Born: Charles Wade Barkley, February 20, 1963, in Leeds, Alabama, US.
Proffession: former American professional basketball player

Mini-bio:
Charles Barkley was one of the NBA's most dominating power forwards of his time. He was selected in the All-NBA First Team five times, earned eleven NBA All-Star Game appearances and was named the All-Star MVP in 1991. In 1993 he was voted as the Most Valuable Player of the League and was also named as one of the 50 greatest players in NBA History. In 2006, Charles Barkley was included in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

After retiring as a player, Barkley started a successful career on television as an NBA analyst. He also wrote several books and has also shown an interest in politics; he was going to run for Governor of Alabama, but he changed his mind later on. Barkley married Maureen Blumhardt in 1989 and they have a daughter, Christiana.

Charles Barkley and his gambling lifestyle

Barkley is known for compulsive gaming. During an interview, he revealed that he lost around $10 million due to gambling, $2.5 million of which where lost in just six hours while playing blackjack. Although Barkley himself is aware of his addiction, he claims it's not a serious problem since he can afford to support the bad habit.

When challenged by a fellow colleague about gambling, Barkley replied, "I gamble for too much money. As long as I can continue to do it I don't think it's a problem. Do I think it's a bad habit? Yes, I think it's a bad habit. Am I going to continue to do it? Yes, I'm going to continue to do it."

Apart from suffering big losses, Barkley claims big winnings on several occasions. During a trip to Las Vegas, he won $700,000 from playing blackjack and betting that Indianapolis Colts would defeat the Chicago bears in Super Bowl XLI.

In May 2008, the Wynn Las Vegas casino filed a case against Barkley, as he had failed to pay a $400,000 debt that started in October 2007. Barkley took responsibility for this and paid his debts promptly, after which he stated on television: "I've got to stop gambling, I am not going to gamble anymore. For right now, the next year or two, I'm not going to gamble. Just because I can afford to lose money doesn't mean I should do it."