Edinburgh man spent £5,000 in one go on gambling websites at height of addiction
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An Edinburgh man once spent £5,000 in one go on a roulette machine website at the height of his gambling addiction.
Darren, from Edinburgh, spoke to social commentator and BBC host Darren McGarvey about his recovery from gambling, and how it took over his life.
Speaking on the BBC show Addictions, Darren said: "I've always had an association with gambling, since I was a kid.
"It would be putting on accumulators for football games with my pals when I was a teenager, and that was when it was a normal, controlled type of habit.
"Things started taking a turn when I got involved in online gambling websites."
Darren once spent £5,000 in ten spins on an online roulette machine website, at the height of his addiction.
He continued: "It's such an isolating and lonely experience when you are stuck in the cycle of gambling.
"You get very stuck in your own head, and you come very introverted. It's a mental warfare, every single day you are thinking about when you can afford to put your next bet on.
"The dangerous part is when you are on your own in the house, and you've got unlimited access to open as many accounts as you want with the click of a button."
Thankfully, Darren is now in recovery for his addiction, but five per cent of betting addicts make up 90 per cent of the total gambling empire, which is estimated to be worth £5.9 billion.
The final part of this series is available to rewatch from Thursday, May 26 at 10:30pm on BBC Scotland.
