Gambling Addiction - Help

JamesoToole

Hello there, my current situation is that I have been struggling with a gambling addiction for the past two years. I am a student (final year at University) and all gambling has brought me is heartache, ruined relationships, and increased difficulties with studies.

My current situation is:

Santander: -£1500 overdraft

I know I have made a huge mistake but it is impossible for me to seek family support because my family are extremely religious.

Is there any means of support I would be eligible for considering that I have a bad credit rating. I really need around £600-700 carry me through to my next student loan. Without this, I doubt I'd be able to continue pursuing my studies.

sourcrates

JamesoToole wrote: »

Is there any means of support I would be eligible for considering that I have a bad credit rating. I really need around £600-700 carry me through to my next student loan. Without this, I doubt I'd be able to continue pursuing my studies.

Hi,


Are you taking steps to deal with your gambling addiction ?


If not, this situation will just keep repeating itself.


Unfortunately, financially, there are no magic solutions to this.
Can you get a part time job ?


That seems like the obvious choice to me, I doubt, being a student, you will have much old clutter kicking around that you can sell, so your options are pretty limited.

EssexHebridean

One way of looking at this is that if your family are religious, while they might be disappointed, let down, appalled even, at your gambling, they should also be willing to forgive, and to support. I suspect that ought to be your first route - you know you've made mistakes, trying to keep this from your nearest and dearest will only make things feel worse in the long-run, and you're very young to try to deal with this situation with no family support.

When is your next loan payment due? Is there part-time casual work you can grab in the short term to bridge the gap? Bar work? That sort of thing?

Have you made arrangements to block your access to ALL the gambling sites you can think of? You must do this or the temptation will always be there.

andyfromotley

Hi James,

Ask your uni if they have a hardship type fund and apply to that. Find a job asap. Honestly you can make that sort of money door knoocking for odd jobs and washing cars. It would be ridiculous to give up in a final year for £600!!

Secondly contact Gambers Anonymous for a way out of gambling that works and is free. Otherwise you will just rinse and repeat for years to come.

Good luck.

Nowornever

There are a few on here that had gambling problems that you may want to seek out for advice too.

Can you sell anything to get some of that £600 together? Get a part time job in a shop? Helping others with their studies?

Muhren

I probably sound like a broken record on this subject but I have copied and pasted this from another thread that I posted advice in.

First of all OP you need to stop gambling, you are not going to start to get out of this mess until you do.

My advice would be to cut off all avenues that you have to gambling.

• Self exclude yourself from your betting accounts, be that online or in the shop.
• Put a block on your laptop/tablet to stop access to gambling sites. I use something called K9, you will need someone you trust to make up a password.
• Get rid of your smart phone so you can't gamble on that.
• Hand over your cards and preferably all of your finances for someone to look after if you can.
• Don't carry anymore cash than you need for the day.
• Tell your friends/family about your problem so they can help look out for you.

I can't help with any suggestions with who you can speak to for help, other than GA. Give it a try, it's not for everyone but you will be around people who are in a similar situation who can offer help, advise and support to beat this problem.

National_Debtline

There are some good tips on here already (about Gamblers Anonymous and about trying to boost your income) - the other issue is your overdraft. If it is a student overdraft then it may not fall due until your course finishes (and may even be interest free) but you need to make sure it can be repaid.


If you do get part time work then I would suggest you open a basic bank account with another banking group, have your wages paid into that and then work out (with a SOA). You need to make sure that you have enough money to live off and calculate what money could be spared to make repayments on the overdraft - it may be small at first but you can only pay what you can afford. Good Luck James,


Laura
@natdebtline