Your heart just sank to the pit of your stomach. Feelings of extreme anxiety are now washing from your brain through to your body, manifesting as aches, muscle tenseness, trembling, shortness of breath and/or other symptoms. You just lost $100K gambling and are feeling both the physical and mental health impacts of doing so. Sure, you have lost money casino gaming, parimutuel wagering, or sports betting in the past, but not like this. You swore it would never escalate to this level, but here you are. While it may feel this way, there is a pathway to regaining the calm needed to recover and prevent this from ever happening again. Please keep reading.
7 Steps to Take After Losing $100,000 Gambling That Address What Might Be a Bigger Issue Than You Thought
I. Do the Math on How $100K Stacks Up w/Averages
You probably feel all alone right now. However, there may be comfort to be found in the fact that you’re not. Significant financial loss and debt go hand-in-hand with habitual gambling behavior.
Need proof?
For one, there are up to 100 individuals per major U.S. state that perform the exact same online Google search that brought you to this very article:
Source: Google Keyword Planner
Further, the following gambling debt statistics indicate that the financial gambling crisis is widespread:
U.S. gamblers lost $120 billion in the most recently reported annum
Average gambling addict (men) debt is between $55,000 and $90,000
Over 20% of compulsive gamblers file for bankruptcy
The prospect of gambling being a viable and sustainable side hustle or profession is a proven myth. In understanding this, you can now abandon any idea that you can get the $100K back from continuing to gamble – chasing losses – and proceed with the following steps.
II. Improve Financial Literacy Regarding Gambling
“That’s the aim of the Financial Stability and Responsible Gambling Initiative, a new national effort led by Kindbridge Research Institute and UCLA. For the first time, leaders from finance, healthcare, research and advocacy are coming together to examine where gambling and financial instability intersect – and how to intervene earlier, more effectively and more equitably. It reflects a public health approach: one focused on root causes, early intervention and smarter systems of support. By drawing on diverse expertise, the initiative will generate research-informed strategies that help prevent harm, support recovery, and guide meaningful policy and practice.” (GamingAmerica)
The above snippet from an article in GamingAmerica, which garners insight from CEO and CoFounder of Kindbridge, addresses the need for improved financial literacy regarding gambling to mitigate the risk of what you are currently experiencing. Read this for further insight.
Until a fundamental change is made across sectors, there are steps that individuals such as yourself can take to prevent further financial bleed. A growing number of financial institutions are offering customers access to bank gambling blocks (BGB) which identify a gambling transaction through a code used by regulated online gambling platforms to classify the nature of the transaction. If in place, the credit card and debit card authorization process will decline a request to authorize payment when attempted by an operator using that code for the transaction. Ask your banking institution and credit card provider/s to place a block against transactions that may apply to gambling and inquire about any other options that are available should they not yet have the technology in place.
In addition, as someone who lost $100K gambling, there is a good chance that it has resulted in potentially ruinous debt. Take steps to recover financially by accessing debt consolidation services. Feel free to explore options, but we do encourage you to reference Debt.org. Debt.org is a debt assistance organization that serves millions of Americans through accurate and accessible online information about personal finances.
III. Take a Break via Self-Exclusion (regulated)
If there has ever been a time to take a break from casino gaming or sports betting, a newly sustained loss of $100K is it. Take a break by leveraging self-exclusion tools provided by the regulated gambling platform that you may have lost $100K gambling to, and all others that you are registered with. If unfamiliar with where or how to access these tools for a given platform (it can be unclear) we recommend referencing the guide that we have prepared to make it easier:
UNLOCKING SELF-EXCLUSION TOOLS FOR ONLINE GAMBLING
IV. Take Action Against Unregulated Operators
There is a greater likelihood that someone who has lost $100K gambling has done so with an unregulated offshore betting platform. They have zero guardrails in place to monitor for, and intervene, when a player wagers beyond their usual stakes. If your loss was sustained with an illegal offshore casino site or sportsbook, namely those who accept payments through cryptocurrency, you won’t be able to take legal action to get your money back. However, you can join the fight against them to ensure that they don’t victimize you or anyone else again in the future via the following:
- Report the unregulated operator to state and federal law enforcement
- Report the unregulated operator to any social networks that have used to solicit your business
- Report the unregulated operator and their affiliates to Google
VIEW MORE ON HOW TO FIGHT ILLEGAL ONLINE GAMBLING
V. Take This Quiz
At this point (as per above) you have initiated steps to improve financial literacy, recover from debt, and self-exclude yourself from gambling platforms. But now we want you to dig deeper to find out if the $100K loss was just a one-off bad decision regarding escalating wagers (assuming you have large disposable income) or indicative of a problematic relationship with gambling. This insight can be gained by taking the following 2-minute quiz:
TAKE 2-MIN GAMBLING BEHAVIOR QUIZ
VI. Get a FREE Assessment
As a supplement or alternative to the quiz in Section V, we encourage you to capitalize on Kindbridge’s offer of a FREE assessment. A specialized counselor is available right now, to assess for problematic gambling behavior and cooccurring issues that may have contributed to your large financial loss. Click or tap the following link to start your FREE assessment:
VII. Invest in Behavioral Health (and thus financial health)
If it comes to light that you have a problematic relationship with gambling, an investment in treatment pays for itself. Outcomes reports (view here) indicate that our strategy for treating problem gambling by getting to the root of the issue, generally by addressing cooccurring mental health struggles, is more effective when compared against industry standards. You will progress through recovery not only with emotional and mental improvements, but will likely note improvements in financial health given the comorbidity between financial strain and problem gambling, anxiety, depression, and other concerns.
Of further note, is that through counseling you can receive help in communicating with loved ones about the recent financial loss, how it has impacted them, and how it may be related to your mental health struggles. You can work through it together via our couples or family counseling services. Reach out via your preferred form of contact provided below.
*Direct billing is generally available problem gambling treatment and cooccurring issues for those who qualify via one of the following insurance programs:
Get Help for Problem Gambling Today
CALL +1 (877) 426-4258
OR
Email help@kindbridge.com
