Art Schlichter, the former Colts quarterback who has spent his life going in and out of prisons for various crimes related to his compulsive gambling, has been given his longest prison sentence yet.
A federal judge sentenced Schlichter to more than 10 years in prison for his scheme to sell phony tickets to sporting events. The 52-year-old Schlichter was accused in 2011 of taking money for Super Bowl tickets that he didn’t actually have to sell (and unlike the NFL, he did it out of malice, not incompetence), and he later pleaded guilty to fraud charges.
Schlichter has always maintained that his uncontrollable gambling addiction was to blame for the crimes he committed, and that he gambled away all the money he has swindled from people through the years, starting during his days as a star at Ohio State.
The fourth overall pick of the 1982 NFL draft, Schlichter bet on football in violation of league rules during his rookie season with the Baltimore Colts, was suspended for all of the 1983 season, and played in only 13 games in his NFL career.