Hi everyone, my name is Nolan, I'm 20 and I've lost a lot of money on sports betting.

I'm a student at a business school that costs €50,000. So I have a lot of expenses every month, whether it's accommodation, food or travel because my school is 900km from my parents' home.

That's how, in May 2024, I got interested in sports betting. The game seemed simple to me, I make a small income every month to lower my monthly expenses. At the start, I'd put in £5, £10 or £15, and as I lost more and more, I'd put in more, telling myself that I'd get back what I'd lost. So I started putting in £20, £50 and even £100. These sums seemed so unreal to me at first and I was sure I would never bet so much.

I quickly became addicted to online sports betting, and there wasn't a day when I didn't open Winamax, Unibet or Parions Sport. How much would I make today, or rather how much would I lose? I didn't realise it, but every day I was losing so much that I quickly reached the €1,000 mark.

And now we're almost 10 months after that first loss and I've lost €25,545.

Because of me, my parents have lost a lot of money, all their savings in fact, as well as my €20,000 loan.

I'd like to pay back all the money they've spent to make up for my losses. To do this, I work a lot and all the money I earn allows me to pay them back little by little, but it's not enough and times are very hard for my family (my parents and my 3 younger brothers). They've even had to abandon some of their projects because of me: repairing the kitchen, changing the air conditioning, paying off the house and I've even almost stopped my family going on holiday. And I'm so angry with myself for not setting a good example for my little brothers and for not letting my parents spoil them over the last few months...

So I thought maybe you could help my family a bit with this fund. My parents to make up for the losses they've accumulated, but especially me, because I'm desperately trying to stop but I find it really hard when I think of all those losses. By compensating for a small part of it, this pot of money could lead me to the decision to stop completely. Because, in fact, the only reason I keep playing is to get a bit of money back, except that the more I play, the more I lose, and I'm well aware of that.

And believe me, I really want to get out of this harmful addiction because it impacts every second of my daily life (mood, loss of money, lies, theft, disappointment...). Every day I feel worse and worse and I find it hard to enjoy life.

So maybe this isn't a fundraiser for a flashy disease, but I can assure you that it's done a lot of damage and it's still going on (repayments, regrets, loneliness. )

If you have any questions or if you'd like to talk about my journey or even your own, don't hesitate, I'd be delighted to share my story with you!

Take care of yourself, don't fall into the trap because it's really very hard to get out...

All the best,

Nolan