A gambling habit often starts small, some fun with your mates or a bit of excitement when you are bored at home. But soon you may be spending more than you can afford. Then your cards and overdraft are maxed out.
It is so tempting to hope to win back enough to clear the debts and pay your bills. You need money to do this, so you get a loan. But you lose more…
This is a vicious circle. Soon the only credit you can get is at horrible rates of interest such as logbook loans, doorstep lenders and payday loans.
You can escape from all this. It’s not going to be easy, but there are steps to take and ways to get support.
The secret addiction
For many people gambling is addictive and they can’t simply choose to stop. It’s not like saying you were tempted to have a takeaway because you were too tired to cook.
The free offers, the flashing lights, the feeling of suspense – they have all been carefully designed to trigger responses in your brain. Some people aren’t interested at all, some people can have a few punts and then not bet for months or years. But if your brain is wired a certain way, then you may get seriously hooked.
It’s not always easy to tell when a “habit” crosses over into an “addiction”. There is an anonymous self-test here you could try if you aren’t sure.
You have to be honest with yourself. If you think you could give up but you don’t want to, try not gambling for a week and see how it goes. If you can do it easily, you don’t have a gambling problem.
It’s often pretty obvious when a friend has an alcohol or drugs problem. But many people get very good at hiding their gambling from their family and friends, which makes it harder to get help earlier.
So how do you stop gambling?
Tackling a debt problem if you are still gambling is like trying to put a fire out with a fire extinguisher in one hand, whilst the other is throwing petrol onto the flames… So even if your debts feel like the more urgent issue, ending the gambling has to come first.
Here are some practical ideas. Not all of them will be relevant for you, so go for the ones that feel right first, but if it’s proving tough going, come back and think about the others.
Make it harder to gamble
- Self-exclusion There are different ways to self-exclude from betting shops, casinos, arcades and online gambling. For betting shops, you can visit them individually or call the Central Self-Exclusion Team on 0800 294 2060.
For many people deciding to self-exclude proves to themselves that they CAN do this. It can also remove you from email lists so you won’t have to ignore tempting offers every day for the next ten years. - Blocking software If online gambling is your weakness, get blocking software for your PC, tablet and phone. It works!
Look for a bank that will help you with your decision to stop or reduce gambling. Monzo and Starling banks allow their customers to block gambling transactions. For example for Monzo:
Once the block is activated by the customer, it can spot any transaction that person might try to make with bookmakers – either online or in a shop – by using merchant category codes. It instantly stops the transaction from happening, before any money has left that customer’s account.
If a customer is tempted to place a bet in the heat of the moment, there is a 48-hour cooling-off period before the block is switched off. There is also a daily limit on cash withdrawals.
Get help and support
- For advice about stopping gambling, call the National Gambling HelpLine on 0808 8020 133 from 8 am – midnight every day. They also have a web chat facility and they can provide counselling if you would like this.
- Many people find the best support comes from other people who have been addicted themselves. GamCare have forums and chat rooms where you can be anonymous. Gamblers Anonymous organises different types of meetings where people with gambling problems can support each other.
- Christians Against Poverty organise local release groups, safe and confidential places to talk and get support – see if there is one near you.
- Telling your partner, a relative or a friend may be very difficult, but stopping the secrecy and lies can be a relief, and you may get much-needed encouragement.
Think how changes in your lifestyle could make it easier to resist the itch to gamble. This can vary from the simple – take different routes so you don’t have to walk past betting shops – to getting some new hobbies to occupy time in the evening.
Reduce the money you can gamble with
- If you have any credit cards that aren’t yet at their limit, consider giving them to your partner or a friend to take charge of. Or cut them up or put them in the freezer in a block of water.
- Try to move as many bills as possible to be paid by direct debit or standing order on, or soon after, your payday.
- If you have a partner, ask them to take over paying all the essential bills and set up a transfer of money to their account on your payday. Switch any joint benefits to be paid into your partner’s account.
- Get all your benefits or wages paid into your partner’s account, who then gives you some pocket money in cash. Extreme – yes. But it may not just reduce the money for gambling, it could go a long way to rebuilding trust with your partner.
- Register with Cifas. This is meant for people who have identity fraud problems. If you apply for credit, you are written to asking if you did apply. If you may try to take out a payday loan in the middle of the night, this couple of days delay may be all you need to resist the temptation. It does not harm your credit score.
Prioritise your money problems
You need to be honest with yourself – and your partner if you have one – about the damage that has been done to your finances. This means a list of all your debts, including any ones which you may not think of as being a problem, and any bills which are overdue. List the size of the debts and the amounts that need to be paid this month.
