The viral testimony of a ceheginero about his gambling problems provokes a wave of reactions on networks and revives the debate on this addiction
The world of betting came very soon to the life of Sergio Guirao, a 22-year-old from Cehegín who, at the age of 16, sneaked into local gambling venues with a friend. “Since we were tall…”, he justifies. In those first approaches to the vertigo of risking money for the promise of multiplying it, he used to put one euro every weekend for bets with little chance of success, “of those that you know that it is almost impossible for them to come out, with the idea of taking 30 if there was luck”.
Today, after acknowledging that he suffers from a gambling problem and making his case public on social networks, his own estimates are far from those first wasted coins. “I have lost five figures, about 10,000 euros in the game in three years,” he says. His confession, which has received tens of thousands of reactions and provoked hundreds of messages of support, has revived the debate regarding the impact of the game on young people. It should be remembered that the Region of Murcia was, according to data from the Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling of the Ministry of Consumption, the region where the number of people who requested that they be prohibited from betting grew the most last year, with an increase of 22 ,4%. It is a self-protection measure that more than 3,100 people in the Community have already requested and that Sergio did not know about until Monday, after launching his message to try to raise awareness among others in his situation. “Many people have contacted me to explain what means of help exist, tell me associations, and they have told me that I can request that they ban me from playing,” he says. The first thing I am going to do is put myself in the hands of a psychologist, and then I am going to inform myself and take the necessary measures.”
He came to see 600 euros disappear in 40 hours and has just told his parents. “I asked my girlfriend to watch my mobile,” he says.
trapped in the spiral
Things began to go wrong when at the end of 2019 he started in the world of work and entered his first salary. Still living with his parents and with hardly any expenses except a small part that he gave to his mother to help with the house, Sergio found himself with money that he soon thought he could easily grow with bets. on-line’. Thus, this seemingly innocent entertainment was rapidly acquiring more weight in his life and his financial priorities. “I started to educate myself about that world,” he says. He knew the figure of the ‘tipster’, a professional dedicated to predicting bets and who sells his predictions to clients under the promise of raising profits. Sergio decided that instead of betting a euro on something improbable to win 30, he would bet 20 to win 40 on more feasible options. “I thought that if I lost, it was money I didn’t need, and that if I had to run out of whims, nothing would happen either,” he confesses. However, he began to see himself setting aside from each month’s salary just enough money for his minimum expenses. The rest went into the game, and the calculations were soon proven wrong. He moved from Cehegín to Murcia to finish his internship for the intermediate degree of Pharmacy and Parapharmacy Assistant and began to take on the rent. He tried to set aside the rent each month, but he also failed: “One day I found myself with 20 euros to feed myself for the whole month.” “I sold my console to be able to eat,” he says. «I have never asked for anything until I have seen myself with water up to my neck, out of shame».
The turning point came when he gambled the money he was saving to give his partner a trip to Italy last January. “I lost everything”. “I started having anxiety attacks and I asked my girlfriend to help me, to check my mobile and keep an eye on me.” Thus began an improvement that lasted only a few months, until their relationship broke up. “I put it aside and went back into the loop,” she admits. This summer, for different income, Sergio returned to collect a thousand euros in his account. He went into a spin. “In 40 hours I lost 600 euros.” It was then, two weeks ago, that he called his parents crying for help and told them that he had been gambling for three years. He today he knows that he cannot overcome it alone. “I need professional help. Before he thought that he could go out with supports. Today I know that this is not enough.
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