{"id":90916,"date":"2025-05-10T20:21:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-10T20:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/90916\/"},"modified":"2025-05-10T20:21:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-10T20:21:10","slug":"dad-lost-90000-after-gambling-for-up-to-12-hours-a-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/90916\/","title":{"rendered":"Dad lost \u00a390,000 after gambling for up to 12 hours a day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jackie Menzies says he was “stuck in a rut” for 18 years<\/p>\n

19:49, 10 May 2025Updated 20:20, 10 May 2025<\/p>\n

\"JackieJackie Menzies has spoken out about his experience with gambling and alcohol (Image: Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

A dad has spoken out about his addiction<\/a> which saw him placing bets for 12 hours a day. Jackie Menzies, 38, from Southport<\/a>, had a problem with gambling for almost two decades before seeking support<\/a> last November.<\/p>\n

Jackie has chosen to share his story this week in the wake of alarming statistics from the National Gambling Support Network (NGSN), which has supported over 110,000 people over the two years since launch. During that time, self-referrals of the service have increased by 50%.<\/p>\n

Jackie says his gambling addiction was intrinsically linked to his alcoholism. After he started placing bets at 20, he became hooked, which led him to stealing money from loved ones, considering taking his own life and sleeping rough before he started to turn his life around<\/p>\n

Jackie told the ECHO<\/a> that gambling addiction, unlike other addictions, can be hidden easily, which led to him being dishonest with himself and others.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI was always a sociable person as a young age, going out, drinking in the pubs. I think the bright lights of the fruit machine drew me in. But I never deemed it to be a problem. It turned when I was 20. I’d been living in Spain and spent all my money living there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came back and ended up working at a job earning okay money, but not a great deal. Each week I was just gambling and drinking and it just became quite ferocious.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor some reason I was able to sustain it and got through my twenties. I met a girl, got married, had children, and all that life was just gambling and drinking associated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a good life. I can’t turn around and say, I was living in a bad situation because I wasn’t. I was happily married at that time. I had a good job.<\/p>\n

\u201cGambling for me, it is so violent. It takes everything from you. I’ve always said you can see someone who’s drunk or you can see someone who’s taken drugs because their physical appearance starts to dwindle. But gambling, you could walk past someone in the street that’s just lost \u00a310,000 and you’d have no idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackie believes his fall into addiction stemmed from childhood. His dad, who was an alcoholic, died when he was nine years-old and as an adult Jackie used the thrill of drinking and gambling to avoid confronting how that made him feel.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIt was a way of not really dealing with that situation. But it’s taken a lot of my life, the best part of 18 years away from me because I\u2019ve been stuck in that rut.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mental health support<\/p>\n

Helplines and support groups<\/strong><\/p>\n

The following are helplines and support networks for people to talk to, mostly listed on the NHS Choices website<\/a><\/p>\n