BASED ON A REAL-LIFE ACCOUNT

It all started in JHS about some 15 years ago when a friend of mine and me were coming back from school and saw a slot machine popularly known as jackpot. he brought to my notice the potential win if we slotted in some coins and then we hit the jackpot. I wanted extra money on me so why not, I agreed to that. He proposed we added money to play as partners. we didn't hit the jackpot but then we won on some bets which we played, and we all had extra cash which made me very happy. The following day we went to the same place to see if we could win some extra cash and yes, we won. this became a daily routine for us but since we were doing it on a daily basis we started losing most at times. someone introduced us to an assumed better gambling place and hey!!! it was a betting center. we weren't even 18 then so we had to stand Infront of the gambling center and give the money to someone who was older than us to place the bet for us and then if we won, we gave a percentage of our winnings to the person. back then we betted on electronic horse and dog racing. fast forward we didn't like it as time went on, and we need something else to make up for the lost we incurred. one day another person introduced me to another betting center where there was this electronic roulette. I fell in love with this because I was making some money here. all this time I wasn't 18 so if I wanted to enter the betting center this time, I had to give some cash to the security at the entrance. back then about 10-12 years ago there was tight security at all betting centers, and no one would allow you to enter the betting center if you were less than the required age(18). mind you, back then there was no online betting platform in the country. At this place I met a lot of gamblers. when I say a lot I mean, 40 percent of my friends home constituted gamblers, so I really felt like going to the betting center always. I gambled though SHS from 1st year till I completed. when I turned 18 I was so happy because I would be able to go to the betting centers without paying anything to the security before entering. I started incurring great lost as time went on and I was desperate to make up for all those losses. The sad thing is I kept on losing. not to say I didn't make something at times, I really did on good days, but then the reality of gambling is that you are going to lose everything that you have at a long run. now here is where I got too much into gambling. one day i was gambling with one fine gentleman at one of these betting centers where we were placing bets on this electronic roulette, he asked me if i had ever been to a casino before and i told him no. he then told me that, in the casino there is no scam and if the number needs to come the number would come since it was a manual roulette. i was interested to know. he told me he would be going to one of the popular casinos in Osu that evening and if i wanted to go he would take me along with him. i was interested to go to that place so we exchanged numbers and that evening he sent me there. there was so different from the regular betting centers where i used to gamble. everyone there was neatly dressed and i didn't even see people of my age there. at this point was when my downfall started. all monies that my mom would give me i would spend it on casinos. I am the only child of my mom so all her savings was entrusted to my hands since she was on pension. i have gambled all her money in her account and she even doesn't know about this. Any time that she asked me for some of her money i had to go and borrow and try to gain something to pay for the loan and then her money at the gambling centers and then i will lose those monies as well. through my university days i had been gambling and this affected my academics a lot because even if i had exams i will be at the casino gambling. and you know the volume of money had also increased. back in university i started a momo business but then due to my addiction to gambling i stopped and used all the money to gamble. i have secured myself a job and i am married with two kids but then i spend all my money on gambling and i have lied to my wife that my salary is been deduced by a mortgage company. i am in about 150,000 Ghana cedis in debt now and nothing in my account now. my wife knows that i am a gambler but then she doesn't know i am in that mess. she recently found out about my online gambling. she saw a transfer of 2000 cedis being deposited to my (...............) account for the 3 rd time within one month. i am lost. my wife is threatening to leave me and then i am confused. i don't know what to do now and i want to let everyone know what gambling would get you into. i want everyone to limit the amount they gamble or better still stop gambling because in the long run you would lose everything that you have. you wouldn't even break even you are going to run at a lost and you are going to be in serious debt.