One of my friends just called me in tears.... Apparently he has a credit card that his wife did not know about. He ran up 28k in gambling losses on the card. He is out of town and I guess the statement was delivered to their house or something. She opened it and was like wtf. Not the first time he has been in over his head--two years ago he ran up like 1500 in losses on my account while he was playing minor league baseball and used his parents credit card to pay me in pre paid visa gift cards. He's down 1,100 on my account and asking to pay me in installments. Also, he thinks his wife might leave him. If you think you are in over your head get help. If you need someone anonymous to talk to who won't judge you then PM me.
Im a total degenerate but only put myself in harms way. I hate that people hurt their loved ones with this stuff. He absolutely needs to walk away from it and you need to stop giving him a line of credit. What is he betting?
Wow. That is brutal. Unfortunately a dark part of the thing that I love so much. I grew up in south Florida in the Jai Alai fronton where my dad played professionally. In south Florida before the big casinos came in it was Jai Alai, the dog track and the horse track. My mom worked at the fronton as well and would tell me stories of the people there. Old timers coming in with social security checks burning the entire thing in a few games. Really sad stuff. No doubt gambling is in my blood. Love parimutuels, casinos, betting on sports whatever. But that us the sad part of it. Thanks for your post, my best wished are to your buddy and his family.
he works as a consultant, so he travels to places 3-5 days a week. so he would occasionally tell me that he couldn't meet our bookie. he would venmo me money, and then i would meet with the guy. i'm sure he also gave the bookie his cash and then lived off his cc and just made minimum payments. he is in a really bad spot it sounds like. trying to have a kid and trying to save up for a house and he has 30k on a hidden credit card. i think they also recently cut cable to save like 100 a month or whatever trying to afford a house. jesus.
Closest I've ever gotten to being addicted to gambling was FanDuel. I stepped away when I felt like I was on the verge of being addicted.
he made a list of debts for his wife and parents but left off the 1k he owes me because he doesn't want me to have to be involved. was like man if you aren't 100% honest then this is all a waste of time.
i've had bad swings. most i have been down is $10k. but i had the money to pay it. the quickest way to lose money is poor discipline. i've learned over the years not to press when losing. last couple years have all been profitable.
That's awful, I hope your friend can overcome this. Wish the best for him. I personally got rocked pretty bad right before I got married. I think a combo of now being married and having to payout has kept me in check for the most part.
Agree. The money management is the most important of all. Whether that is a $2 show bet at the track or a $5k bet at a sports book. Sad story.
Money Management is the biggest thing you need in gambling. When I was younger, I didn't have it. I lost 25k which I had built up online on blackjack in like 20 mins. Playing $250 a hand 3 hands at a time.
Yikes, I can't even fathom getting stuck that bad. Hopefully he can find some way to get out of this ok.
Goddamn, sad situation. I'm hoping for the best possible outcome. Hopefully he doesn't also struggle with other addictions and/or depression
Not to be a downer in this thread but I know of this exact scenario happening. Guy got down like 50-75k that only one or two people knew about. One day he was found dead. Apparently had already sold his car to start paying some of the debt off but just wasn't enough.