television before the Spurs-Hornets Game 7 of their Western Conference semifinal series. "It's not like I'm going every day. It's not like I get up and look at the line in sporting events. I like to go to Vegas. It's a fun place, but you know what, I've got to stop gambling."

The 45-year-old Barkley acknowledged he paid the Wynn Las Vegas resort, but it came after the casino filed a civil complaint.

"I am not going to gamble anymore," Barkley said, although he refused to say it was for life. "For right now, the next year or two, I'm not going to gamble."

Barkley said he has no money problems.

"It was my fault," Barkley said. "To me it's over with. This will never happen, but the bottom line is I'm just never going to gamble again."

At the conclusion of his interview with studio host Ernie Johnson, Barkley was asked which team he liked to win Monday and the ex-NBA star said he was going to stick with his earlier prediction of the Hornets saying he "can't change now" to which Johnson responded, "want to bet?"

Barkley said nothing.

The Hornets then lost the game, 91-82.

A nine-time All-Star, Barkley won the league's MVP award in 1993. Since his retirement in 2000, he has worked as an analyst with TNT. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006.