Personal stories

Gambling tore my mother’s family apart and caused years of violence and anger. It’s the reason why I’ve never met my grandfather.

Read Olivia Vivian's story

Over a period of 2 years my gambling was up to $30,000 per week some weeks and that money was embezzled from my employer in the end to fund my addiction. To anyone who is gambling as an escape, a switch off etc please seek help. I wish I had.

Read Michelle's story

About four years ago, he was gambling over $10,000. I supported him, and said you need to slow down and stop, we have a daughter. This time it's worse, he has been lying to me for months, saying he’s working, when in fact he was gambling.

Read Kirsten's story

The scary thing with gambling addiction is that it escalates quickly and can get away from you before you realise the impact it's having on your life and others in your life.

Read Trent Cotchin's story

... I had to use the money I'd been saving up to buy my first property to bail them out on the condition that they were to immediately stop gambling. They promised to do so.

Read Isabelle's story

I picked up gambling when I started working at the age of 18. Casinos, sports betting, slot machines, you named it, I did it. I wasted ten years of all my salary on gambling.

Read Jacky's story

I grew up in a rural part of Nigeria. Not until 2015 did I know about sports betting. I started to gamble that same year after I saw ads of people winning big. Little did I know I've set out on a journey without a clue of where I'm going until I hit rock bottom.

Read Gavin's story

I began gambling when I was about 13. My father took me to the races when I was even younger. I remember collecting tickets from the ground to see if there were any winning ones.

Read Michael's story

... Gambling had well and truly taken over. It was the main focus of my day. Betting on anything I could to try and claw back the debt. In my mind I always thought, I can pay that back, even if I lose.

Read Kenny's story

My husband has been a gambler for over 20 years. Recently I discovered he had been leading a double life. He is a shift worker so while I was at work, he was gambling huge amounts of money at the pokies.

Read Lucy's story

It all starts with step one. Tell someone you love, go to a meeting, seek counselling and make a conscious choice to not let gambling win. I do not wish what I went through and am going through on anyone in the world and if this reaches one person I would be so happy.

Read DB's story

Having been exposed 83 days ago to my wife, family and friends I now realize that compulsive gambling is a terrible disease that eats away at every inch of our lives.

Read Brenden's story