Then decide if you have enough money to pay them this month if you don’t spend any more money on gambling. If you do, then that is your plan. Read up about “snowballing” for ways to help this go faster, but at the begining your main priority is not gambling and getting used to this.
If you don’t have enough money to pay them all each month, read Which debts and bills are top priority? If you have any priority debts these need to be paid in full, even if this means paying nothing to your other debts. If you can’t pay the priority debts in full, get help asap, see below.
Non-priority debts can be offered a lower amount, even a token payment of £1. Tell the creditors that you are trying to sort out your finances because you have a gambling problem and ask them to accept this lower payment for a few months until your priority debts are repaid. It may feel scary telling a creditor or a debt collector that you have a gambling problem, but most now recognise this as an addiction which means that you need extra help from them.
If you have priority debts you can’t pay, a lot of creditors, it’s going to take more than a few months to sort your debts out, or you want expert help to talk to your creditors, read Where to get help and advice which looks at your options depending on the types of debts you have, where you live and whether you would prefer phone help or to talk to someone face-to-face.
Whoever you talk to, tell them about your gambling problem and what you are doing to try to give it up. All the debt advice services I have listed are confidential and non-judgmental, but they can’t help properly unless they know the full picture. Often the best approach is to put your non-priority debts on hold for a while until it’s clear that you are winning the battle to stop gambling.
Feeling mad at your creditors?
A common reaction when people realise the full situation they are in is to blame the creditors for allowing you to borrow so much. Sometimes this is a good point! It may be possible to ask for refunds of interest you have paid if a creditor should have known you had big problems but they continued to lend. See these articles looking at complaints about payday lenders and doorstep lenders such as Provident. Don’t worry that your complaint will be rejected because you were gambling – well it may be by the lender, but take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman, see How gambling affects payday loan refunds for some detailed examples.
But this isn’t going to help at the start. In six months, once you are feeling on a firmer footing, you can think about any complaints. They aren’t quick and they won’t solve your immediate problems.
Your priorities are to kick the gambling habit and get your finances stabilised so you don’t need to borrow any money each month.
Need a clean start away from gambling debt
Examples of gambling & payday loan refunds
FOBT stakes slashed to £2 from £100
Gordon says
This is a fantastic item and full of good information, my debt spiralled out of control pay day loans, bank loans overdrafts ( I do not hear much news about people in debt chasing the banks I have complained to the FOS about Santander as they have given me a number of loans and increased my over draft in the same space of time).
I had taken out over 200 payday loans in the space of 2 years it got to the stage as the FOS said my out goings were over £4,000 per month more than my income and thanks to this site I am chasing the lenders for irresponsible lending, I am in GA and as your item said please look at the gambling problem before the debt.
well done Debt Camel
anon says
Also a good one ive used for online gambling is to cancel cards. and when the new ones come get someone to scratch the last 3 digits off the back. Then you can not make online payments.
Pear says
Hi Sara
Excellent article and should help a lot of people. I am a compulsive gambler but have not gambled in over 3 years through the help of GA and I would recommend anyone who is a compulsive gambler and wants to stop to visit their local group. I have started the process of putting in complaints against payday lenders and anything I get back is a bonus as my debts are paid.
The most important thing is to stop gambling first or coming into money could fuel the addiction further, I know this from experience as my parents cleared my debts 3 times, each time I promised I wouldn’t gamble and each time I did.
When you stop gambling you realise that money was only part of the problem and it is possible to rebuild your life through being honest with your loved ones. I hope what I have posted is OK. Thank you for this great site.
alan says
You can also contact the Central Self-Exclusion Team on 0800 294 2060. They will sent your details including a photo to all shops you go into for self-exclusion. After a year they will renew your requests for exclusion if you wish. They cover all bookmakers on the high street. I haven’t been in a bookies for 6 months and am now getting straight with my money.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Thanks Alan, I’ll add that to the article!
