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Has anyone managed to stop their relatives from gambling addiction? I have a problem with my little brother, he is 29 and working for years already, the problem is he is so in debt that we are been called upon to come and bail him in a police station, he lied a lot about the debt and he can't even so some calculation on how he spent his own money, if you know what I mean, he works a lot but still broke, that kinda thing .

Later I found out that he is addicted to sports bets, he kept losing money and won't stop, he has lost up to 4650$, a loan, and his own money that he worked for.

If there is any advice you can give me on how to approach this matter please help.

How did you find it out? If he told you then maybe he wants help if you just came across it because he left his computer open or something then it'll be much harder to approach the issue.

Why don't you find a local gambling advice or debt advice charity and see if they know anything that might be useful (such as what normally leads people in that area to addiction, what sorts of things addicts can replace gambling with to still get a similar experience from it so they're less likely to go back to it).

The only way to recover a relative from such a bad illness is to make him go to a local rehab center.Of course you cannot just drag him by force to the rehab center,it won't do any good if he is forced to go there but it will make wonders if you first talk to him like brother,not just one time but consistently,little by little each day and you will make sure to have an impact on him by giving him all sort of examples of why gambling is bad (just a google search will give you a lot of insights) and finally when you will see that he will let his guard down it is that golden time to bring him by his will to the rehab center.For me this is the only solution to such persons.

You will need to advice him, give him real life stories about people that wanted to make it from gambling but later become something else, I have read many news about that. See if that would help. Losing so that big might have thought him a lesson. You have to let him realize how gambling can make someone to want to lose his life. That life is step by step for those that will make it. He thinks there is hope in gambling, that is why he wants to make money from it.

If he does not change, he needs a medical help. But I think he would change because of the losses he experienced.

When you have tried your best but it still doesn't change a lot, seek for a professional is the best choice.

The extreme strategy is kick him from your house and break him from family relationship, because you don't want to get dragged and responsible his huge debt isn't? right now you might afford his debt, but you wouldn't know in the future since an addict is tend to lie to get a lot money to gamble.

It is very difficult trying to want to help someone who does not even look like they want help, or know that they need help. He is 29 and an adult already, so it may be difficult to help him you should know. But since he is your younger brother and because you are constantly drawn in to settle issues for him, you can talk to him if he will listen so he see's a reason to want to stop. If it is difficult to stop on his own, you can then proceed by recommending help for him from professionals. If everything does not work and you have the clear signal that he is unwilling to change, you let him be and leave him to life to teach him the lessons the harder way.

there are groups of people (something like anonymous alcoholics) that can provide some relief and helps.
try to search this in your area...

for sure, he need a professional help.
It's not matter that could be managed by you or other person but by some professional (maybe a team that have a look on whole aspects).
it's like to be "drug addicted" it's not to easy quit and moreover it's really hard avoid relapsing :(

A 29-year-old man is independent and cannot be coerced to change his way of life. The only thing you can do is persuade or encourage him to change his ways. You need to let him know the consequences of his action and what he can achieve if he controls his gambling behavior. If he refuses to change his ways and keeps incurring debt, he should be allowed to stay in the police station until he repays his loan. Maybe he can learn his lesson when nobody comes to bail him from police custody. You can also take him to a gambling psychologist to guide and counsel him on how to break free from addiction.

according to the laws of several countries: when a person hurts another person, that person who hurt another person will respond criminally, the same applies when a person hurts his own body on purpose, so you can look for a doctor and that doctor can go with you to where your brother is, if your brother refuses to undergo tests with the doctor so that the doctor can assess whether he has 100% good mental conditions, then you can file a complaint with the court, the court will call your brother and will have an audience with him and force him to undergo an examination with the doctor

in case your brother denies it, then the court will hospitalize your brother using force, your brother will have to stay hospitalized until the doctor decides that he is in good condition to take care of himself and be fine, this is the only way to deal with it.

