FOOTBALLER Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink isn’t going on Strictly Come Dancing strictly for the cash – thanks to a property empire worth £29.9m.
The former Chelsea, Leeds United and Middlesbrough favourite runs a string of real estate firms and one – Caasa Homes Ltd – has bricks and mortar worth £17.3m.
5
5
5
And another outfit has just snapped up a £4m property in the footballers’ enclave of Oxshott, Surrey, home to stars like John Terry.
So after waltzing to the bank with his businesses away from the football pitch, Jimmy’s now giving Strictly a go to show off his fancy footwork.
The former Holland international, 53, will pick up a rumoured pay cheque of £80,000 if he makes it to the final of the BBC favourite – with an estimated £100,000 bonus for the winner.
But while he’s a multi-millionaire now, things weren’t always so easy for the star – and reportedly once lost £1million in gambling losses.
Growing up on what he calls the “poor side of Amsterdam”,
As a youngster, Hasselbaink admits he carried a knife and was locked up by the police, growing up in a tough part of Amsterdam.
Shortly after making it big, he blew a fortune on gambling.
Speaking in his autobiography, simply titled Jimmy, the footie ace explained he fell prey to gambling demons on the roulette wheel with his Blues team-mate Eidur Gudjohnsen.
“We couldn’t look more different – a black Dutch guy from Surinam and a blond boy from Iceland – but we are quite similar,” he wrote.
“We like a good time and we started gambling because we were having trouble with our girlfriends. We didn’t want to go home so we went to the casino.
However, things quickly spiralled out of control, and it was initially reported that he lost more than £1million of his wealth while gambling.
Poker buddy Gudjohnsen is said to have lost £400,000.
However, Hasselbaink refuted the claims that his losses were that severe, and wrote: “It wasn’t as much as that.
“I was losing a lot. But you don’t care. You know the value of money, and that it is wrong, but you are in a cycle.
“I play roulette and the first time I won a few grand it was great – same when you win £10,000 on a number coming up. Then one night I won £80,000 and it was so exciting.”
“But big wins are worse because you think it’s normal,” he added. You go back expecting the same – and you get trapped.
“One night I lost £40,000. I knew then I had to sort out my personal life to walk away from the casino. Maybe my bank account also told me something because it was getting less and less!”
5
5