Mark says
Hi Sara,
On a slightly different angle to irresponsible lending, is there any recourse available against online gambling companies that clearly fail in their duty of care. I did try and complain and got a short rebuffal. It sounds like I’m chasing the money that I gambled, which would of course be very welcomed to reduce my debt, however it is the general principle that I feel really strongly about. I should say, I’m a twenty year addict and it was always my choice to try and Gamble, I don’t hold the companies at fault for that, however I would regularly try and make deposits that were rejected, decreasing the amount until I finally had a deposit accepted, I would wait until my deposit limit time expired (say 01:00) on a Monday morning and would be clicking deposit as the clock turned over. Reversing withdrawals, don’t get me started on those! I would also make multiple deposits on the same day each month, then go 3/4 weeks without making one (out of money). On one occasion i played solidly for 4 days, with no more than 1/2 hours break (literally no sleep) it is just so obvious I had a problem. I know people have taken companies to court and inevitably lose but they always seem to be the big sums, what I’m try to illustrate is the constant, desperate nature of repeated patterns that clearly showed an addiction… your thoughts would be much appreciated
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s not really a topic I feel qualified to write about, sorry. Chasing the lenders that gave you the money to feed the addiction may be a more realistic prospect.
Jay says
Hello Sara
I too feel the online gambling companies need to be challenged. It is very clear I have a gambling addiction and two sites in particular I use should have picked up the signals of this. However they bombard me with emails, text messages, and even on social media sites promising big wins. It is out of control with advertising everywhere I go and there seems to be no escaping it. The cancelling withdrawals too is a massive problem for addicted gamblers. Patterns in my play show that I cancel 85% of attempted withdrawals. The pattern also shows by cancelling a withdrawl sometimes allows you to win a little more but then lose the lot. They know what they are doing. They claim they are regulated and it but I see more than often the NEW people winning big to draw them in, that cannot be random ! Some sites do not allow the withdrawal cancellation and I feel ALL companies should be made to stop this.
I blame the Gambling Commission. They should be all over this ! I once complained about the adverts on the television but my complaint was rejected. My grandson even knows the theme toons to some of the sites !!!
Today I have decided to take control myself by closing all accounts of which there are many. The problem I have found is actually closing them. Some sites insist you have to call them. I do not want to call them, I want to just close the site, but it will not let me.
Sam says
Sign up to gamstop most reputable companies use this now , it’s a site wide self exclusion scheme it has completely stopped me gambling online https://www.gamstop.co.uk
nikki says
Hi Sara,
This isn’t payday loan related but wondered if you knew anything?
Last year I received a refund from cassava enterprises (gambling site). This was due to the fact that they let me deposit after I had self excluded. Do you know if they should have added interest to this type of refund?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry, not come across this before.
Janice says
Hi Sara
I’m looking for some advice for my Son. He is a 27 year old compulsive Gambler and has been for over 11 years, He’s had some help and been to the NHS clinic in London and is now currently with in talks again with Gamcare.
He is self employed and still lives at home. He earns around £500 a week. He ultimately wants to get a mortgage with his girlfriend. His credit score has been good up till recently, apart from a lot of payday loans showing on his credit file as settled. He was still able to get credit. His addiction has been fuelled by the ease of the payday loans. Can’t count the amount he has had over the years.
So, at the moment (he’s in a bad place), he has gone on a binge over the last month and has currently £5100 new payday loans with 8 different lenders. He has also personal loans Natwest and Tesco £13000 and credit card debts of £7000 with Aqua & Barclaycard. He was able to pay the latter but with the payday loans now its impossible. He hasn’t defaulted on anything yet but he has no money left and a month till payday. What would your advice be moving forward. I’m not in a position to help him and he cant get a consolidation loan. We were thinking of a debt management plan as a last resort. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Janice, he is lucky to have you helping. But it isn’t your job to solve this for him. Do not under any circumstances lend him money or guarantee any loan for him.
Are you charging him rent at the moment? If not, you have been effectively enabling his gambling to continue. He needs to start paying you rent, I suggest £400 a month, from his next pay cheque. If you are paying for his car, mobile, contact lenses, holidays etc that all has to stop – he pays his own way from now on. This will reduce what he can pay to his debts but that’s tough – he is an adult and needs to stand on his own feet.
He needs to forget about a mortgage. That isn’t going to happen until he has stopped gambling, salvaged his finances and saved a lot which is going to take years. Don’t rule out options now because they may hinder a mortgage in future – if he doesn’t take effective action now he has NO HOPE of ever getting a mortgage.
Stopping gambling is the single most important thing now. Get him to read the above article. He needs to self-exclude and install blocking software on all his devices. Also to sign up to Cifas to make it harder to get more credit. If he won’t do all of these things he is not serious about stopping.
A DMP should be his first choice, not a last resort. (The last resort is bankruptcy – that isn’t a stupid idea, but he may as well give a DMP and payday loan refunds a chance first.) There are no options that will not harm his credit record.
He has no money to make this months payments so he needs to cancel the DDs (for the loans and cards) and CPAs (for the payday loans) with his bank. Then phone each of the lenders and say he cannot make any payments in January but he will talk to StepChange and hopes to set up a DMP in February. If you can sit with him while he makes the calls that may help – moral support is the best thing for him at the moment.
