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<\/p>\nA dad-of-seven from Salford has shared how he managed to beat his \u00a3200,000 gambling addiction<\/p>\n
Jerry McCann from Salford<\/p>\n
A dad from Salford has revealed how he managed to beat his gambling addiction after loosing around \u00a3200,000 – including \u00a315,000 in a single weekend. Jerry McCann says gambling first entered his life when he was just 15 years old.<\/p>\n
The 38-year-old estimates that gambling cost him around \u00a3200,000 over the years and that the experience pushed him to the lowest point of his life before he finally turned things around.<\/p>\n
What began with small bets on horse and dog races in betting shops slowly escalated over the years when Jerry discovered online gambling.<\/p>\n
Get MEN Premium now for just \u00a31 HERE<\/a> \u2013 or get involved in our WhatsApp group by clicking HERE<\/a>. And don’t miss out on our brilliant selection of newsletters HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n Jerry has been gamble free for six months now<\/p>\n He told NeedtoKnow: \u201cAt the beginning, it felt social and fun. You think you\u2019re in control and you don\u2019t realise what it can turn into.<\/p>\n \u201cOver time it slowly took over. What started as small bets became bigger and more frequent. Then I discovered online slots, and that\u2019s when things really spiralled.<\/p>\n \u201cWith online gambling, it\u2019s constant. You don\u2019t have to leave the house, it\u2019s on your phone 24 hours a day. Before you know it you\u2019re chasing losses and trying to win back money that\u2019s already gone.\u201d<\/p>\n At his lowest point, Jerry, who has been gambling-free for six months, says the addiction pushed him to the brink mentally. The dad-of-seven said: \u201cI estimate I\u2019ve probably lost around \u00a3200,000 over the years. When I say that number out loud it still shocks me. At my worst I was gambling every single day.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes multiple times a day. The amount varied but it could be hundreds or even thousands chasing losses. When you\u2019re in that mindset, you stop thinking logically. You\u2019re not gambling to win anymore.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re gambling to escape the feeling of losing. Honestly it made me feel sick to my stomach. The shame, the guilt, the regret. Looking back and realising how much damage gambling had done to my life and the people around me was one of the hardest feelings I\u2019ve ever experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n Jerry and partner Holly<\/p>\n One of the most devastating moments came when he took out a \u00a310,000 payday loan, while already living with a \u00a35,000 overdraft.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cAt the time, I convinced myself it was my chance to turn things around and win big. In my head I told myself I was going to gamble a bit, win some money and sort everything out.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the lie gambling addiction tells you. Instead, I lost the entire \u00a315,000 in one weekend. Most of it went on online slots and betting, and the scary part is how quickly it can disappear.<\/p>\n \u201cThousands can go in minutes when you\u2019re spinning slots or chasing losses. You keep thinking the next spin will be the one that brings it back. Before I knew it, the money was gone.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it hit me what I\u2019d done I felt completely broken. There\u2019s no other way to describe it. I remember sitting there with this horrible, empty feeling.<\/p>\n \u201cShame, panic, regret, fear. I knew I\u2019d just made my situation ten times worse. You start asking yourself how you\u2019re going to explain it, how you\u2019re going to repay it, how you\u2019ve let yourself get to this point.\u201d<\/p>\n Jerry also admits the addiction drove him to behaviour he never imagined he would do. He said: \u201cThere were definitely times where I couldn\u2019t afford basic essentials because of gambling. When addiction has hold of you the gambling always comes first, even when it shouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Jerry with his family<\/p>\n \u201cBills pile up, debts grow and life becomes constant stress. I had serious debt hanging over me and the pressure of knowing I owed money was horrible. There were times I was completely broke because of it. Living with constant stress, constantly chasing money, constantly lying to yourself.<\/p>\n \u201cIt affects every part of your life. Your sleep, your mental health, your relationships. Looking back now it\u2019s frightening how deep I was in it. Gambling had me doing things completely against my character like borrowing money and asking people for small amounts just to place another bet.<\/p>\n \u201cI also did things I\u2019m not proud of like borrowing money and even asking people for as little as \u00a31 in the bookies just to place another bet. Gambling drains everything. That\u2019s what addiction does. It strips away your control.\u201d<\/p>\n Jerry took his first step to recovery in September last year by admitting he had a serious problem and removing access to gambling where he could.<\/p>\n Like many recovering addicts, he experienced relapses along the way but he says life today is \u201ccompletely different\u201d. Speaking publicly about his addiction has also helped him stay accountable.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cIn the past, I relapsed every couple of weeks. That\u2019s the reality of addiction. Recovery isn\u2019t always a straight line. But right now I\u2019m six months gambling free, which is the longest I\u2019ve ever gone and I\u2019m proud of that. Now, my life is clearer, calmer and I\u2019m finally building a future instead of destroying it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A dad-of-seven from Salford has shared how he managed to beat his \u00a3200,000 gambling addiction Jerry McCann from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[3363,102,1906,6623,2222,2447,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-486668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-cost-of-living","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-money","tag-salford","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0_Jam_Press_JMP845253.jpg\")
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