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1. Bad Gambling Stories
2. What Is Online Gambling Addiction
3. Online Gambling Addiction Stories List

Gambling harm isn’t just about losing money. It can affect how you feel.

There are many ways to seek professional and anonymous help for your own, or your loved one's problems with gambling. If you need immediate help, please call Gambler's Help on 1800 858 858 or Gambler's Help Youthline on 1800 262 376 (from within Australia only). This service operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and is free and confidential. Read Online Gambling Addiction Stories Port of Call ‘I have a gambling addiction’ – Real life gambling stories Pete, 29, from Birmingham is a compulsive gambler. What started as an occasional flutter soon progressed to a full-blown gambling addiction that threatened to tear his young family apart. A homeless gambling addict approaching 50 would receive far less sympathy than I did as a kid. Gambling has changed so much over the last decade. At the GA meetings nearly all the members are now addicted to online gambling of sort or other.

We know it can be hard but talking about it means you can start to feel better.

Here are some real life stories of people who opened up and talked about the harm they were experiencing and got the support they needed. Now they share their story with you.

Lachlan's story

“Once I started to open up to people, I was amazed with the amount of support I had.” – Lachlan describes how he was worried to tell people about his gambling because of their reactions but once he opened up he was amazed at the amount of support he got.

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Bayu's story

“I opened up to a friend about my gambling. The compassion and receptiveness she showed me ignited me to change.” Uni Student, Bayu, shares how talking helped him on the path to recovery.

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Mario's story

“I’m a lot happier. It was the best thing I ever did.” – Mario, eight years of not gambling on sport, now calls himself a proper tradie and business owner.

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Ken's story

“Find somebody you love, that you trust, and sit them down and tell them. I should’ve done it years ago.” Former Police Sergeant, Ken, describes how lucky he was to have a supportive family

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Lynda's story

“It was hard for me to tell him, but when I did, he was so supportive that it made it easy for me.” Lynda describes how supportive her eldest son was by holding her hand while she called Gambler’s Help.

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Lynda talks about her counselling experience

“The counsellors have your back and they made me feel worthy”. Lynda describes how seeing a counsellor helped keep her on track.

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Anna's story

'Having the support of others was essential and I wouldn’t have done it without them”. Anna lost 10 years of her life to the pokies and now shares her story of hope.

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Sunenna’s Story

“You’re not alone and help is available.” Sunenna says many people think their story is unique, but there are lots of people fighting similar battles.

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Chandana's story

“You don’t need to keep it to yourself.” Chandana was shocked to find out about her partner’s gambling. She says that without the help of others, she could never have rebounded so quickly.

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Lived Experience

Daniel

Comedian Daniel Connell lost around $100,000 to sports and race betting over six years before a gamble of a different kind changed his life.

Mario

Mario Bird found gambling at 16 and says it was a match made in heaven. Now, after a hard-won recovery, he wants young men, in particular, to know what it can do to your life.

Sunenna

Sunenna moved from Fiji to Australia to be with the ‘man of her dreams’. But after four months of marriage, her life started to unravel. Sharing her story to let others know they’re not alone has also helped her move on from her sorrow.

Nabil

Arabic counsellor Hoda Nahal helps people from Arabic-speaking backgrounds who are affected by gambling harm, as well as educates communities about the risks of gambling and the help services available.

Chandana

When my partner and I moved to Australia with our baby daughter, I saw it as a haven and a place for a fresh start. Little did I know the power of the gambling culture in our new home.

Anna

Gambling on the pokies was a solution that quickly became a problem for Anna Bardsley. A member of the Foundation’s Lived Experience Advisory Committee, Anna says storytelling plays a big part in her recovery from addiction.

Mat

Mat Crompton’s love for sport turned into an online sports betting compulsion that isolated him from friends and family and consumed his early 20s. His way out was to ask why: why was he gambling and what could life be like if he gave it up.

Ann

After nearly 30 years of a destructive pokies addiction, Ann has drawn the line, with support from her family and a group of ‘lovely, caring’ people to whom she’s bared her soul, but never met.

Brendan

Brendan Ivermee grew up surrounded by gambling and went on to develop his own destructive and secret gambling problem. Now, three years after being freed from prison, he’s on a mission to help others start over.

Ken

Teenage gambling seems a new problem. But Ken Wolfe got caught in a nightmare of debt and destruction 50 years ago. It lasted for decades. Now he’s reaching out to young blokes heading the same way.

Tony

Self-confessed fantasy football obsessive Tony Wilson laments the gamblification of his favourite pastime, and asks what effect it will have on all the kids with dream teams.

Shayne

Having freed himself from his own gambling nightmare, Lived Experience Advisory Committee member Shayne Rodgers is using the life-changing lessons he learnt to help others.

Bill

Having bet on horses since he was 17, Bill says winning streaks always end the same way: losing big. But his final winning streak ended when he was also stricken with grief. Today, helping others, he feels better than ever about himself.

Carolyn

Carolyn Crawford went to prison for stealing from her employer to support her pokies addiction, and now shares her story to encourage others to seek help for gambling harm earlier rather than later.

Fred

Fred Rubinstein, a member of the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation’s Lived Experience Advisory Committee, says it took stealing from his mum and her threat to call the police to force him to accept help for a gambling addiction.

