My gambling problem: ‘Online there’s no concept of the money’

Chris bet on horses but had never been to a racecourse. He bet for seven hours a day. He bet while he was at work, under the nose of his boss – “He thought I was working really hard, because I was there 10 or 12 hours a day” – and he bet when he was at home, in the bedroom of his shared house.

Once he set an alarm clock to wake him in the middle of the night, so he could bet on a South American soccer match. “The bookies were open 24 hours a day online,” he says. “There was always something to gamble on – racing in the US, football in South America . . . It didn’t matter what it was on.”

It started, he says, with speculation and investment. “I bought shares in a couple of companies and I won,” he says, before correcting himself. He means he profited. But speculating on stocks and shares was too slow. “Someone introduced me to putting small bets on, and I opened up an account and lodged the money I had into gambling sites. Online there’s no concept of the money. You never see the cash. It’s just a number on the screen.”

At first it’s fun, he says, and then it becomes something you stop discussing with family and friends. “If you’re betting an enormous sum of money on a tennis match in Australia at three in the morning you keep it a secret.”

Having a smartphone made things even worse. “I used to go to the toilet so I could go on to the phone,” Chris says.

The urge to gamble was relentless, defying logic. He describes it as “a false high, then a depression after it. And then on to the next bet. Your winnings were always just ammunition for the next bet.”

Chris lost months of wages. “You see your friends and families progressing in life, people getting married and buying houses, and you can’t contemplate buying a house because you’ve so much debt.”

Within months of starting to gamble Chris knew he had a problem, but it took him years to do anything about it. It was his ex-girlfriend who pointed him in the direction of Gamblers Anonymous. When he walked in he realised he wasn’t alone. He has heard bank officials, taxi drivers and 17-year-olds telling stories that sounded very much like his own. It took him five years to pay back his debts.

Now in his mid 30s, and married with four kids, he says gambling no longer plays any part in his life. “I have a family now, and a house and a mortgage. I’m an ordinary person trying to get on with life.”