NOTE: do not be violent with your brother. don't put too much pressure on your brother, don't send your brother away. addiction is a disease

That's a terrible story and I really hope you manage to find help. In my family we have no one who is addicted to gambling, so I can give you specific advice for that kind of addiction. But I can give you some insights into addictions in general. My uncle was addicted to alcohol for a long time. It took quite a while for us to even find out of his illness (his wife was drinking a lot too and they didn't tell it to anybody and did a good job of hiding it). Only after my grand mother found large sums of alcohol in their house we tried to help them. We did everything from interventions to hiding all alcohol, but nothing helped. Eventually he died of liver failure before even becoming 60 years old. You can't control the life of someone else, there will always be loopholes for them to fall back into their addiction if they don't want to change. My advice would be to try and make them understand that they need to change to get their life in order. It's not possible for us to change it for them. And if they really want to get better they should seek professional help. It's going to be a long way and he needs all the help he can get. Good luck.

You could try to keep him away from all his gambling-related activities by starting to keep an eye on him all the time. Don't let him look at the news or anything on his cell phone and try to stay close to him. But maybe you will feel disturbed by that because you have entered into his privacy, but you and your family do that because you and your family still love and care about him and don't want him to get in trouble again with gambling.

This is a difficult situation that we would never even imagine but we have to be firm with him because we want to help him solve his problem. Maybe you can talk to him heart to heart and hope he can tell the truth and you can try to go to a rehab center with him. What's important is that whatever the condition, you and your family don't leave him alone and keep helping him solve his problem.

You guarantee your sister, at the police station, what are you doing to provide opportunities for your sister to bet/debt again in the future.

Question:
1. How many times has your brother been in trouble with the police, 1,2,3.
2. What case did your brother get caught, gambled or owed.

Now there are two problems that have happened to your younger brother, gambling and debt.
1. Gambling addiction:
Solution:1
You can put your brother into gambling rehabilitation, don't let him hang around and be friends with his gambling friends again, it could be even worse, because you have guaranteed it, he thinks later if I get caught again and get caught, I will guarantee it again brother.
Solution:2
If your younger sibling doesn't want to go to rehab, don't guarantee it anymore, if he gets caught again in the future, let him go to jail, make him a deterrent.

2. Debts:
Solution:1
Here it is clear your brother, owes money to gamble, if she wants to change and wants to be rehabilitated, pay her debts, but if she doesn't listen to your suggestions and advice, let her debt be borne and don't bail her out at the police station.

I think family matters a lot against addiction honestly. You should be friendly towards him. He should definitely become more honest and open to you in my opinion. People who lie about their habits are always going to lose in life. Tell him you don't wanna mess his life but you wanna assist! Also I think it can the best option to buy him some kind of summer or winter holiday and go together. If he stays away from his damaging gambling addiction he may realize how healthy his life can become. If he asks you can buy him a therapy at psychologist so he can explain himself.

Exactly! If he doesn't want to change, then it is very difficult to reach him!


Things can be very complicated... especially if his debts affect the entire household. I have experience with people "who simply don't listen", they only react with some kind of force. Sometimes it's the only way "to bring someone back to earth and reality". But even that doesn't work with everyone, some people are pretty stubborn and autodestructive. They usually wake up when they hit the rock bottom,  and after they destroy almost everything that can be destroyed around them... usually when it's too late.



Obviously, your brother needs a "wake-up" call. I don't know how much "power" you have over your brother and what you can really do to "wake him up and get him back on the right path"... Is there a possibility to control his finances and movements, can you move his focus on other things? Depending on how "deep" he is you will need to pay a lot of attention to bring him back on track. In any case, it's necessary to work with him, at first 24/7 probably, which is certainly neither easy nor simple.

You are close to him so I guess you should know him, his character and personality... think about it and try to find the best approach. Probably the most important is to not give up even without results at the beginning, sometimes it takes a lot of strength to stay calm in difficult situations and a lot of patience to reach out to someone. I wish you a lot of strength and luck to overcome this successfully.

It will be hard to convince a gambling-addicted person to quit gambling if he isn't willing or well committed to changing his direction. Words and advice won't be effective for them.
The only thing that could release your brother from gambling addiction is to help him seek professional help. He already needs either rehabilitation or psychological medication. The best thing that you can do is to guide him and have the right approach because what he's going through isn't easy. He also needs family support so it will be easier for him to cope up with his condition.

