Gamblers Anonymous

Michael G's Story
Michael : 16th May 2004

My name is Michael and I am a compulsive gambler.

I was born and raised in Cyprus and came to Australia as a young man in 1970. Even as a very young boy I had an incredible urge to play for keeps, it didn’t matter if was marbles, spinning tops or anything else. My main love was poker and I became obsessed with winning. On completion of High School I was conscripted into the Army. The Army didn’t allow gambling of any description. A group of us were playing cards and relied on a warning system so we would not be caught, at this stage I was due for my first leave to meet up with my girlfriend from England, this was the first time I can remember taking a risk when gambling, we were subsequently sprung, my leave was cancelled and I didn’t meet my girlfriend-This was no deterrent to stop gambling. This was the beginning of 20 plus years of misery
On arrival in Australia I was introduced to TAB betting by my brother who showed me how to put a bet on rather then to invest in real estate, even though I couldn’t understand a word the race broadcaster was saying, I was hooked and couldn’t get enough of TAB. In the beginning I was a very small punter and bet within my means.
I soon became involved with a lot of people who loved gambling on all forms of TAB betting and I lived to be gambling and around gamblers, from that time I gambled every cent I earned and was only happy when I was gambling. I continued in this vain for a couple of years
I was married at this time and my wife used to attend the various race meetings with me,
I was only happy when I was in action. We had the opportunity to save a lot of money with accommodation provided by my father-in-law, I wasted this money, I began working as a door-to-door salesman and was very successful, however, all I was working for was to satisfy my gambling needs. I gambled customers deposits plus commission and told my wife I had lost my wallet more than once. I was in the grip of this sickness called gambling
On one occasion we had three weeks holiday in ___________, we went to a club and despite not liking to play poker machines I proceeded to lose all of our holiday pay, and got into debt on credit cards to pay for the holiday
In spite of all the arguments regarding no money I continued to gamble at an alarming rate
I worked for a club in _________ and stole from them to make up for the shortfall my gambling had caused in home finances. I had no intention of putting this money back.
I have no idea how much money I stole, I never got caught in the six years I was working for this club. After the club closed we would play cards for hours. At this time I began going to illegal gambling places to play cards. I totally neglected the welfare of my family. We were at the trots when my wife was due to have our first child, we went from the trots to hospital
After I finished at the club we went into a fast food outlet, as it was a cash flow business money didn’t seem to be a problem. My gambling was uncontrollable at this stage, we sold a property with a large profit, this profit was used to gamble and pay some important bill’s, this financial disaster was bought about by my compulsive gambling
Insomnia had become a real problem and my nerves were on a knife edge, I knew I had a problem but I couldn’t control the urge, my life was spiralling towards disaster
We had our second child and the misery of gambling continued, my family was deprived of everything except the barest necessities
We had to sell the business and made about $17000 profit, all this did was barely cover the debts, I was very ill for about 3 months and had the medical people baffled, this illness remains a mystery to this day, it was probably caused by my nervous system being out of whack due to my gambling
On the 4th July 1991 I attended my first GA meeting at _________, I was at my absolute rock bottom at this stage and my future looked bleak. I thought GA taught you to become a social gambler within six months, the thought of never having another bet made me feel apprehensive about accepting the programme, after a couple of weeks of no gambling I began to appreciate the fact that I no longer told lies, as with all compulsive gamblers I was a chronic liar, after abstaining for about a month I realised life was different and it was like entering another world, by that I realised that I had a wife and two boys aged 12 and 8, not long after that, I was able to think clearly, I realise I lost the first part of their lives, I may as well have been in another country, I have no recollection of them growing up , my mind is a blank when it comes to this time. For the first time I realised that the welfare of my family was more important than gambling. At this stage I accepted the programme wholeheartedly and have not gambled since my first meeting
Recovery has not been easy, I have had to call on all the support that GA offers in order to get through and once again become a decent human being. The programme works for anyone who gives it 100% and has the desire to want to stop gambling
Michael G

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