Wint was signed as an undrafted free agent by the New York Jets in 2018 and waived the next year. He desperately started preparing for a comeback to the NFL, which never materialized. Having spent all his savings, Wint used to live out of his car when a serious gambling addiction emerged. He recently detailed how it came about.
Anthony Wint says staying away from gambling in Las Vegas tested him more than Matthew Adams or Terrance Chatman
It all started back in college when Wint made $1,000 out of $300 that his friend’s father had given him. He claims this sparked a habit that he took eight years to resolve.
“When that [NFL comeback] didn’t happen, I was sitting there broke, homeless, hungry… In college, my teammate’s dad gave me and my teammate both $300 to gamble with. I turned that $300 into $1,000, and in my head a switch went off,” Wint told Ariel Helwani. “I was like, ‘I’ve been homeless my whole life. I’ve been trying to help my mom out. We’ve been in poverty all our lives. I just made $700 in two hours.’ That was the trap. That was the trap of the devil. And he had me in those chains for eight years…”
Wint recently earned an Ultimate Fighting Championship contract with a first-round knockout win over Matthew Adams on Dana White’s Contender Series. He refused to leave Las Vegas without locking in his UFC debut.
Wint made an 11-day turnaround for his Octagon debut, finishing Terrance Chatman at UFC Sacramento. He says avoiding gambling while in Las Vegas was a bigger challenge than Adams or Chatman.
“The battle wasn’t Matthew Adams, the battle wasn’t Terrance Chatman,” Wint added. “The battle was having me sit in Vegas and not gamble. And by the grace of God, I was able to sit and would see slot machines and blackjack tables and know that I was stronger than the addiction I had before.”
Anthony Wint opens up about experiencing homelessness and overcoming an eight-year gambling addiction:
“When that [NFL comeback] didn’t happen, I was sitting there broke, homeless, hungry.
In college, my teammate’s dad gave me $300 to gamble with. I turned that $300 into… pic.twitter.com/OkhQ77VVEH— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) September 2, 2026
