Reformed: Gambling addict David Bradford lost more than £500,000 playing slot machines via online gaming sites. (Image: PA Real Life) The betrayal of his family, friends and community was the. According to Financial Spread Betting, Anonymous also has a horror story to share. This time the story is related to credit card debts while at the same time being unemployed. Anonymous started out as a shy gambler who would phone in to bookies and place his bets. Don’s sports gambling addiction— personal stories about a broken marriage and tainted childhood memories January 3, 1983, will forever be ingrained in Dianne’s mind as the night her husband, Don, started their family down a long and winding path of deceit, disappointment, and disaster.
“Mary” was a poster child for the warning signs of compulsive gambling. It would have been obvious to anyone that she had a serious problem. But not to Mary. At least not until one day in 2009, as she sat in her car outside a Minnesota casino.
A decade before, Mary had discovered gambling could be a “wonderful way to totally escape.” In the years since, she had also found it be a path to mental and financial ruin. But on this day, as she stared through her car window at the casino, she could think of only one thing: “I’m sick and tired and of being sick and tired.”
“Emotionally, gambling had become a chore,” Mary says. “I was so scared that I was going to end up doing this for another 20 or 30 years. I was scared that I was going to get fired from my job. I was scared that I was going to end up in jail.”
She wanted to stop. But what scared Mary most was that she couldn’t — or that she didn’t know how. “I was on auto-pilot,” she says. “I had no ability to stop. I couldn’t limit the time or the money I was spending on gambling.”
It hadn’t always been that way. At first, Mary had a lot of fun playing the slots. “But I quickly discovered I had no control,” she says.
Once she started gambling in the late 1990s, it wasn’t long before Mary was visiting the casino three or four times a week, burning through several hundred dollars each trip. She took cash advances from her credit cards, then couldn’t make the payments.
“I went for eight or nine months without gambling, but that was because I didn’t have access to any money,” she says. “Finally, things were better, and I wondered what would happen if I went back to the casino. I found out. Within four days, I had overdrawn my bank account and they closed it out. I was out of control again.”
Mary began “borrowing” funds from the company where she was president and chief executive, and because of her position there, she was able to take the money and pay it back without anyone knowing.
That worked until she realized she had taken more than she could repay.
Even at that point, with the walls closing in on her, Mary says “I didn’t want to admit I was a compulsive gambler. I didn’t want to say it out loud. It’s hard to admit you’re a liar and a cheat and a thief.”
But she did. Instead of getting out of her car and going into the casino, she went to work. And she told her business partner everything that was going on.
With the support of her company, she went to a meeting of Gamblers Anonymous and found a sponsor. But she also realized she needed more help than GA would provide. She checked into the Keystone Treatment Center in Canton, S.D., and spent a month there.
“The people at GA took me under their wing, and they didn’t treat me like a ‘bad person,’” she says. “And the people at Keystone saved my life.”
“I kept thinking I was something special, that my situation was unique,” Mary says. “But I wasn’t, and it wasn’t.”
After leaving Keystone, Mary returned to Minnesota to embark on her aftercare program. One of the first things she did was meet with her company’s board of directors. “I was terrified,” she says. “But they gave me a second chance. These were people I had lied to, and had manipulated. They wanted me to prove I was committed — but they gave me a second chance.”
After 18 months in recovery, Mary remains committed. “I’m paying back what I owe, and I go to GA meetings a couple of times a week,” she says. “It’s so important; it’s essential to me to have recovering people in my life.”
Gambling Stories Reddit
She’s where she is today, Mary says, because of two reasons. “It’s my higher power, and because of some very kind people who saw good things in me, but knew I needed help.”
“When I first went to GA,” she explains, “I couldn’t believe these people had been compulsive gamblers. I couldn’t understand it, because they were happy. Now I know.”
Although gambling might be a tempting activity that you enjoy, for many people around the world gambling can be a serious problem. From huge financial losses to the losses of loved ones and the breakdown of marriages to murdering one’s own family, gambling addiction can have some truly negative and horrific outcomes. It is best to seek help as soon as you feel that you are losing control of your gaming and are unable to stop. There are plenty of organisations out there which specialise in helping addicts deal with their addiction. In our blog post today, we will share with you some horrific gambling stories with the hope to dissuade you from gambling and losing out on more than you bargained for.
Curt’s Story
Before checking in to the Lutheran Social Services’ Gambler’s Choice programme, Curt’s addiction had driven him to suicidal thoughts. He described his addiction to gambling as a serious ‘hangover’, which prevented him from stopping. Thoughts of suicide are severely serious and require instant attention. The fact that Curt wanted to die because he was losing out on so much money as a result of gambling is an indication that he couldn’t cope with the situation. As soon as you feel that your gambling habit is starting to get out of control, contact an organisation such as GamStop right away. They will help you deal with your impulses to gamble and your gambling addiction. Today, Curt is attending Gamblers Anonymous meetings, working on regaining his family’s trust, and is being much more careful with his money than he would previously.
Jodie Nealley
Jodie Nealley is another individual who truly suffered as a result of her gambling addiction. This time, however, she was forced to pay up for her losses and since she couldn’t do so, she was sent to jail. She lost her husband after a sad divorce as well as a beautiful home and a job. Learning her lesson whilst in jail, Jodie is now an Intervention and Recovery Support Coordinator at the Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling. She has been in recovery from gambling disorder for six years and in recovery from alcohol for 22. The combination of gambling and alcohol addiction is scary and requires a lot of effort to overcome. Jodie Nealley has truly committed herself to a strong recovery and is addressing the symptoms on a day to day basis.
