Businessman’s profit gambled away

Press, 15 February 1986, Page 19

Businessman’s profit gambled away

Bill, a 42-year-old businessman with his own shop, had his first bet at 11. “I was always allowed to go to the races because my father said he always knew where I was,” he says.

Bill collected soft drink bottles to finance his betting which, nine times out of 10, resulted in a win. His first big win came after leaving school at 15 when he won £2O for a 5 shilling bet on False Step in the New Zealand Cup.

He bought his first shop, a drapery business, with some savings and a £lOOO loan, when he was 19. Unaware that his betting was becoming a problem, he carried on gambling.

“Every Saturday, wherever there was a race meeting, from Dunedin to Nelson, there me and my mates would be,” Bill recalls. At first, the shop was going well and he could afford the £5O a week that he was losing. Bill was living in a flat and he had a big 21st birthday party. “All my life I have had to work very hard,” says Bill. “I had to because of gambling which, over the years, I reckon has cost me $200,000.1 know that over five years I lost $100,000.”

As he made more money he gambled away more. His addiction did not hurt others, and he did not steal to gamble, at least not in the conventional sense.

"The only thing that suffered was the business.” Bill says that when he went to the races, he felt on cloud nine. Usually he was late for appointments, but he was always on time for the first race, and betting was the most important thing in the world for him. But after 20 years, he still owed as much as when he started out in business. His suppliers could never understand why he did not make more profit. "They knew an average shop wage for my kind of shop was $lO,OOO at a time, but I would have drawn $25,000,” he says. “I made up my all kinds of excuses, including that I liked the ladies, and drinking.” Bill could not afford fo get married, and his girlfriends were neglected. The harder Bill worked, the more money his business made. But instead of putting it in the bank, or investing it in his enterprise, he stepped up his gambling. “Things began to go sour when I reached my early thirties and realised I was in big trouble.” Gambling was still giving Bill his “highs,” but he was losing thousands of dollars. “I remember walking off the racecourse crying,” he says. “I was in financial trouble, but who

could I turn to? The bank mana-

ger would not want to know, and would just close me down.”

It was then he heard of Gamblers Anonymous and attended? the first meeting. He made up his mind not. to .bet for a< year. He kept this promise to himself, but 12 months later bet $1 on a horse running at New Year’s Day meeting. He thought he''could control his gambling, and did so for about three months.

Then that elusive prospect of striking it rich again took over and Bill steadily increased his punting, losing an estimated $50,000 over four years.

Bill realised he could not stop gambling alone and once more turned to Gamblers Anonymous. “I have to come to the group every week for the rest of my life,” he says. “Although things are bad for you, you realise other guys are in a worse mess, I thank God I’m not affected that much.”

Bill says he is determined not to be seen as the weakest in the group and this helps him resist the temptation to return to gambling. It is a kind of “honour among thieves.” Counting the days since he last placed a bet gives him strength. “I’m really one of the lucky ones,” he says. “I would hate to be aged 60 and try to give up then.”