Gambling addiction is a terrible disease that can ruin not just the lives of the people afflicted but those around them and, according to the experts, it is even harder to beat than alcoholism. I saw what it could do first hand through my old mate, former England goalkeeper Peter Shilton, who would be the first to admit that it became a problem.

For the majority of people, however, gambling is just a bit of fun and in the case of footballers, shut away together for weeks on end thousands of miles from home, it can offer even more than that. It can help relieve the boredom and bring the group closer together through a shared activity.

Back in the World Cups of 1986 and 1990, all the England players got involved in gambling on the results of matches involving other teams and, being someone who realised early on that the only people who won consistently were the bookies, I teamed up with Shilton to act as bookmaker for the other lads. He didn't seem to be in the grip of addiction then and we set ourselves up as Honest Links and Shilts.

We were away for five or six weeks on both occasions and you were watching match after match after match. So it added interest once players began betting on the outcome or the first scorer and everytime someone got a goal, one of our camp would be up on his feet cheering.

Peter and I also organised race nights, for which Kevin Keegan has received so much stick. But like the football betting, it never got out of hand, no one had to phone the bank for a loan or remortgage their home to pay off debts.

One night, though, the physio, Fred Street, was the ringleader in a sting against Shilts and I in the final race. Somehow he had managed to find out the winner in advance and all the lads piled in at the last minute, leaving us no time to adjust the odds. Everyone was cheering the horse home and as Shilts realised how much we stood to pay out, his face was a picture. But Street and the lads didn't want the money - they got their fun watching us squirm.

Sadly, Shilts didn't learn from what should have been a salutary lesson and has had his problems with gambling. When it develops into addiction, it is no laughing matter and I have every sympathy for people who get sucked in too deep. We witnessed the same thing a few years ago when Paul Merson admitted being addicted to gambling.

Stan Bowles was another famous case and it should not come as a surprise when footballers become addicted to gambling since it is a working-class hobby and they are as likely to have a problem as any other section of society.

Having said all that, I refuse to believe that Michael Owen has a problem and the criticism he has taken leaves a very nasty taste in the mouth. A taste of schadenfreude. He's got a wonderful public image, he does not smoke or drink and appears to say and do all the right things, so people seem delighted by the discomfort that his gambling has caused.

Personally, I think what he does with his money is his own business. Even if he has lost as much has been reported in the newspapers, which is the thick end of £2 million over the last few years, how much does it represent of his income during that time?

From what I understand, addiction is not a question of how much you lose but whether you have the ability to stop at a certain point. And your disposable income has a lot to do with it. People might think it obscene that Owen can lose such a large amount of money but it would be far more serious for a man earning £300 a week to lose £250. It's all relative.

It is also not as if Owen has been betting on football matches involving Liverpool and I do think that it's a sensible precaution to ban players from betting on their own team, particularly on them losing!

Fortunately, I don't think this story, or non-story, will harm Owen in the long run. I think it's a storm in a teacup that will blow over. American basketball star Michael Jordan had admitted to being a big, big gambler but he is so adored by the public that his image has not been ruined by it. I think Michael's is equally strong and, in any case, he has done nothing wrong.

I used to be in the betting shop with all the other lads as a teenager at Leicester. But the penny dropped, so to speak, when I made a lot of friends among bookmakers and discovered they were always more flush than their customers. So now I only bet on my own ability on the golf course. And I can't even make money doing that.