{"id":104413,"date":"2025-07-30T09:11:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T09:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/104413\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T09:11:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T09:11:10","slug":"i-lost-100k-to-gambling-and-slept-rough-but-betting-shops-keep-letting-me-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/104413\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I lost \u00a3100k to gambling and slept rough – but betting shops keep letting me back’"},"content":{"rendered":"

His addiction began in Bristol and resulted in homelessness<\/p>\n

Sam Volpe, Chronicle Live<\/strong><\/p>\n

05:00, 30 Jul 2025<\/p>\n

Samuel Badcock is campaigning for change to help others(Image: Samuel Badcock\/ Chronicle Live)<\/p>\n

A gambling addict is campaigning to change industry rules after losing an estimated \u00a3100,000 over the last 14 years. Samuel Badcock, 36, first got hooked on fixed odds betting terminals (FOBT) after visiting a Bristol branch of Betfred on his 23rd birthday.<\/p>\n

Since then his addiction has seen him homeless numerous times, carrying out petty crime like shoplifting and even attempting suicide.<\/p>\n

Sam has set up what he has called the Members Only campaign to push for changes to the way in which problem gamblers can \u201cself-exclude\u201d – ban themselves – from places like bookmaker\u2019s shops and arcades. He said that as it stands a \u201cfragmented\u201d system was difficult to enforce and easily flouted, ChronicleLive reports.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Gateshead man said that despite banning himself from more than 60 venues over the past 13 years, he had only been asked to leave somewhere a handful of times. On one shocking occasion someone even let him gamble after spotting he had banned himself \u2013 because he told them he only wanted to gamble \u00a3100.<\/p>\n

Sam wants to make it so that you have to sign up to a scheme to gamble – in the same way that online betting and bingo halls work. He said he believes this would then make a mobile-phone based self-exclusion scheme far easier to implement. He also wants people to be able to set spending and time limits for in-person gambling on their phones.<\/p>\n

He told ChronicleLive<\/a>: \u201cIt was on my 23rd birthday. I went on a Fixed Odds Betting Terminal (FOBT) at Betfred. It was the first time I had had a bet. It got me so fast. I ran home and got the rest of the money that I had and ran back. I was convinced a certain number was going to come up. That went on a good 13 years, almost 14 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly nine weeks ago I lost all my money in an arcade. I had gone in two weeks before and asked to be self-excluded.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason I started the Members Only campaign is that over the years I have found myself able to go into gambling venues that I have banned myself from. And the first thing to note is that there are lots of different types of gambling venue, and the all operate different types of self-exclusion scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he wanted to unify various schemes that exist across different types of gambling venue. He added: \u201cI have self-excluded from 65 venues but I have only been asked to leave somewhere six times in all these years. I should just be able to ban myself from all these venues on my mobile phone.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said there was an obvious problem with having to attend a bookmaker in person in order to self-exclude. He added that his gambling history had been extremely distressing, though he is currently receiving treatment from the NHS<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWhen people hear [all he\u2019s been through] it\u2019s pretty harrowing. For me the worst it got was about eight years ago, I started taking overdoses after a huge gambling loss, but really I have lots of stories. For years I didn\u2019t speak to family, I was homeless about ten times, I was having to camp out in frightening conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is about accountability and modernization. I\u2019ve launched the Members Only Campaign to push for real, effective change – not token gestures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sam has also taken \u201csymbolic\u201d small claims court claims against the Gambling Commission, the Multi-Operator Self-Exclusion Scheme (MOSES) and Betfred – where he first gambled. He said any money he were to be awarded would be donated to the charity Gambling Harms.<\/p>\n

The Gambling Commission said it took protecting consumers \u201cextremely seriously\u201d. \u201cWe have a strong track record of taking robust regulatory action against gambling businesses that do not operate effective self-exclusion schemes, including issuing significant penalties and suspending licences,\u201d a spokesman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike gambling online, there is no requirement in land-based venues to hold an account in order to gamble, although we have previously provided advice to government that account-based play should be considered. Alongside our work, local authorities licence premises in their local areas and are funded, through the licence fee they charge, to inspect gambling business in their area to ensure those businesses are compliant.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe urge anyone with concerns to report potential breaches of our rules through our confidential report line as soon as they can.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for BetFred added: \u201cThe Multi Operator Self-Exclusion Scheme for betting shops is one of a number of measures that enable shop staff to help protect problem gamblers.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince its introduction it has proved to be a highly effective tool, enabling problem gamblers to self-exclude from betting shops close to their home, place of work or where they socialise. The self-exclusion scheme is also very often initiated by our own staff when a customer displays the traits and characteristics of problem gambling when visiting one of our shops.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"His addiction began in Bristol and resulted in homelessness Sam Volpe, Chronicle Live 05:00, 30 Jul 2025 Samuel…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":104414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[210,517,565,3546,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-104413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-mental-health","10":"tag-nhs","11":"tag-people","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114941413505048908","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}