‘I’ve gambled away £750,000 – so why did lenders keep giving me money?’

As a nine-year-old, Ali Robb was fascinated by the agleam lights of the seaside amusement arcades wherever his parents took him to play connected the coin pushers each summer.

He was enticed by those 2 penny pieces piling up, edging precariously adjacent to the precipice, knowing that they could each autumn down immoderate infinitesimal and helium would marque the large triumph of 20p.

By the clip helium was 11, Ali was already hooked connected the buzz of a £2 jackpot and wrong a mates of years was happily heading to the bookies with his dada to ticker the greeting canine racing and hold for his dada to spot his day TV bets.

When helium started getting wages from his archetypal concern occupation astatine 16, Ali began to walk up to £40 a time successful the precocious thoroughfare arcades.

He didn’t realise it astatine the clip – and helium doesn’t blasted his parents – but the dopamine hits Ali got with each triumph were the aboriginal symptoms of an addiction that would instrumentality implicit his full life, yet costing him his home, his career, his relationships and his mental health.

‘The information that I’ve mislaid truthful overmuch of my beingness to gambling is devastating. It’s not astir the money; it’s the mode it’s robbed maine of surviving a mean beingness successful each respect. It was each mislaid to the agleam lights and accidental of a large win,’ Ali, present 52, explains. 

He wasn’t adjacent legally allowed to vote erstwhile helium took retired his archetypal indebtedness – £1,000 from a precocious thoroughfare slope – to wage for his habit. Although helium was earning, the 17–year-old’s gambling was already outstripping his wages, and helium refinanced the indebtedness astatine slightest 7 times implicit the pursuing decade. 

Each petition was met without question connected wherefore helium needed the money. 

By the mid nineties, Ali was making bully wealth moving for planetary banks, but the much his pay-packet increased, the much helium would gamble. He bought a two-bed level successful Chigwell for £57,000, which helium soon had to remortgage.

But his addiction wasn’t conscionable impacting his finances, it was causing harm to Ali’s friendships. Although helium was going retired successful the evenings, helium would get annoyed if his friends chose a pub without a effect machine, due to the fact that his evenings were either spent playing connected one, oregon watching others play. He’d adjacent crook his telephone disconnected the infinitesimal helium stood successful beforehand of a machine, truthful that thing would interrupt his gambling time. 

‘When you’re gambling, you consciousness similar thing other matters. If you travel retired losing, you consciousness rubbish, ashamed and soiled for an hr oregon so, but past time is simply a caller day,’ helium admits.

‘It’s similar you are connected auto-pilot – there’s a trigger successful your caput that makes you spell backmost to effort and triumph it back. You consciousness trapped, but you cognize you tin fell it, due to the fact that there’s ever the accidental of that large win.’ 

His gambling wholly overshadowed romanticist relationships too. His partners came ‘a precise distant second’ to his addiction, says Ali. 

When helium yet ran retired of wealth 20 years ago, helium sought help for the archetypal time. A fiscal specializer from his religion told him to constitute a fiscal statement. Putting the numbers down connected paper, Ali realised helium was spending much than £1,000 a period much than helium was earning.

‘I was shocked. Creditors were calling maine 5 times a time astatine work, chasing my debts, but I always had this thought successful my caput that I could triumph immoderate I owed backmost done gambling,’ helium remembers.

By precocious 2007, Ali managed to refinance each of his indebtedness onto his owe – which went up from astir £80,000 to £137,000 – which helium had with a precocious thoroughfare bank.

‘It lone took an hr for the exertion to beryllium authorised. I was shocked arsenic I was expecting it to beryllium declined, and thought – however could the slope person looked astatine that properly,’ helium explains. ‘They ne'er questioned my gambling – I conscionable told them I needed a refinance and that was it. I ne'er adjacent thought astir giving up gambling; I conscionable thought I could transportation connected spending.’ 

And, truthful helium did. By 2012, arsenic good arsenic five-figure bonuses, Ali was earning astir £4,000 a month, but helium had spent £52,000 connected recognition cards and a loan, which was insufficient to screen for his gambling, truthful helium started to instrumentality retired payday loans – again with nary questions asked, with repayments of up to £2,400 a month.

Around that time, Ali received 3 large payouts; a five-figure redundancy bundle erstwhile helium mislaid his concern job, a £70,000 inheritance and £30,000 successful PPI payments; but it was each rapidly swallowed up into indebtedness and his regular addiction. 

‘I was gambling each the clip by this point,’ Ali recalls. ‘I would walk possibly 2 oregon 3 hours successful the betting store oregon spell to bingo successful the evening and walk £500 connected the machines there. Some days I would suffer up to £1,500.

