Gambling Football Star Gets 10 Years for Ticket Scam

In a story where everyone walks away a loser, the former Ohio State football legend, Art Schlichter, was sentenced to ten years in prison for a sports ticket spam. The player, whose promising sports career was cut short because he had a series of gambling problems, pleaded guilty last week to thirteen felony counts.

The fifty-one year old player apparently stole over $1 million from his victims by promising them that he would be able to get tickets for them to Ohio State football games and the Super Bowl. His victims paid him upfront for these tickets, which never materialized. Instead, the money was used to fund Schlichter’s gambling addiction.

The state sentence is in addition to an ongoing federal case, where Schlichter is due to enter a plea agreement and plead guilty. His state sentence will run concurrently with his federal sentence which will be eight years and four months in prison.

This is not the first time that Schlichter will sit behind bars for a long time for problems relating to his gambling addiction. He has already served a dozen years in prison for forgery and fraud.

Schlichter was a promising quarterback who was taken in by the Baltimore Colts in 1982. However, he got into a lot of trouble due to his gambling, and left to join the Buffalo Bills four years later. Unfortunately, due to his problems, he didn’t even get to play for the Bills and was sent home before the season even began.