The most recent population survey from Germany states that about 1.3 million individuals have a gambling disorder and another 3.25 million show some kind of risky gambling patterns. Some 430,000 people in the country are considered addicted to gambling, and 1.85 million are at risk of becoming addicted.

In the UK, 53% of people aged over 16s are estimated to have made a bet last year, according to the Gambling Commission. He got increasingly isolated from his family and friends, and developed suicidal thoughts.

The situation got so bad that within a matter of hours of receiving his salary, Chris would place it all on bets. It very quickly took over my whole life.” “I went very quickly from my gambling being very responsible and controlled to just being absolutely ruthless. “I was basically gambling every second of every day,” Chris said. He started betting a lot more money, using credit cards to support his gambling, on all sorts of sports - including horse racing, which he said never interested him in the first place. Then quite quickly, that started to slowly spiral out of control,” Chris said. It was just small amounts of money, probably on Saturday afternoon just when the football was on. “To start off, my gambling was very responsible and controlled. When his birthday came around, within a few days he was signed up to all gambling sites available, taking advantage of all offers available to newbies. Chris knew he wanted to bet on football matches.

What do statisitcs say about gambling