How sports gambling cost me

I agree, the amount of gambling advertising terrifies me. I am not a gambler, but I have seen the terrible effects and I do worry about what type of influence this is having on my 15 year old son who loves football. In my opinion it is irresponsible for the NRL and the government to condone this. The problem gambling adds are pathetic and don't even scratch the surface of this wide spread problem. These adds need to be more confronting, showing the real effects of this addiction such as children being left in neglect and poverty due to their parents illness. And what chance do people have of recovering from this addiction if these adds are being forced down their necks during what could be otherwise regarded as a healthy past time. Watching sport. There seems to be no restrictions on these adds either. They are saturating these sports shows both day and night The adds are excessive. Thankyou for bringing this up as a topic of conversation. This stuff should be challenged and talked about. Rachel

My husband found one of these sites where you bet. I think he only does football. He has won a lot but then loses. Doesn't seem very profitable as whatever he wins ends up being lost then the cycle repeats. Even if he won, I have a problem with it. We have 3 kids and he spends his nights looking at that. To be honest, I feel totally screwed out of a husband. He's always looking at his phone or preoccupied with stats. He has a spreadsheet he maintains with formulas. If he spent even a quarter of that effort on our marriage, maybe I wouldn't be so mad. We've been together almost 18 years. At first it was video games. Then it turned into leagues at work. Then it turned into more expensive leagues. He usually won but lied to me about even doing it. He'd only tell me when he won and wouldn't give me the password to see our bank account. Finally this year I now have access to it but he keeps his funds tied up in a paypal account which I don't see. It's bullshit. I have told him a thousand times that it affects our marriage but he doesn't care. I just think of all the stuff he's missing out on because of that and it kills me. Our kids will only be kids for a little while longer. And honestly, I am not gonna sit here and stare at the back of his head once my kids move out. I will move on too if he doesn't change. Sometimes I wish I never married him because he is married to that, not me.

I bet on sports only, have an annual betting turnover averaging $500k and for the past 8 years made a net profit every year, ranging from 2% to 22% of turnover. Almost all gamblers have no idea what they're doing and the term 'mug punter' is very apt. Keep backing first try scorers, where the bookies have a 230% margin, you silly people. Almost as brain dead as putting money in a computer (poker machine).

feel bad for your losses and past experiences pal. stay strong like you hopefuly are today and never look back.

I wholeheartedly agree with and share your concern, Hayley. Although, I thought it's worth mentioning that I find it quite ironic that as I read through the mobile version of the article, a somewhat intrusive Wild Turkey advertisement appeared. Those battling alcoholism, similar to those with gambling addictions, don't need any more reminders. I think, at the very least, that ad should be removed from this article.

Good on you Haylo, great article. Gambling can be very powerful for some people and the only people who win are the bookies

Did you only do cities with rl teams?

Well done Haylo on letting us know how gambling has affected you personally. Hopefully the gentleman will see that having a long, meaningful and loving relationship is going to pay much bigger dividends and provide much greater thrills than those that come from gambling. As a non gambler myself I do wonder how people get caught up in the excitement of punting, but it is definitely a massive problem and many partners and families suffer terribly because of it. As far as I can see the problem is only going to get worse with the availability of gambling and the way it is constantly promoted during games. Hopefully things work out for you.

Charles and Chop I understand the jist to your points, as a punter and relatively controlled if there is such a thing,I primarily punt on horses and not a great deal on sports nothing that I could write home about, but gees it sh#ts me to sit down a watch a" team sport" like Afl, Nrl, A league, with the odds pumped through the tele and how, but with the horses thats what where there for where not there to look at the roses.You make the point Charles about pokies at least their contained in a club and not in our living rooms thank the lord.

I have gambled every week (probably have a few weeks off occassionally) for the past two years with 1 or 2 bets each weekend. I tend only to bet on outcomes that I am very confident in head to head and usually bet about $400/500. I lose very occasionally, but once averaged out, I'm making $200/week from doing this. I'm very aware of the addiction of gambling and if for some reason, I started losing money doing this I'm confident I could stop as I wouldn't enjoy losing money. I only bet spare money, never any money needed for bills etc. Is there something Im missing? I'm not making huge amounts of money but the system I have stuck to seems to have worked over 2 years for me. I know gambling is a bit of a dark side of the sports but don't feel like I should stop doing what I'm doing if its working for me. I'm really interested to hear peoples thoughts on my situation? I'm in no way trying to condone gambling or boast about winning, but what I've doing has been working for 2 years and just seems a bit too easy.... P.S A great article. Its something that should be given a lot more spotlight given the angst and hurt it causes so many families.

That is the crunch of the problem Chop, sponsorship for the almighty dollar. The game has to survive and grow especially as there is stiff competition from other codes for sponsorship but the question is how far are we prepared to go? There is plenty of money to be made out of drugs, tobacco, and prostitution, so forth; do we take them on board too? Why did we stop the promotion of alcohol then introduce gambling, one vice to another? This is similar to what the clubs faced over the years. They were meant to be a place of social gathering and now they have become very anti social, with hundreds of poker machines to keep people, that amused they would not know who was sitting next to them. Rather than trying to find a way of developing their product to gain more sponsorship they opted to the easy way in poker machines. What we really need to be clear about is that the more involved we are in betting on the game, the more we have corruption. In the end we will not enjoy the very product that was created and enjoyed, for fear that it is corrupt. I say keep Rugby League to what is meant to be, enjoyment and not for any other purpose.

Planko, completely agree with you regarding the advertising, even as someone who does bet on the games each weekend, Munsie is annoying. Also I do agree there should be measures in place to protect people, e.g. deposits into accounts not available for 24-48 hours to reduce impulse betting which in my experience is where people tend to go large and higher risk

Turbo and Charles I agree with you about the constant advertising and not being able to watch a telecast anywhere without seeing the odds everywhere. Unfortunately that's the price to the code (and all of them do it) of having the gambling agencies sponsoring the game. I think you'll find with the ruling regarding the levy being paid on turnover to the raceclubs, that the codes will piggyback onto that and will get more as a dividend on turnover so they will no longer need the sponsorship. Match fixing has the capacity to ruin events like the IPL which are meaningless, but the NRL and AFL actually mean something. I completely disagree with having markets like first points, last points (moreso last points because they can be entirely meaningless). As well I think the Australian codes are well prepared to deal with the risks, whereas the internationally I'm not so sure that's the case.

The Barry, in the first instance I did not get personal, as you have by calling me a knuckle head and a twit! It is you that are both of these as I had said that your comment was stupid not you personally. I did read your earlier post therefore I thought you were trying to be smart in your remarks, as you have done before in other posts. It is you that is tying up the air space not me. I prefer to debate the issue which is gambling and the problems associated with it, in our sport!

You're stronger than my dad. He didn't give up drinking until he had liver cancer.

Charles twits like you are the reason this debate doesn't get more air time. Read my post about ten down from the top here and you'll see my attitude towards gambling ads during footy broadcasts. Of course I don't think maccas ads should be banned during the footy. However according to your definition of what the NRL should promote then they should be banned. You're pretty free and easy calling people stupid when all I'm doing is effectively agreeing with a ridiculous point that YOU made. I'm not suggesting banning gambling oiks - I enjoy a punt. I've had problems with compulsive punting in the past - not to the same extreme that Planko or the author of this article have had but enough to cause me some difficulty and force me to take action. Now I punt responsibly but still every now and then have a blow out.

Well that is true I have had a few cups of coffee today! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Charles, you need to lay off the coffee. Your excessive use of exclamation marks shows that you are too highly strung. :)

Ditto Jaimie Rogers...regardless of how hot she is