Depends on the individual as others have mentioned and as we all know. Change comes with initiative right? No matter how you wish someone to stop something which would dragg him/her down, if initiative would be lacking then nothing qould happen. Seeking for professional help would also be advisable especially if there a severe need of it. Giving advice would also help but something which qould be suggested by licensed individuals, will be better. And for those who are a bit close to addiction; this industry is cruel simply because it involves money. It is that powerful. You'd sometimes taste the sweet victory but in a long run, it could be bitter. Break the idea that this activity is a shortcut to being rich because not because some people made it, same thing would happen to every one of us.

I haven't tried to help someone, but I saw a documentary about a real-life female gambler who was addicted to it and sold all of their appliances for gambling; even the money supposed to be for bills was used to gamble, and her husband couldn't control her. The solution was to seek professional help and get her into a rehabilitation center to treat her addiction, though it took 6 months, I think, and it was a little expensive, but again, she was cured and back to herself. 

Unfortunately, if he doesn't want help you cannot help him, he is old enough and he should be responsible for himself, but just assure him that if ever he wants a way out you will all be there, it's hard to help someone even a brother if he doesn't want help, as long as he worked for the money he gambles, you cannot force him to undergo treatment if he doesn't want to, the only way is to talk to him in times that he is sober, only a professional can help him and laid out treatment for his addiction and it can only happen if there is a willingness on his part.

He failed to tell us the truth, until I got a hold of his smartphone and find out many games he played and lost money, he made us believed that he got robbed, this pissed me off and I had to break his privacy.

Judging from his phone history, this has been going on for over a year now and we don't know, I got into a mess in early 2022 and I bailed him with my money and paid what he owe, I am surprised he did another.

This works with my cousin when he got addicted to drugs. It may be different from gambling addiction but same as they still could go to jail.
Sometimes a person needs a real hard lesson in life to widely open his eyes. Let him rot in jail for just a week and he'll realize how bad it could be if it takes longer. Him in prison is another kind of world.

My cousin Mikael got addicted to drugs in high school, eventually tangled with a wrong crowd and start selling meth to pay his debt to his dealer. When he got caught his brothers didn't bail him. After 2 years he got out, he seem to have realize it. Turned his life around. Now with a regular job and got 3 kids after it.

Prison may provide important lessons for people who are addicted to drugs. However, for gambling addiction it is much more different. Because, reflecting on what I found around me, there were some who were caught by the police selling illegal lottery, after they were released from prison they repeated the same thing. Even he was in and out of prison several times did not make him stop. I think the most appropriate thing is family support and/or a psychiatrist to improve psychology so he can live without gambling.

Are you sure that he is just a gambling addict and not an addict for illicit goods like drugs, I hope he is just a gambling addict, in fact the addiction can be stopped as long as he has no money, sometimes people become gambling addicts because they have feelings of revenge because of their defeat so they continue to play until they win, but in the end they still lose too, it's better to just advise him because that's more than enough because even the way you act hard won't make an addict change too or set him up with a woman and just marry him to get away from gambling

it has different effect to every person's character. a gambling addict may find ways or steal properties of someone to pawn or sell inorder to satisfy his addiction. that is kind of a crazy situation but we have heard of past stories like this before when drug addict doesn't have money anymore, they rob.

its sad for the family members seeing their brother is just into deep with what they gotten into. it take years for someone to change and sometimes it needs a drastic event.

What did he do after that? Did he make something even worse than before? Your younger brother needs special attention to cure his gambling addiction, and he may need to see a psychiatrist who can help him solve his problem. Is there a psychiatrist in your city who can help him? If so, you might be able to make an appointment with your brother and try to talk and find the best solution. I think it's okay to invade his privacy because it's for his own good, and you really want to help him recover from his gambling addiction.

If someone is addicted and jailed for awhile, it might help. Even let us leave that aside, if someone lost very great amount of money to gambling, he might leave gambling for good. Someone can leave gambling because he gambled the first time and lose. Anyone can because of real bad event that happen to him at any point in life leave something, and gambling is one. But some people still learn lessons but still continue until they are finished.

I know how you feel for your brother's gambling addiction which has caused so much worries and pains on you. Talk to him like a brother and encourage him that he can control is addiction. Advice him on the forum gamble tips,not to chase his losses. Tell him how chronic gamblers like him will end up.

