There's always something to bet on.
It doesn't feel like real money.
They call me the Queen of betting.
My biggest win is over £500.
Over the month I staked £46,000.
I blew my whole month's wages in 45 minutes, basically. What?
I started off at betting shops.
Then I started downloading these betting apps.
Nowadays, I tend to do a lot of my bets online.
It's just simple, it's just like texting someone,
just quickly get out your phone.
My first ever bet was £10 and I won £75.
When you're betting online, it doesn't feel like real money
because you're not handing the cash over.
The day that I actually won over £500,
I came out with £5 in my pocket.
When you win big, you think, "Oh, that was actually quite easy,
"I'll be able to do that again."
I try not to have the gambling apps on my phone
because the temptation is too much.
In one day, I probably have lost three figures.
My friends had to actually give me money for food and travel,
because I had £5 to last me for a month.
There's definitely been times where I've had doubts
about my own control, because it is just a slippery slope straight away.
How're you doing, mate? I'm good, thank you.
Nice to meet you. And you.
Hiya, my name's Matthew and I'm a gambling addict.
So, yeah, I'm just going to tell you a little bit about my story.
I first really started when I was about 12 years old.
I asked my mum and she set me up and I'd use my pocket money
and stuff like that, just £5 a week.
Then I came to about 15, 16 years old,
I found, like, in-play betting groups.
I didn't tell my mum about that. I used her details and her account.
It got to a stage where I went through her whole bank balance.
Yeah, so it ended up declined, no more money in her bank.
And then as soon as I turned 18,
I was introduced to gambling credit.
I think over the next two to three weeks,
I ended up taking out three credit cards, two different loans,
about £1,500, and I lost that all within about a month.
And through that month was where my gambling really,
really spiralled out of control.
I put all my wages into gambling,
I've used all my credit cards and loans.
So then I started to look to friends and family for money.
So I would be telling them I need money for different things,
but it would just be for gambling.
That's December 2018 you can see there,
I actually ended up £1,342 down for the month.
But over the month, I staked £46,000. What?
It came to the end of the month and I suddenly had a lot of bills
that tried to pay out.
I knew I wouldn't be able to pay them all. Yeah.
So my instant response was, I'll go to gambling.
I can gamble the money, I can get my wages through,
all I need to do is double it up.
But I blew my whole month's wages, £750 in 45 minutes, basically.
It just reached a stage where I was sat there and I just thought,
"I can't do this." I've let people down so much in the past
and it's always come back to the gambling.
I've always ended up lying for the gambling
and I just didn't see a way out.
Luckily for me, I then went on Twitter and I started to look
into other people's stories.
Like people that had been through it all,
people that had been close to where I was,
and I spoke to a few people on there
and they just made me see a completely different side
to the gambling.
Looking at the numbers that you used to spend...
..I'm really shocked. Yeah.
It's kind of given me a warning sign to be careful,
what amount I use to bet.
You've got to be really careful about how quick it can escalate.
To stop it progressing, and stop it escalating,
you've got to be open and speak to people around you.
So now I have a credit score of 13.
I can't get a mobile phone contract out,
I can't ever get, like, car insurance and pay it monthly,
anything which is paying monthly.
Why? Did they blacklist you?
Yeah, I've had defaults, CCJs, all that sort of stuff,
just because I've not been able to pay back the money.
It's not just the money in the moment, it really can have
a long-term effect on you.
I'm definitely going to be more disciplined,
because the amount that you have lost. Yeah.
You telling me that is huge, cos obviously if I was to get
to that, I know where that goes, and the next step and the next step.
So I think hearing what you've been through has completely
changed my opinion and my knowledge of how bad it can get.