Former NRL player Luke Bateman has revealed he was offered drugs by a gambling company in a bid to strengthen the relationship at the peak of his addiction. Now 32 years of age, Bateman played 71 NRL games for the Canberra Raiders between 2015 and 2019. Bateman, at his peak, was losing five figures a month and was essentially broke despite being an NRL player. Last year, he spoke on Triple J's Hack about his crippling gambling addiction during the peak of his career, admitting the state of gambling was a problem among NRL players. "I would say half of the team had gambling addictions, probably not to the severity that I had it.