After all these if he continues,leave him in the police station when next the police arrests him. Don't go and bail him,I guess he is not cautioning himself because he gat you at his back. Tell him that you are sick and tired of his gambling activities which destabilize your thinking,that you will not bail him anymore. Wake up and act like a big brother because you can't force him to stop.

I sympathize for your situation. Having relatives that are battling addiction can be hard on the entire family. All you can really do is let them know that their addiction is costing them the enjoyment of life and hope that they’re willing to take the steps necessary to correct the problem. If that doesn’t work…

Tongue in cheek answer… Have you tried betting them that they can’t stop?

Yell to him, start to monitor his activity, and you should take care of his financial spending.

The first thing you should know, in my opinion, gambling is just like porn. He need to survive 3 month without gambling first, so please take care of his financial spending if he asked some money to you.

Always ask for what purpose, and where is the proof he spending his money before ask money again. Better things, If he want to buy something you can accompany him to buy the stuff (in-case he lied).

To be honest, I don't have the exact answer you'd expect.

I think this is a personal matter, about an individual. I have the same story, many people in my environment are compulsive gambling addicts. in fact, I too have been part of an addiction though not as extreme as the compulsive gambler. there is no other way, other than taking him to a rehabilitation place with the support of friends and your family. at least, you have made an effort to recover your little brother from his addiction. but in fact, the main factor that drives to recover or stop compulsive gambling activities is intention.

Intention is the initial capital, then accompanied by strong determination. So, the problem lies with your younger brother. whether he has the intention to recover, and has a strong determination. and if so, you can take it to the experts, at least psychological problems must be prioritized first.

Apparently your brother already has a serious gambling addiction and will not be able to solve the problem himself. If you don't want to lose your brother I would advise you to take him to live for six months in some village where there are no casinos and no Internet. A sudden change of residence should help your brother think about what he is doing. If he continues to be in the same environment as he has always been, he is unlikely to cope with his desires, which could lead him to even more problems.

it is not easy to stop an addicted gambler. Now let me give a short story with old world of game and the new world of game and which one is safer and better.
Let me answer according to the body. I will say yes the old gambling ways were safer than the contemporary online gambling approach. Apart from the killing many online casinos are there to defraud gamblers. How many gamblers have won online that they can't withdraw and denied of the money.

Modern gambling only make it easier for gamblers to use but it is not safe as the olden days. There was no killing in those days but there was serious fighting in those days but fighting has been reduced in this days. Money lost in these days than then the olden days gambling.

Now how do we stopped addicted gambler and the answer is we can't until the person will on his own willing to stop it. The old gamblers and the new gamblers have the same characteristics

If you had done your part on telling him about on stopping but still he didnt listen then there's nothing you can do because these addicted gamblers would really be sticking on what they do have in mind which is to "gamble" and the way on stopping it whether for the seek of those professional help or something that calls about self realization on which he would really be needing to realize for himself that what he's doing is really messing up his life and there's no direction that would be worth on dealing off with.This is why its useless if he wont really be able to realize those things because he would really be still continuing
on gambling no matter what.It is really just sad and its really hard to make someone stop once addiction entangled into yourself.

first, talk with your brother and be up front with him that you wanted to help him for whatever he is facing right now. addicted gamblers most of the time are quite difficult to convince to change their lifestyle if they are not willing to change themselves. so the first step is to have a conversation with your brother and know the reasons why he got addicted with sportsbetting. as you have the reason to ask as the OP said, they bailed him to get out of prison. maybe, he just needs someone to talk to about what is really going on with his life. find the reasons why it feels for him, this is the only outlet he has to get something. you need to put yourself in his shoes to understand how he really feels with his situation in life.

They are really that difficult to convince because most of the time they wont listen and would stand on things on what they do have in mind.Depends on a certain person because there are ones who are really that listens

and there are someone who arent no matter what which it would really make the situation gets hard.I do agree on most comment about self-realization because this would be the primary key on making yourself get rid

of addiction on which you  should really know on when to stop when you do see that everything is really been that affected.Everything should really be in control and moderation because if you dont
then you would really be having some finance problems specially when dealing with gambling.

