Life of a young gambler
September 2013, exciting year ahead, i got my results and was heading off to university to study BA Business management and Informatics at Sheffield. I was living in a shared flat of about 20 other first year students. Met some fantastic people.
As it was just first year, we all use to head out into town for the craziest nights out every other day, life was great. we normally end up in a casino on our way home, i gambled £20 a night now and again.
The year ended on a high, passed all my exams except one, which i was due to resit in summer 2014. i decided to find a job that summer, thought the extra cash earned will come in use.
Football session also started, so i decided to place a bet which i lost. Lost £1000! Thought to myself wow never doing that again. I decided to pass my driving, which i successfully did in October 2014.
The resit came i thought all went well, results came in early September, my face dropped as i found out i had failed the exam, really didn’t know what to do. i contacted university and decided to start a new course, which then i dropped out off after a week. I decided to be a part time student for the year resit the exam in January 2015 and return back to second year in September 2015, i decided this was best for me.
My plan was to work and save up money. I bought my car on a finance plan, life seemed to be a bit better.
I decided to look for a job after my exam, that gave me 4 months to do solid revision to make sure i pass the exam. i successfully passed the exam on the 3rd attempt.
I got a call on the 18th January 2015 to take part in a game show, which i totally forgot about. It was a show where i could win a nice amount of money. so i decided to do it, i was told i would be called down to the set in February 2015, i decided to postpone my job hunt.
I went on to the game show and won £17k, was over the moon, 2015 started off with a good year, and thought the future would be looking bright. First thing i decided to do is clear of my credit card of £6k which i did, and thought i would save £10k. However i kept postponing the job search as i had won a lot of money. I tried my luck with gambling, lost 10K in 5months. Extremely angry with myself i decided to sell my car to try and make the money back, i also lost that! Ive lost £15k and got myself into 7K worth of debt on my credit card, and am due to start university next month. September 2015.
I realised what i have done, and will slowly but surely clear this debt off, i feel so stupid, but have learned from this mistake and thankful that it didn't happen 10 years down the line when i would hopefully be married with kids.
Thanks for reading this, AP x
Hi AP,
Thanks for your post, and welcome to the forum. It sounds like you've been through a lot in the last couple years because of gambling. Please try to hang on to those thoughts expressed in your last sentence; you CAN clear the debt without gambling, you CAN learn from these mistakes, and if you stay away from gambling, over time you WILL be thankful this didn't happen when you're married with kids, which would definitely be made more complicated and stressful by gambling. You seem like you've got a good future ahead of you if you concentrate on university, and you've shown you can be determined to succeed as evidenced by finally passing that exam. Put that determination to good use in your studies, that's the way forward. Try to think of gambling as one little thing in the world that isn't going to work out for you so well, but there are many other things that will. Let gambling be part of your past. Don't beat yourself up too much for your losses, and keep the focus on how you can be an effective person now, and succeed at uni. There's a whole life ahead of you to enjoy.
If you'd like to chat with us about anything, or would like some extra support through counselling, perhaps, then feel free to get in touch with us through the Helpline (0808 8020 133) or the Netline from 8am to midnight every day. We'd be happy to speak with you anytime.
Hope this helps,
Travis
Dont dwell on the past. Whats done is done and we cant turn back time unfortunatly. All w can do is move forwards. You are entering into an exciting time in your life. I loved uni but i mixed with the wrong people that actually made the urge to bet and gamble even stronger. Enjoy the student life. If anything like me i was constantly skint so wasnt able to gamble even if a wanted too. Make the most of every opportunity that comes your way and dont look back!
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