Barkley says he'll stop gambling for now

Philadelphia -- NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley, who reportedly owed a Las Vegas casino $400,000, said Monday his gambling days are over, at least for now.

"I gamble probably once every two or three weeks to a month," Barkley said on the pre-game show on Turner Network Television before Game 7 of the Spurs-Hornets Western Conference semifinal series. "It's not like I'm going every day."

Barkley acknowledged he paid the Wynn Las Vegas resort after the casino filed a civil complaint.

"I am not going to gamble anymore," Barkley said. "For right now, the next year or two, I'm not going to gamble. It was my fault."

Barkley, a nine-time NBA all-star, was the league MVP in 1993. Since his retirement in 2000, he has worked as an analyst with TNT.

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006 after a career in which he played for the Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns and Houston Rockets.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.