{"id":307055,"date":"2025-11-22T12:44:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T12:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/307055\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T12:44:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T12:44:10","slug":"i-was-nearly-30k-in-debt-over-gambling-this-hard-step-got-me-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/307055\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I was nearly \u00a330k in debt over gambling, this hard step got me out’"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the depths of Sam\u2019s addiction, they were unable to pay rent or bills\"SamSam first started gambling for ‘a bit of fun’ nearly a decade ago(Image: Money Wellness)<\/p>\n

After being nearly \u00a330,000 in debt due to a gambling addition, Sam was able to put in the hard work and is now debt-free. To mark Safer Gambling Week, Sam opened up on their story<\/a> urged others to take that very first step to getting help but admitted it\u2019s one of the hardest things to do.<\/p>\n

Sam, from Merseyside, said: \u201cIf you have a gambling problem, I urge you just to speak to someone. Making that first step is really hard, but once someone knows, they\u2019re there beside you.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want to help you. And just having that one person – it\u2019s such a big step, but it\u2019s the most important step you\u2019ll do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sam first started gambling a decade ago as nothing more than \u201ca bit of fun\u201d. But this quickly snowballed as they chased the \u201cbuzz\u201d with each bet.<\/p>\n

Sam continued: \u201cI was gambling on roulette a lot, \u00a350 a stake, so my money just drained in ten minutes. I\u2019d look at my money – it was going in the bank at 12 o\u2019clock at night.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy ten past twelve, it was gone. Then it really hit hard and it was like, \u2018What have I done?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAt my lowest point in gambling, I considered suicide. I saw no way out. I couldn\u2019t pay my rent, I couldn\u2019t pay the bills, and I was scared. It made me really feel fearful\u2026 then I slipped into a depression. I took an overdose and someone found me and I got taken to hospital. It was literally just from gambling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SamSam is now debt-free and is seeking help with their gambling problem(Image: Money Wellness)<\/p>\n

In the hospital, Sam explained the entire situation to the care staff who then helped \u201clook at different things to put into place to help me stop gambling\u201d. It was then that Sam realised they had built up a debt of over \u00a329,000.<\/p>\n

Alongside the gambling, Sam had taken out phone contracts for some friends with the intention of handing over the payments but that never happened. This lead to Sam being threatened by lenders when they were unable to pay the contracts.<\/p>\n

Sam turned to Lowell, a debt collection and recovery firm, who referred them to Money Wellness <\/a>that provides free debt advice. Sam shared: \u201cIt\u2019s literally saved my life – and I\u2019ve totally turned my life around and living it again! Thanks to Money Wellness I am debt free.\u201d<\/p>\n

What really killed the gambling \u201cbuzz\u201d for Sam was seeing the figures written out on paper: \u201cWith Money Wellness, we did an income and expenditure form, and it was written down. Usually, it\u2019s in my head and I\u2019m like; \u2018I\u2019ve got roughly this much and roughly that much.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, Money Wellness put it down on paper and I was like, \u2018Wow, okay, that\u2019s actually quite a lot of debt. It scared me. So it sort of killed the buzz\u2026 and I\u2019ve not gambled since.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy life changed in such a positive way. The fact that I\u2019m confident – I\u2019m not hiding, I\u2019m not keeping secrets. It\u2019s such a relief that there\u2019s no more worry about where this is gonna get paid or when this is gonna get paid. It\u2019s there written down.\u201d<\/p>\n

People that need help for gambling addiction can contact GamCare’s National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 (available 24\/7) or visit their website <\/a>for more information. They can also use the free GAMSTOP tool to self-exclude from all GB-licensed gambling websites.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the depths of Sam\u2019s addiction, they were unable to pay rent or billsSam first started gambling for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[97,259,260,51850],"class_list":{"0":"post-307055","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-mental-health","10":"tag-mentalhealth","11":"tag-your-money"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}