Man who lost £100k warns of gambling harms ahead of the World Cup

A man who lost £100,000 due to sports betting has warned about the harms of gambling ahead of the FIFA World Cup.

Paul Nash started betting on football while at university, and over the next decade lost tens of thousands of pounds to the point of sometimes being unable to pay the £3 bus fare to his workplace. After getting in touch with the National Gambling Helpline, he has been able to stop.

An estimated £26 billion was bet on the 2022 World Cup, with some predicting this could increase to £37 billion for this year’s competition. Nationwide found that 68 per cent of gamblers expect to spend more on bets this year, primarily because of the World Cup.

Encouraged to gamble

Now gamble-free for over three years, Paul said that he will be in recovery from gambling addiction his whole life, explaining: “I think about gambling all the time, the difference is solely that I’m not acting on my impulses,” he said.

He noted that the World Cup will be a challenge, saying: “Every big tournament, it always encouraged me to gamble more.”

But said: “Every time I’m in a position where I am questioning whether or not I should put a bet down, all I have to look back at is what I’ve achieved since going into recovery.”

Addiction warning

Mark Weiss from GamCare, which runs the National Gambling Helpline, commented: “Tournaments like the World Cup are brilliant”, but observed, “for some people the intensity and opportunities to bet can make gambling harder to manage.”

He noted: “Following the Men’s World Cup in 2022, the National Gambling Helpline saw an 11% increase in contacts.”

Andrew Kim, associate professor of psychology at Toronto Metropolitan University, also raised concerns about gambling during the World Cup which is partly hosted by Canada: “For some people, this might be the start where they might start experiencing some problems related to sports betting. And sports betting or gambling, much like alcohol, is an addiction”.

‘Perfect storm for gambling harm’

The Christian Institute’s Head of Communications, Angus Saul, noted that the expanded format and late-night games of this World Cup could have a big impact on gamblers.

“There are more games at this World Cup than ever before, which for some will simply mean more games to bet on. Then we have two-thirds of games kicking off after the 9pm watershed, which means the current ‘whistle-to-whistle’ ban on TV advertising won’t apply.”

In the UK, TV broadcasters are not permitted to show betting adverts from five minutes before to five minutes after sports matches prior to the watershed. Betting ads can still be shown before the watershed, including in pre-match coverage, but not immediately before, or during half-time.

He continued: “Combine all of this with the fact that people exhibit riskier behaviour when they are tired for the night-time games, or inebriated, as is often the case with football, and this World Cup is a perfect storm for gambling harm. People will inevitably bet beyond their means, and both they and their families will suffer because of it.

“Gambling advertising should be banned. Full stop.”