Anonymous 1
According to Financial Spread Betting, Anonymous also has a horror story to share. This time the story is related to credit card debts while at the same time being unemployed. Anonymous started out as a shy gambler who would phone in to bookies and place his bets. However, his interest in placing bets soon turned out into an addiction that he couldn’t control. This led to severe gambling debts being into the thousands of pounds, which he can’t afford to repay as he is currently unemployed and still struggles with the urge to place a bet even though he doesn’t have the cash to do so. Remember to seek help as soon as you notice any of these symptoms cropping up in your experience.
Anonymous 2
Anonymous 2 is another example of a sad situation where gambling has taken over someone’s life and made things exceptionally difficult. In Anonymous 2’s case, the situation led to divorce and having to ask his father for financial support. With four children in the mix, this situation really got out of hand when Anonymous 2 decided to gamble at a casino. With a lucky winning streak, he gambled funds that he thought he could double and even triple. Yet the situation turned out that he lost 15k in the drop of an eye and these were 15k which he didn’t have. A grown adult asking his parents for financial help is an embarrassing situation, but gambling addiction isn’t embarrassing and you need to seek professional help wherever you feel the need as you do not want to end up divorced, where your significant other doesn’t trust you, and where you’re digging into savings that affect your children’s futures.
Tala’s Story
Tala and her husband would go to casinos several times a year just for fun. However, Tala’s love for gambling became a problem that she would hide from her husband and her family as she managed to withdraw all the cash she had available on her and her husband’s credit cards. This led to a situation where her husband was denied credit after applying for it, telling his wife that she had ruined his “good name”. To avoid situations where you’re squeezing out your family’s hard-earned cash, without their knowledge, and to resist the urge to gamble away money that you do not have, seek help as soon as possible.
Murder of a Family
Losing money and your family’s trust aren’t the only terrible things that could happen to you as a result of your gambling addiction. There was a story of a North American man who ran a business whose grave he was slowly digging as a result of his gambling addiction. Things got so bad that one night he strangled his children three, and then shot his wife and then himself. This murder should send horrific tingles down your back as you contemplate this poor man’s situation. Things had gotten so out of hand for him that he simply believed he couldn’t go on with not only his life, but with his family either. There was simply no hope for him; no light at the end of the tunnel. This darkness can be defeated with the right help. If you feel that you’ve reached a point of no return, help is always available. Please seek it out when you feel down! Murders of innocents can be avoided this way as can suicide.
Conclusion
As you can see from these brief examples, gambling addiction can have a range of diversely different consequences and they are all bad. You will be doing yourself a favour if you seek help as soon as possible. Gambling addiction is a very serious mental addiction that makes one think that he or she can make up losses by playing a little bit more or adding a few more dollars or pounds to the game. This assumption is incorrect and there is no evidence that this wrongly-held belief is correct. Better save yourself some trouble, money, and the loss of loved ones and seek professional help. GamStop, Gamble Aware, and Gamblers Anonymous are some important institutions that can help you and support you as you address the void that is created by gambling.
Gambling Horror Stories – What Else You Need to Know?
The horror stories speak for themselves and we sincerely hope you can put them down to experience so that you never have to go through something like this. We give you the crux of the matter with this final section. Quitting gambling takes some doing, but it’s for your own good, so you better start now if you’re having problems controlling the urge to place wagers.
⚽️ Can I get in trouble for betting on sports?
Even shy punters can be in danger of developing a gambling addiction. All sorts of cases are reported daily to Gamblers Anonymous and GamCare. The most important rule if you can't give up on betting, is to do it in moderation. Use the limitation tools available on most licensed sports betting sites.
? Has someone gone to jail due to gambling addiction?
Going to jail isn't out of the question, especially if we are talking about a significant debt. An important lesson can be learned from Jodie Neallyey's case who not only went to jail but also lost her husband, home, and, job while serving time.
? What does gambling do to the brain?
There are a lot of experiments and tests that have been made to identify how the human brain reacts when a person is gambling. There are certain emotions that activate from the back of the brain that are really close to the feeling of happiness, euphoria and satisfaction or anger when the player wins or loses.
? Is gambling addictive?
Gambling is proven to be addictive. People often start playing out of boredom or due to a tragic episode in their lives. Gambling addiction could be also triggered by drugs or strong influence from someone, whether a friend or a relative. Of course, it is not always permanent – there are a lot of ways and a lot of people that have cured themselves and now live a normal life.
? Why are casinos so addictive?
There are a lot of myths for casinos, including that there is something in the drinks or in the air in the facility. Both online and land-based casinos are addictive – there are a lot of triggers that get players to dig deeper in then their pockets and play more. This includes bright colours, triggering words and music or ringing when you win and other visual and sound stimuli.
? How does gambling affect relationships?
When gambling becomes a routine, it might affect not only your life, but your relationships. There is a high percent of couples that split up because of gambling addiction and all the dept that comes consequently. According to tabloids, this is the main reason celebrities like Ben Affleck got divorced.
? Is gambling a mental illness?
Gambling could be considered mental illness. There are a lot of people that struggle with gambling addiction. Therefore, there are a lot of organizations that support online casino sites and prevent gamblers from playing too much. Same goes for land-based casinos. It takes a lot of time, but gambling addiction is curable.