Then I would leave putting in payday loan complaints until his DMP is up and running – so in March. If he starts the complaints now, he may be desperate and take the first offer to write off a debt, even if he could potentially get a large refund by waiting and going to the ombudsman. So he needs to get his finances onto a reliable base that can continue for many months.
Mark says
There is a service called Gamstop, this enables people to sign up and get blocked from (at the moment) most gambling websites.
Soon every company must have the Gamstop enabled service.
Sit with him while he does this, if he is really seriously going to stop gambling, he won’t think twice about doing it. Ps it’s a government backed rolled out service.
C says
Hi Janice.
I think your son would benefit from what Mark has described above, or some further psychotherapy from a professional.
Gambling like many addictions is due to deeper and hidden issues he may not be fully aware of. Things from child hood and teen years you may or may not be aware of.
Gambling ranges from impulse right through to lucky charms and the ‘gamblers fallacy’ that after a long run of losses, you must be owed and due a win so you hunt that win by gambling more and more.
A stop to gambling in our minds may sound good but maybe quite fruitless in the long term, so again professional psychological therapy to deal with the fallout from stopping would help.
My addiction stopped after receiving psychotherapy for a separate incident when I was diagnosed with PTSD.
I didn’t think I had an issue until that point and got treated for both PTSD and addiction (oddly interlinked at child hood) and the treatment (12 weeks) worked wonders.
The underlying causes to gambling can vary according to my psychotherapist, but there I always a treatment that can work. Both you and your son may not realise at the moment, but there will be some causes. They just need to be treated professionally.
To put some perspective behind my borrowing for gambling,
Credit cards – £19k
H/street Loans – £27k
Payday loans – over 7years – £79k borrowed and £129k paid back (cap&interest)
Your son can get through this, he just needs the professionals to help.
All the best
C
Janice says
Hi C
Thank you so much for sharing your addiction story and the treatment you had.
I absolutely agree that there must be an underlying cause for this. He is such a good hearted loving man who absolutely hates what he is doing but just cannot stop for longer than a few months.
Can I ask you where you found the psychotherapist? I just don’t know where to start looking for someone who would specialise in gambling addiction. The NHS Clinic in London were great but it cost so much to travel there every week and also the time off work etc. We live in the north west. There is always a long waiting list aswell to get back onto the scheme.
A massive well done to you for overcoming this and paying back that huge amount of money.
Thanks again C.
C says
Hi Janice.
No trouble at all. Without giving too much detail on where I live. My therapist is based in in the south west, so some miles away unfortunately.
I paid privately for mine which in the end cost me about £1300 for the 12 weeks. I paid private as the nhs were going to take about 6 months before a pschyotherapist could start seeing me for PTSD (diagnosed by the GP) and with a young family I couldn’t put me or them through the pain any longer.
But it was the best £1300 I spent, it was going to be in the bookies pockets anyway.
My suggestion is to ask your gp for advice on the best therapists/psychologists nearby. They’ll know the best I’m sure.
By the sounds of it, your son could pay for some as he’ll gamble it anyway, it’s seriously hard opening up at first, but if he wants to get through this, it’ll work out in the end.
Stay strong for you and your son.
as the quote goes, “when going through hell, keep going, you don’t want to stop here”
And you’ll get plenty of support here in this forum aswell👍
Janice says
Thanks for all the information. That may be a good option for the New Year.
What a great quote! I’ll be passing that one on.
All the best for 2019 and thanks again .
Janice says
Thanks for the advise Sara. Really appreciate it. I wont be lending him any money or guaranteeing a loan. He does pay rent and all his expenses himself. I don’t help him at all (anymore)!! I have took control of his finances over the years. Still have access to his bank account, emails etc. He has tried to stop many times. His recent attempt was hypnotherapy and that seemed to work for a few months. He’s also done G/A, Gamcare, 6 weeks @ NHS gambling London, a private appointment at the Priory, run off to Australia for 2 years thinking that would help. He was worse than ever there. He sometimes goes months without gambling. Thinks he’s conquered it. Starts to feel really good about life, then something just triggers him and he goes into self destruct again. Doesn’t eat and gets into a very depressive state. A very isolated and hidden addiction.
He has Gamblock blocking software on his phone. That helped a lot, but he is now going back to the casinos playing Poker and the dreaded Fixed odds machines.