Gambling addiction is a very bad addiction. Once people enter here, they cannot get out of this addiction very easily. But since your brother is addicted to gambling, you have some responsibilities and duties that you can apply to him. You will always have him by your side. Pay more attention to religious work with him. If you are a Muslim, make him spend most of his time in the mosque. If he prays five times a day for 40 days, I will assure him that he will be freed from this addiction of gambling. Also you will always make him aware of the bad effects of gambling. You will see that your brother has slowly withdrawn from gambling.

Aside from your support and help, from the immediate family. You need to seek help and advise from a counsellor or psychologist to give the best help your brother needs.

Showing on how you're supporting him for his change and self development will later on be realized that he has to show that he's willing to change.

Because he'll also understand that not at all times, all of you are going to be there for him and he has to stand on his own and deal with his problem if he don't listen to you. Mostly, when you show that you're all tired of helping him.

Perhaps if you find him a companion, in the person of a lady, she would do well to sooth his addiction, because he is lonely inside, and that is why he gambles recklessly.
Also, more pep talks and restrictions to the places or apps he normally uses, if possibly can be limited.
You could also try teach him how to trade or make money online from participating and other contributions.

The best way to stop him from getting more trouble in gambling is to convinced him to get on a rehabilitation facility and there be guided by the professionals.

Your brother needs your help, that addiction can result into a more problem if he will not stop from this, imagine getting arrested because of gambling is already alarming. I know someone who are addict in gambling and bring himself into a rehab, now he’s doing fine away from gambling.

You could always make an attempts in stopping one from addiction but all efforts may not yield to fruitfulness because we finds it difficult to change ourselves not to talk of changing others, he has to determine this by himself and take a move towards that, everything is all about determination, no matter how you try hard in changing the person, if he's not ready to make a change then everything will finally ended on wasted efforts.

But we cant deny the fact that there are many other drug users keep using it even after they are jailed for years.
This fact shows that there is no 100% effective way to stop any addiction except it comes from the mindset of themselves.
In case of drug addiction, jailed wont really help because the fact is that there is even possibility to get more information in the jail.
Drug addict should be rehabilitated instead of jailed, and for gambling addiction, it should be helped by professional (psychologist) to change the mindset of the gambler.
Of course a help from other even professional wont be effective if there is no will to stop from the addicted person.

It takes a gamble to understand a gamble and lead him to the right way, my advice is to help him find an anonymous gambler healing group and ask him politely to join the group these groups will help him overcome gambling by telling their own stories and find ways to help him overcome gambling and recommend him to undergo treatment from gambling facility manage by professionals.
It's hard to cure addiction to gambling and merely asking to stop him will not do good, you must lead him to people that he can trust to open up if he will not listen to close friends and family.

This is why its better to seek professional help because they can convinced you that you have to changed your lifestyle and stay away from that addiction or else your life will be worthless. I feel sorry for your brother to experience that addiction OP, as long he’s with his family and with proper guidance, he can still recover slowly.

He just need to help himself and have the desire to stay away from that gambling addiction and be responsible for everything. This may take time to recover from this, but I wish your brother a more meaningful life without gambling addiction.

Depends on the prison. It's not hard to get drugs there. Prisoners are smuggling drugs to prisons all the time, mostly in their assholes, but sometimes swallow during private meetings with their wives or girlfriends and shit it out later. An addict in prison is going to learn new trades like how to hide drugs and signs of being high, how to cheat piss test and many other.
A drug addict needs a good rehab, not prison.

You can try to talk with your brother OP and tell him you know everything and he's going to destroy his life. Tell him to do the math. He's losing money all the time so maybe he's just bad at gambling. It's not a streak of bad luck that will change for him but a permanent situation. Ask him what he's trying to achieve because nobody becomes rich from gambling. You can win some money but you will never change your life for the better.

Wont really be necessary unless if you are on the last resort or option which you could really go with this which you do seek out for others help but you should take it first on having that self realization on where if you are neither his friend or relative then explaining up the real deal or on consequences about gambling addiction and made him realize his mistakes then it would really be that sufficient.You wont be needing on further extent
for you to end up on approaching other people on solving something which could really be solved out on your own.Its impossible that you cant be able to make self realizations, if things turns out to be hard
then you would be going into the last option.