Addicted to sports betting: I need help

FOR PLAYERS
1

Hello, I don’t know where to start. I’ve been keeping this to myself for years, out of shame and fear of my family’s judgment.

I’m 34 years old, I have a stable job, a wife, children. On the surface everything is fine. But for the past 5 years I’ve been betting on ANJ-approved sports betting sites, at first on football on weekends, and it gradually spiraled.

It’s insidious. €30 on Ligue 1, €50 on a Champions League match, and by the end of the month I’ve lost €600 without really realizing it. My brain minimizes each bet so I keep going.

I try to stop, I manage for a few weeks, and then a weekend of matches comes around and I find myself betting at 11 p.m. like nothing ever happened.

My wife thinks we’re having financial problems because of the cost of living. That’s not the whole truth. It’s eating me up.

I don’t want to live with this secret anymore. Sleep without calculating what I lost the night before. Really be there for my family.

I need help.

2

What you’re describing — minimizing each bet so the cycle continues — that’s exactly how it works. It’s not a lack of willpower, it’s mechanics.

The fact that you’re writing this here, after years of carrying it alone, is already something.

The secret you’re keeping from your wife is probably heavier than the losses themselves. You don’t have to solve everything today — but talking to someone can really help. In France, Joueurs Info Service (09 74 75 13 13) is free and anonymous.

If you want to block access to sites while you work on the root cause, I developed a free app that does it automatically — Gamebreak. Not a miracle solution, just one more obstacle between you and the bet at 11 p.m.

You deserve to sleep without calculating.