I feel like in my head I am going to have a huge problem with this in the future. I am currently 17 and have been playing poker and placing football bets online for around a year. Obviously my accounts are in the name of a relative, however they do not know as they rarely check their bank statements and I never seem to be withdrawing anyway. I gamble on b****5. I consider myself a "smart" gambler because I would never go near blackjack or slot machines or in general the casino. Now it didn't feel serious to me until the other day. I deposit using paysafecard's, meaning no credit card information has to be entered. Over the past year I have deposited £200. Not won anything. On 14/04/17, I won £135. Now on 16/04/17, I have £20. I don't know if I have a problem because I am just "harmlessly" betting on the football but I am underage and wasting my part time job wage. I am sat here now thinking to myself in my head "just withdraw the £20, keep it and stay off gambling" but then I also think "it's bank holiday football on Monday, one bet could win you £100" This feels impossible to me. I genuinely don't know what to do. I have the mental strength to accept a big loss and stay away for months (proven this in the past, once had £50 at one time, lost it and stayed off for 3 months) however I will genuinely have it in my head for weeks, possibly months, that I have lost that money. And yes I know this isn't thousands in debt by many people, but I genuinely have nobody I can talk to about this so I wondered if anyone on this forum could give me some advice on how to stay away? Usually I would place football bets because it made the games more exciting, once I lost my £5 bankroll, I'd sulk for an hour and get over and go play on my Xbox or whatever 17 year olds are suppose to do. Any advice would be extremely appreciated, as I have no other people to turn to. I doubt a conversation about this with my mum wouldn't go down too well.
Hi mehmehmeh,
well done for coming on the Forum, and well done for reflecting on your situation. As you said, at the moment it is not a major issue, but perhaps because you don't have a lot of money to gamble with, and you are legally, strictly speaking not allowed to gamble. But I would agree, if you don't change something now, by the time you are 18 and can legally open your own accounts, and then when you start earning full time money, things potentially could really spiral out of control.
It sounds like it would be helpful for you to speak to an adviser either on the Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or the Netline here.
Wishing you all the best,
Forum Admin
We are available 24 hours a day, every day of the year. You can also contact us for free on 0808 80 20 133. If you would like to find out more about the service before you start, including information on confidentiality, please click below. Call recordings and chat transcripts are saved for 28 days for quality assurance.
