'Gambling gave me self esteem until I lost £100k'

A man who overcame a decade-long sports gambling addiction has described how he copes during major sporting events such as the World Cup, as the 2026 tournament begins on Thursday.

Paul Nash from Haywards Heath, West Sussex, became hooked after winning money in a £5 football accumulator bet while he was at university.

Over the next decade, he says he lost about £100,000 in total and his addiction sometimes left him unable to afford the £3 fare to get to work.

The Betting and Gaming Council claimed there was no evidence licensed gambling advertising caused problematic gambling.

Nash said: "It was about lack of self-esteem - the bookmaker makes you feel valued."

Despite not placing a bet for nearly three-and-a-half years, he said he "will be in recovery for the rest of his life".

"I think about gambling all the time, the difference is solely that I'm not acting on my impulses," he said.

"Every big tournament, it always encouraged me to gamble more.

"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."

Nash eventually called the charity GamCare's National Gambling Helpline, and was put in touch with Breakeven, a Sussex-based NHS organisation.

"Tournaments like the World Cup are brilliant," said Mark Weiss, from GamCare.

"But for some people the intensity and opportunities to bet can make gambling harder to manage.

"Following the Men's World Cup in 2022, the National Gambling Helpline saw an 11% increase in contacts.

"This year's World Cup is the biggest in history, with 104 matches across June and July, often several games a day."

A Betting and Gaming Council spokesperson said:"The evidence simply doesn't show that licensed gambling advertising causes problem gambling.

What it does show is that illegal operators now account for almost half of all gambling advertising and are on course to overtake the regulated sector within two years.

"At the same time, black market betting is forecast to hit more than £33bn by 2028, with almost one in five pounds staked online going to illegal operators.

"The priority should be keeping customers in the regulated market, where there are mandatory age checks, safer gambling tools, deposit limits, online monitoring of play, self-exclusion schemes and funding for research, prevention and treatment.

"The more customers who move to the illegal market, the greater the risk of harm, because there are no protections. That's why regulation must be evidence-led."

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