Brett's story

I have been gambling for roughly 10–13 years (I'm 33). It has never really been a problem for me but over the last year I find myself needing bigger bets to get the highs of winning.

I would say that I have roughly gambled away $100,000 over the years but I'm lucky in a sense because I have a good paying job and still have decent savings. For me I really want to get on top of this problem before it spirals so badly that I lose all my savings which is a possibility.

My friends and family know that I gamble a little but they have no idea that I bet pretty much everyday and keep most of it quiet. I've had good wins over the journey but with a big win you then try and chase that feeling and sometimes the only way to top it is to bet bigger. I can always find a way to justify a bet here and there but once I start I generally don't stop until hours later. Sometimes this means a simple $100 for gambling turns into $1000 down after a few hours and feeling terrible about my lack of discipline.

I part own a race horse and I remember when I brought it I said I was going to cut back my gambling and only focus on my horse. It took 8 months before his first race because he was young and in that time my gambling didn't slow up at all. Then he did really well in his first 2 races and went back out to rest and he is due to start up again soon. For me the biggest struggle will be going to the race track to watch him run and not gambling. I feel that if i can get through the first race at the track with no gambling then it will be easy after that. In a way it's one of the reasons I want to start now so I can get the discipline up before he runs next.

I feel a lot better writing all this down because I've never actually said any of it out loud before.