Former England footballer Dele Alli has lost almost £150,000 in 2am poker sessions at a London casino in just a few days.
The former Tottenham star has been regularly joining late night card sessions at The Victoria Casino in central London where he is understood to have repeatedly racked up losses of £25,000-a-night.
The footballer once valued at over £50million and earning £150,000-a-week is still only 29 but is without a club after his playing career went into steep decline – and is back in London after being released by Italian outfit Como in September.
And while he continues his search for a new club, Alli has also been heading to the late night gambling hub – and losing much more than he wins.
A poker veteran told The Daily Mail that Alli’s losses have been so extreme that he has begun to be described by other casino regulars as a ‘whale,’ poker slang for a player who is not very skilled but loses large amounts.
The professional poker player said: ‘We all look forward to Dele coming to the casino because “snaring a whale” is a serious player’s dream scenario.
Dele Alli has lost almost £150,000 in total after regular 2am poker sessions at a London casino
The 29-year-old has been regularly joining late night card sessions at The Victoria Casino
‘As soon as he arrives at the casino, a message gets sent around saying: “The Dele is open for business” – and there’s a rush to join the game that he joins because we know there’s easy money to be made.
‘He’s been turning up almost every other day over the past two weeks, usually in the early hours of the morning.
‘Sometimes he’s alone but at other times he’s with an entourage.
‘He goes upstairs to the high stakes poker tables, plays for a few hours and typically loses £25,000 each time, which I would imagine is the daily credit limit the casino has given him.’
Another poker player added: ‘It’s actually quite sad because he never really speaks to anyone and doesn’t appear to be that happy.
‘We all know he’s not short of money and he doesn’t seem that bothered about losing so much, which is great for us.
‘Ultimately poker is a tough world and whatever might be going on for a player, there’s no place for emotions. It’s all about playing and winning as much money as you can.’
Alli, 29, is worth an estimated £20m but has struggled in recent years with both professional and personal problems which have shattered a career that once promised superstar status – with rumours of a move to Real Madrid.
Alli was let go by Como in September and is now a free agent – but has been keeping fit
Alli became a star at Tottenham – with his form there linking him with a move to Real Madrid
He became an England starter at Spurs – scoring this goal vs Sweden at the 2018 World Cup
He was once considered one of the finest players of his generation and was capped on 37 occasions by England during his prime, playing a key role in the team’s run to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup.
But Alli now finds himself back in the UK and without a club after an unsuccessful spell last year with Italian team Como after his contract was terminated.
The midfielder made only one appearance in which he was sent off 10 minutes after coming on as substitute.
Previously he has attempted to get his career back on track with Everton and in Turkey, none of which was successful.
Alli has spoken publicly about battling childhood trauma which he claims has contributed to his difficulties on and off the pitch over the years.
In a candid interview with Gary Neville in 2023 he disclosed how he spent a spell in rehab to kick an addiction to sleeping tablets as he attempted to confront his troubled past.
In eight months at Como, Alli played 10 minutes and received a straight red card vs AC Milan
The former England star was sent off for this challenge on Ruben Loftus-Cheek after stumbling
Alli also admitted that he was molested as a child by a friend of his biological mother’s when aged six.
In an emotional interview he said: ‘My childhood is something I haven’t really spoken about that much, to be honest. I mean, I think there were a few incidents that could give you kind of a brief understanding.
‘So, at six, I was molested by my mum’s friend, who was at the house a lot. My mum was an alcoholic, and that happened at six. I was sent to Africa to learn discipline, and then I was sent back.
‘At seven, I started smoking, eight I started dealing drugs. An older person told me that they wouldn’t stop a kid on a bike, so I rode around with my football, and then underneath I’d have the drugs, that was eight. Eleven, I was hung off a bridge by a guy from the next estate, a man.’
Alli was born a year after his parents Denise and Kehinde met in a nightclub.
Born Bamidele Jermaine Alli, his birth parents split when he was three-years-old.
He and Gary Neville were moved to tears as the ex-Spurs star recounted his childhood trauma
As a child, he spent time living with his millionaire father in Nigeria, in a 10-room mansion attending a private school and waited on by three maids, before returning to his alcoholic mother aged 11 after his father re-married and moved to Houston, Texas.
Denise previously described his upbringing as ‘rough’, with Alli himself admitting he fell in with ‘the wrong crowd’ when he was growing up as a youth in Milton Keynes and would hang out with older boys on the streets until 2am.
But his prodigious football talent was quickly spotted, and he began training with MK Dons five days a week and moved in with team-mate Harry Hickford’s family.
Alli’s life turned around in a sensational fashion when he was adopted by Alan and Sally Hickford. He remains extremely close with them and is currently managed by his brother, Harry but has no contact with his biological family and chose to drop his surname from his shirt as his career progressed.
A spokesman for Alli was contacted for comment.
