I’m 18 and I think I’m addicted to gambling. It’s completely ruined my education, it’s ruined my happiness and it’s about to ruin my relationship with my family when a bill exits my mothers bank in a week - an incredibly over phone bill. I’m writing this mainly so I can write all my thoughts down and hopefully someone can maybe relate and give me some advice on how to conquer this. I’ll try to be brief because I’m really nervous. I only do sports betting, I never play any sort of casino game or slots. It started when I had an older friend who put football bets on for me at the weekend. They were ridiculous £2 returns £1000, and when they inevitably lost, I didn’t care and carried on with my day. Then my friend showed me online betting which then brought on the downfall. The fact I could bet on so many markets at any time of the night got me hooked. I was 15 at this time, and on my 16th birthday I set up a betting account in my mums name. I went to my friends house and asked my mum if I could order a takeaway using her card, she said yes, and there I deposited £10 onto ‘my’ betting account. When I was asked to verify my identity I just sent a picture of my mums passport and it was that simple. My mum knew I was putting bets on now and again in her name and she was okay with it. She just didn’t know how bad it was. She thought I was putting bets on when I asked for a £5 every month or so, but in fact I was betting £20+ per week. I know it is not a large amount but this is where the problem began. The way I deposited to my account is dumb. I took my dinner money and didn’t buy dinner with it, I decided to save it and then buy a £10 paysafecard from the shop. As I was under 18, I had to email paysafecard as my mum and asked for it to be changed to an 18+ version because I was given the wrong one. I did this many times successfully. There was a period when I turned 17 and started college that betting sort of stopped. This was a very good period looking back. It was right before I turned 18 the problem started again. I got a no deposit bonus and won £200 from that bet. And so it began. Once the £200 was withdrawn and I bought things, I loved it so carried on betting. But in stead of buying paysafecards and exchanging them, I evolved. I got my mum to transfer £20 to my bank at the start of every week for dinners at college and all of that went on betting. I have probably lost around £1200. I know that is such an insignificant amount to people who are 10’s of thousands in debt but my problem is only getting worse. I recently found I could deposit by phone bill and my mum is going to be billed a stupid amount on the 4th April. I lied and said I was going out today to get £10 and just see if I could win a football bet but I have lost all that - I know people will do £10 stakes per spin on a slot and me whining about my situation is dumb but I think I’m really in trouble. I can’t just come clean and say I have a problem, I really can’t. I get some money in the summer from my Nan’s will, I want this problem to be gone by then because I don’t want to waste thousands. I’m just really sad and depressed at times like this because I feel like I have let my family down, they’re all working a minimum wage and I don’t know how I can repay for this terrible phone bill. I’m looking in to taking a loan but I’m still a full time student and if I loaned £200, I have no job. How do I repay it? I have hesitated so far because I know I’ll end up gambling a majority of it away and then the debt will begin. I really need help, I need money and I’m just really scared. Thanks.
I never use forums so I hope this post is okay and in the correct place. I just want a little advice. I have literally applied for over 200 jobs and received 2 interviews, both of which didn’t go well. The only way out of this I thought, and still think, is to gamble but all it’s done is create a bigger mess
Firstly well done for recognising you have a problem. Gambling addiction is a horrible illness and is one that can not be beat, but can be arrested. If you have a ga meeting by you, get to it as you will meet other people who understand you, have done the same things as you but are recovering and getting their life back. Talk to your mum, be honest with her and give control of all you r money and bank accounts to her. It isn’t easy but it will get better if you want it to. You have your whole life ahead of you, don’t let gambling control it and ruin it for you. Don’t let gambling affect your emotions, your behaviour, your relationships with friends and family as it will only poison and destroy them. Take it one day at a time and remember just for today you will not gamble. Good luck and here for you if needed.
I think you should tell your mum. Like you said, the amounts you're talking about are small but they will get bigger if you don't address the problem. It won't be easy but if you tell her she might not be so trusting with her card and money. You might feel patronised by her mothering you and asking you about money but you're still young and it's better than you being in massive debt 10 years from now especially if you have children or something. Tell the people around you and if they encourage you to gamble they don't care, surround yourself with people that want to help you stop before it's too late.
Good luck mate
Hi well done for recognising the problem, not getting that loan could be key. Tell your mum before the bill comes. From here you need to be 100% honest. As already said tell her, find a GA meeting. You will be surprised how many young people are finding there way to GA. Online gambling, sports betting, free rubbish from online gambling sites. It's all to drag you in and take as much of your money in minutes. Call gamcare get some advice and support. You have to put the blocks in place and actively seek help otherwise this will continue. Good luck
Hello dankesch,
Well done for sharing your story. It is good that you are opening up and using peer support here.
Our forum members have encouraged you to also open up to your mother about what has happened, so that she can support your recovery by limiting your access to money or by supervising your spending. If you do choose to talk with your mother about it, you could also give her our freephone 0808 8020 133 in case she wants to call us for support too.
It sounds like you have realised now that it was problematic that you were gambling underage and using another person's ID. If you are using your own ID now that you're 18, you could choose to self-exclude from all of your gambling accounts and to install blocking software on your devices to protect you from opening up other gambling accounts. Doing this in combination with allowing someone to supervise your finances, and rescheduling your time with other interests, are common recovery methods.
If you'd like information on our free 1-2-1 counselling services, available locally or online by videolink, you can call us to find out more on our freephone 0808 8020 133, or on our netline.
Take care,
Forum admin.
Come clean to your mum, show her this forum, I’m sure she loves you and will be more understanding than you think. I’m 22 and in a lot of debt because of this addiction, it will only get worse and offer more pain if you continue. You’ve made some mistakes but you can learn from them, take a step back and do some reasearch. Gamblers will always lose, it’s a mugs game. Be grateful for the fact you are young enough to not have done any financial damage to yourself. Talk to your mum and say you intend to repay what you’ve wrongly taken. Dust yourself of and look towards your future.
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