‘I would sporadically effort to stop, but that would ne'er past much than a mates of weeks.’ 

Without specified acceptable entree to recognition cards and loans, Ali believes helium wouldn’t person fallen truthful profoundly into debt. But he’s surely not alone, arsenic a caller study from nonstop lender Salad Money has recovered that harmful, dense gambling has accrued successful the past year, according to their investigation of implicit 200 cardinal fiscal transactions, with 1 successful 10 spending much than £1,000 per period connected gambling.

Ali was successful truthful heavy that by 2016, aft being made redundant, helium decided to merchantability his London level and determination to Scotland a caller start.

‘I was hopeless by this point. While my level was up for merchantability I had borrowed £27,000 from a friend, each of which I spent successful the six months betwixt putting my level connected marketplace and selling it,’ helium remembers. 

‘It was conscionable axenic alleviation erstwhile it completed, due to the fact that had it not sold, it would person been repossessed and I would person been incapable to repay my friend, which would person made maine consciousness suicidal.’ 

However, with nary distraction from enactment and having the wealth from his level merchantability sitting successful his account, Ali began gambling betwixt £30,000 and £50,000 a month. 

‘It was conscionable an mundane event,’ helium explains. ‘On 1 juncture I was lone determination for 10 minutes earlier I’d mislaid £1,000 – which was my halt nonaccomplishment limit.

‘Looking backmost connected my debit paper activity, determination were astir 1,800 debit paper transactions successful bookies and casinos during those 10 months – with a turnover of astir £200,000.’ 

When helium erstwhile again tally retired of wealth by November 2017, Ali contacted the RCA Trust, 1 of the main enactment providers for gambling-related harms successful Scotland.

‘I knew I had an contented that I needed immoderate benignant of assistance with, but I wasn’t panicking due to the fact that I inactive ever thought determination was a accidental to triumph it back,’ helium says.

‘But due to the fact that I hadn’t utilized my recognition cards for 10 months owed to the level sale, my existing recognition paper providers were emailing maine incessantly for maine to usage my cards. With £50,000 worthy of unspent credit, they were offering to springiness maine currency onto my existent relationship astatine 0%, truthful wrong the abstraction of 3 oregon 4 months, I had virtually maxed retired each my recognition cards.’

Ali’s lone flight was bankruptcy, which helium filed for successful 2018. Despite it besides meant helium would beryllium barred from his vocation successful finance, taking that measurement offered him immense alleviation from the crushing load of indebtedness and truthful his adjacent measurement was to question assistance from his doctor.

Even successful recovering helium inactive wasn’t harmless from temptation.

Following his discharge from bankruptcy, Ali recovered himself bombarded by recognition notation agencies, encouraging him to get caller cards to amended his recognition rating. When helium declined the offer, 1 lender sent him a paper anyhow and 2 months later, he’d maxed it out. This time, done compulsively spending; a communal transportation addiction for erstwhile gamblers. 

‘I didn’t person overmuch money, truthful it was things similar yellowish stickers successful supermarkets. I would spell into Lidl and spot 30% connection disconnected a tiny battalion of chicken, and I’d request to get it earlier anyone else. Or it would beryllium apparel I didn’t need.’

Ali placed his last stake successful September 2018, and 3 months aboriginal helium started counselling.

‘It helped, due to the fact that I could yet talk to idiosyncratic that would perceive to maine and not judge. And though it brought up achy worldly from the past, it was the archetypal portion of the jigsaw puzzle successful rebuilding my life.’

Looking back, Ali is adamant helium was taken vantage of and says helium is inactive dealing with the consequences.

‘I was exploited by the banks that lent maine wealth without asking questions astir my gambling, contempt intelligibly seeing it connected statements,’ helium says.

‘I inactive person debased moods, slump and suicidal ideation arsenic a effect of the burnout and the changeless worrying that immoderate I bash next, it volition go a caller addiction. Through Covid, I was astatine changeless hazard of homelessness due to the fact that my landlord wanted to merchantability his property. Fortunately, present I person a one-bedroom assembly location that I perfectly love. It’s similar my harmless space.’

And, contempt beating his addiction and having much-needed enactment from friends and family, Ali admits helium inactive has galore hard days.

‘My full beingness has been devastated, by the gambling,’ helium adds. ‘I don’t consciousness I’ve had the accidental to pb a mean life.

‘If I had 1 wish, it would spell backmost and pass my 16-year-old aforesaid astir the semipermanent effects of early-age gambling connected the brain. Then things mightiness person been precise different.’

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