Jonathan, a Ghanaian church leader, has narrated how his gambling addiction led him to lose Ghc800,000 and lifetime debt around his neck.
The young man narrated how he went from owning three houses and a fleet of cars to losing everything, including his wife’s savings, and owing over GH¢100,000 due to sports betting.
According to Jonathan, he was a novice who got lucky the first time and won. But the excitement in knowing he could make easy money dragged him into a bottomless pit he is now struggling to escape.
“A friend introduced me to betting, and my first stake was GH¢5000. I was a novice, but the guy who introduced me was good at sports analysis, so I had a profit of GH¢3,900,” he said.
He told Giovani on the 3FM Drive that he continued to place large sums of money on bets after his first win and went ahead to win up to GH¢80k on his third attempt. That was when he lost his sanity to betting.
“The second time, I placed a bet of GH¢3000 and won GH¢5000. On the third time, I staked GH¢20,000 and won GH¢80,000. I asked God, where has this been all this while and I have been suffering. I didn’t know there was such an avenue to make me rich, and that day the betting spirit sank deep into my spirit and blood,” Jonathan said.
Jonathan said his woes began when he invested the entire money he made on the third day into getting and losing it all.
That was only the beginning as he went ahead to borrow monies. He also used life savings and money from his business. He lost it all!
He has now become an advocate preaching against gambling addiction.