Hi I am new to this site, I thought I would share my story with you regarding my son.
We heard from my sons work colleague that he thought my son has a gambling addiction. As I have access to my sons currenct account (which he is aware of) my partner and I viewed his recent transactions, of which nearly all his wages had been spent on online gambling. We printed out his bank statements and worked out how much he had spent with 5 weeks on gambling. We couldn't confront him straight away as we needed to get advice and support Gamcare as to how to go about talking to him.
My biggest concern and worry was that he was going to go in the same direction as my father, who has gambled most of his life. My father has and is still living with this addiction, although he will not admit he has an addiction. My dad has gambled thousands and thousands of pounds, of which we (his children and my mum) have had to deal with. My brother had to take over the mortgage as we didn't want my parents to lose their home. Unfortunatley my dad will never beat this addiction, we all have to live with that. The heart ache and worry we've been put through for nearly 60 years, especially my mum is something I do not wish to go through with my son.
Luckily after sitting my son down and talking to him he has admitted he has a problem with gambling. We have put a plan together and hope he will keep to it. We've removed all gambling apps from his electrical devices, including his mobile. I have written to his friends asking them not to lend him anymore money (they have been very suppprtive and have agreed with my request).
I will be keeping a close eye on his transactions. We have in the past lent him a lot of money, this is going to stop.
I know this will not be a quick fix, but I'm hopeful we are all going in the right direction, onwards and upwards!
Thanks for reading.
Shelley
Hi shelly thanks for sharing your story.
Have you thought about getting him a prepaid card. That way if he needs money you could load some on to it for him
You and he would probably be best taking control of his finances for a while. He might not like it but it will result out for the best.
Just deleting apps probably isn't enough you need to stick some blocking software on there where you control the password
Unlike your dad he's admitted to having a problem so he's on the right path.
Have you thought about maybe getting him to sign up here or at least reading the forum. Most compulsive gamblers including myself belive we're the only ones like it. So coming here or ga makes you realise the enormity of your situation.
All the best to you and your son
Deano
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