Lynda

Lynda Genser’s pokies habit led to a criminal charge, but she quit with the support of her family and is now making a difference as a member of the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation’s Lived Experience Advisory Committee.

Shared Stories

Gambling harm podcast: Inspiring stories of hope and recovery

There are many ways to seek professional and anonymous help for your own, or your loved one's problems with gambling.

If you need immediate help, please call Gambler's Help on 1800 858 858 or Gambler's Help Youthline on 1800 262 376 (from within Australia only). This service operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and is free and confidential.

Updated September 04, 2017 16:45:46

I'm a gambling addict. Three years ago, I was convicted of white collar fraud, after I stole over $130,000 from my employer to fuel an insatiable addiction.

My poison of choice was not poker machines, but online gambling.

Racing, the thoroughbreds, the trots, the dogs — I wasn't fussy, so long as I could get a bet on and fuel that addiction.

The bets would range anywhere between $5,000 and $20,000 a day. I would bet until 3:00am, try to sleep for three hours and bet again for another three hours on online racing in the United States.

I always thought the stereotypical gambling addict was a working-class middle-aged man or woman, sitting at their local club, feeding their favourite pokies machine four or five nights a week.

But I rarely ventured into the local TAB.

Betting while the kids were in the bath

At the zenith of my addiction, I was married with two beautiful young children and working as a finance manager at a local council.

When I was with my family, I was physically there — but mentally, I was miles away, thinking about gambling: when I could next bet, where would the money come from, whether I could back a winner.

I thought about gambling 24/7. I placed bets at home, at work, the shops — basically everywhere and anywhere I could get reception on my phone.

I would be walking with the kids and our dog, yet I'd still be trying to place bets. I would even bet and watch the races on the phone while the kids were in the bath.

A knock at the door

I had been thinking about stealing to solve some of my debt problems for months, but I couldn't do it because I knew the consequences would be dire.

Then one evening, I had a visit from two large men with a baseball bat, strongly suggesting it would be in my best interests to repay a sizable debt that was due that week.

They punched me and threatened to use the baseball bat 'next time'.

I was left bruised and battered from their warning. It was a seriously scary moment; I still occasionally have flashbacks and it sends chills through my body.

That night, I made the decision to steal from work. I felt physically sick and fidgety; my mind wouldn't stop racing. I knew it was wrong, but I did it — knowing I could one day get caught.

The first time is without a doubt the hardest — but once you've done it, stealing becomes easier.

Listen to the program

Earshot meets Leigh, an online gambling addict.

I had nothing to lose. That's how I 'reasoned' it.

However, stealing became another problem to add to my list.

I was constantly worried about being caught. When someone knocked on my office door, when I got a phone call, when my boss called me to a meeting, I was never quite sure.

The fear was slowly killing me, but I couldn't confess, couldn't turn back. I was on a knife-edge with no solution, no way out.

It was a Monday morning when I was finally caught. I was called into the CEO's office and they presented me with the overwhelming evidence.

I was caught red-handed, but I still denied it. I knew my career was over and that jail was not far away.

But at that stage, I had a small sense of relief. No more looking over my back. The lying and deceitfulness could stop.

On the inside

When I was caught and sentenced to jail, the gambling addicts I met in the prison system had similar stories to mine. They were middle-aged, smart, well-educated men from good upbringings, all addicts to racing and not the pokies — certainly not the stereotypical gambling addicts I had imagined.

My addiction cost me everything. I lost my job, all my material possessions including house, car, everything I owned.

But that pales into insignificance to the lost relationships.

Need help or support?

If gambling is affecting your health and you are feeling anxious or depressed, or if gambling is negatively impacting on your relationships, help and support are available.

• Call Lifeline on 13 11 14

My marriage disintegrated, I lost access to my children, I don't talk to my family and I'm no longer on speaking terms with most of my friends. I don't blame them.

During my year in jail, I had enough time to reflect on all the damage it had caused and when I was to be released I knew I couldn't go back to that lifestyle.

You get far too much time to reflect in jail. I was constantly thinking about the kids, but I didn't decide to quit gambling because of them. The constant stress and 24/7 of thinking about gambling had destroyed me: physically, emotionally, and financially.

I knew if I didn't stop gambling it would kill me.

Get help before it's too late

I write this not because I find it a cathartic experience, but because I hope that it helps others to seek help before it's too late. Or for family and friends of addicts to intervene and offer support.

Bad Gambling Stories

For people 'on the edge' or thinking about committing fraud, the solution is simple: get help.

Seek support before you hit rock bottom. The help that suited me the most was from my psychologist, one-on-one extended chats — but for others it may be Gamblers Anonymous.

For the family and friends of addicts: please don't give up on them, it's a horrendous disease and they need all the support you can give.

Life in 2017 is certainly not perfect, but it's a damn sight better than it has been.

I've got regular access to my children, I'm rebuilding lost relationships, I've found some temporary work — and I haven't had a bet since 2014.

What Is Online Gambling Addiction

Topics:gambling, internet-culture, family-and-children, fraud-and-corporate-crime, law-crime-and-justice, australia

Online Gambling Addiction Stories List

First posted September 04, 2017 12:14:41