Janice says
He has opened a Monzo account recently, spoke to his Natwest bank yesterday and cancelled the payday loans cpa’s. They also put a block on his card using gambling sites. He’s given the Natwest card to me also. Didn’t realise you could self exclude from multi operators. Didn’t know about Cifas. Thanks Mark for the Gamstop advice. Didn’t know about that either. He’s pretty scared about arranging a DMP. He still thinks he can pay this all back. His loans and credit cards are not due till the end of the month and he can pay them with his wages, (btw Monzo gave him a £500 overdraft yesterday!!). He’s going to ring the Payday loans tomorrow and tell them his circumstances and take it from there. He is just trying to take one day at a time at the moment as his mental health is not great. The payday loan complaints as you have said Sara is maybe something to tackle in the future. (I am so angry though)!! He absolutely loathes what he is putting his family through and all I can do is help him anyway I can to hopefully see him have a future. Any further advice is very welcome from anyone.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Other people have said that going through the payday loan reclaim procedure is quite therapeutic in some ways – you have to be honest about your previous situation but equally many people move on from thinking it was all their fault to realising just how poorly the lenders made their affordability checks. Then onto the “don’t get mad, get even” stage.
Addiction just traps some people harder than others. I expect you know people who just decided to give up smoking, were determined and then got through to the other side quite quickly – and also people who have tried, really tried, and given up many times. One day at a time is the only thing he can do.
I would advise a DMP though. There is such a relief to knowing the immediate pressure is off.
Janice says
Thanks Sara,
Yes one day at a time is where we are at today. You are so right about the addiction trapping people harder than others. It has him pretty hard right now and unfortunately we don’t have an answer as yet.. We will put in place all suggestions made on the previous posts.
He has a admitted to a lot more payday loans than yesterday. He has 9 currently active around £6500. Most of these companies, he has borrowed from several times (thousands of pounds) within the last month, and further back also.
We are thinking of making complaints to these 9 and sending his Noodle credit report showing the present loans and past loans (which there are a lot). I am already at that stage of getting even with these companies!!
Dean says
Hi all
Quick one – when I had gambling problems and took out many loans / credit cards etc – I also opened a spread bet account which have large amount of credit and I was able to rack up a 400 quid value in about 10 minutes. I believe this was given to me irresponsibility- can I complain about them or would it be another process ?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is not regulated as consumer credit, complaining would be an entirely different process.
john says
Hi Sara
Further to this thread I too feel as if a spread betting company lent to me irresponsibly do you have a hunch of what angle I could try to give it a go, I had no income when i was given a £2000 credit limit.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Look at the company’s complaints procedure, look for policy stuff on the website and try to construct a complaint out of the fact they breached what they said they would do.
Mia says
Hi Sara
Hope you can help me my dad is 74 and a long time gambling addict he finished paying his Iva a couple of years ago as he was in over 80,000 debt . He told everyone he stopped but I have never been sure , in the last week while I have been off work for half term and went to visit while they were away this week and two credit cards have arrived I have opened them but google the back of the envelopes two from barclaycard and two from aqua with I am guessing is the pin . What type of business gives credit to a 74 year old who is only a few years clear of a large Iva . I already found a statement from capital one and vanquish in his draw when he asked me to get him a tablet a couple of days ago . I am passed my self , it would destroy my mum who had had to deal with this for the last 30 years . Can I contact aqua and Barclay card and tell them about his situation.
Any advice would be helpful
Just shocked at these banks
Thanks
Mia
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is very bad news :( Your poor mum and how stressful for you.
“What type of business gives credit to a 74 year old who is only a few years clear of a large Iva .” IVAs drop off your credit record 6 years after they start, so the landers probably couldn’t see it :(
If you contact Aqua and Barclaycard they will probably refuse to speak to you. He is an adult.
I think the only thing you can do (apart from just watch a slow-motion car crash) is to talk to your dad and try to propose ways forward to get him out of the hole before it is too deep again. I don’t know if you think he may be susceptible to some blackmail – if you don’t take practical steps to stop and show me the proof I will tell Mum…
He can close the accounts he has just opened and say he is a problem gambler and he doesn’t want them to give him an account in future. Where there is a balance, he can still close the account and set up a standing order to repay as much as he can afford each month. He can sign up to Cifas which makes it harder to open credit accounts quickly. He can self exclude from local bookies, close online accounts and install blocking software.
But he has to want to do it. You can offer moral and practical support – help him write the letters, go with him to the bookies.
Mp says
GAMSTOP offer a free scheme that lets you self-exclude from the majority of UK online gambling sites in one simple registration.
I opted for the maximum five year period of exclusion and haven’t looked back.