Hurray! It's one month (the whole of July), without me playing bet9ja virtual. I'm gradually learning to make rational decisions. I go to bet shops to charge my phone intermittently, without the urge to punt. At times, I go there with meagre sums, which I do not use prodigally on the act. But it will be foolish of me to say I am completely 'cured' from betting.

Maybe the future troubles I caused, awaiting me, is enough to deter me or probably, I am waiting on huge sums to go into my bank account, to trigger my 'mumu button' and then avariciously bet. Though, I am taking my recovery, one step at a time, accessing myself on a weekly basis.

At times, I retrospect on how bewildering it is, for a young man like me (with no connection to affluent people) to have gambled off about four million naira, in the space of four and a half years of my unsavoury experience at bet9ja.

I will let you in on how I fooled different persons, in order to raise money for betting.

MY TEACHING JOB IN BENIN

During the time I started gambling in 2015, I was running a part-time programme at UNIBEN, alongside teaching. I had served meritoriously in the school I taught, that I could be entrusted with money. Due to my desperation to raise funds for betting, I convinced my pupils to invest in savings with me. That by the end of the term, I would give it to them. I was in charge of collecting lesson fees for my class, from which, I gave a certain percentage to the Headteacher. I also gathered many private lesson (during break), by convincing the parents. I borrowed money from the school cooperative as well.

There were two parents around the school who sold food. I collected food on credit, promising to pay when I received my cooperative returns. Towards the graduation party in 2016, I collected the 1000 naira per child on behalf of the headteacher, to be remitted when she returned. She had this tight schedule of teaching in a Government school in Delta, while staying & working in Benin too. The total will be close to 100000 naira. Did I pay back? No o. I used every little break to sneak out. I gambled it all off at bet9ja virtual shops before I fled. The figures will be up to 500k, if I add the legitimate money (salary, lesson fees, home lesson, bonuses etc) I spent on the act.

Addicts hardly have a conscience. I am sure other workers who are addicts, dupe their bosses.

MY EXPERIENCE AT MY LODGE

I already mentioned how I sold my properties to gamble in my previous thread. I won't dwell on that. As dreaded and stern my landlord & landlady was, I fooled them. Before I got addicted, I had a good record of paying my rent ahead. At least, 6 months upfront. When I started gambling, I started defaulting. So I begged to pay on a monthly basis. This, he reluctantly agreed to. I kept on promising & promising, till the night I fled to warri. I sneaked through the back gate with a paper bag, bearing the scanty properties I had left. The man was a no-nonsense retired policeman, who could beat a person up for messing with his mind. I heard he left word that anywhere he sees me, he would deal with me. We all feared him. This is someone that once used a gun to threaten his son. He was also a traditional man. At least, he should be lucky he still has my rug, ceiling fan, t.v stand, hangars, cupboard etc to sell, to raise his money.

There was a time I pleaded with a course mate of mine, to help raise the remaining part of my fees so I don't miss out of the exam. This kind man gave me 20000 naira from the money he was supposed to use to collect goods at Onitsha. I promised to pay back soonest. I gambled with it & kept posting him till he staged a drama in my compound. A matured man was crying for me to pay him back his money. I was there, helpless & confused. This touched the landlord & he gave him the money on my behalf from the meeting money with him. I promised to pay the landlord back on time. This was before I fled. My dad, I heard, later pleaded with him & paid back when he started receiving pension in his hideout. I confessed to my father out of fear of the diabolic powers my erstwhile landlord could use on me

Very romantic

ChildOfDoom:
Hurray! It's one month (the whole of July), without me playing bet9ja virtual. I'm gradually learning to make rational decisions. I go to bet shops to charge my phone intermittently, without the urge to punt. At times, I go there with meagre sums, which I do not use prodigally on the act. But it will be foolish of me to say I am completely 'cured' from betting.

Maybe the future troubles I caused, awaiting me, is enough to deter me or probably, I am waiting on huge sums to go into my bank account, to trigger my 'mumu button' and then avariciously bet. Though, I am taking my recovery, one step at a time, accessing myself on a weekly basis.

At times, I retrospect on how bewildering it is, for a young man like me (with no connection to affluent people) to have gambled off about four million naira, in the space of four and a half years of my unsavoury experience at bet9ja.

I will let you in on how I fooled different persons, in order to raise money for betting.

Continue gambling your life away, you think you are doing us, you are doing yourself. At your age you still don't know what to do with your life. I still remember when you joined nairaland. Sincerely ask yourself what you have achieved since you started gambling.

I hate seeing young men like yourself waste away. Continue gambling. Rubbish

CHURCH MEMBERS

Before leaving for school in Benin, I was a popular figure in my church. I usually played lead roles in my church's drama. When I started gambling, I began connecting with them on Facebook to milk them of money. I will start with sweet words and prayers, after which, I would start pleading for help. The infamous & mischievous story I used was that I was a final year student who needed some money to complete his project, in order to meet the deadline. Not less than 15 persons supported me. I also joined a popular church when I moved to Benin. As Secretary, I was duly accorded a listening ear. I used the same story to leech out money from unsuspecting members. Professors & doctors who were members of the association I belonged to, really helped me. I wasn't thinking of clothes or food o my brothers. Just gambling. When I even got into problems with a 'strong man', I confidentially begged the chairman of my association for assistance, to be saved. I lied I was blackmailed. But I didn't pay. I gambled with the money before fleeing.

UDUJ:


Continue gambling your life away, you think you are doing us, you are doing yourself. At your age you still don't know what to do with your life. I still remember when you joined nairaland. Sincerely ask yourself what you have achieved since you started gambling.

I hate seeing young men like yourself waste away. Continue gambling. Rubbish

haba come one, guy Is trying to turn his life around atleast support him or desert him.

GOOD-HEARTED NIGERIANS

When I ran to Warri, I remember having to stay in the store with my mum. My mum, a retired civil servant, found it hard to rent an apartment as she was awaiting her entitlements. My dad (a gambler, like me), had wrecked her during her working days & fled to Benin. I had no choice than to go stay there with her. After two days there, I couldn't cope. The store was tight, overloaded with some of our household stuff we packed out of our house. Then there were flies in the environment. As well as urine smell, as she used a bowl there to urinate.

So while wandering in our former neighbourhood, I met a man who once crushed on my elder sister. He lived in a comfortable apartment alone. I begged to squat with him for a month, till I could move out. He reluctantly agreed. Due to my subservience & commitment, he decided to let me stay longer. He fed me at times. But the gambling spirit had destroyed my thinking. I located a bet9ja shop in the area & I started selling some things he had to gamble. He didn't take note because he had abundance of them. Some low-lives at bet shops in Warri, buy anything. I would sell frozen meat he had, belt, chain etc to fairly-used buyers in order to gamble. I was so close to sneaking out with his flat-screen TV to sell & gamble, before my mum got a place for us to move in. I also remember convincing a classmate of mine to help me with an android phone in order to do research to teach our set (I was good in carrying people along). I sold the phone and betted with the proceeds

I have tricked my parents, friends, family, my new employer, sponsors etc. The list is endless.

I just hope I have changed for good.

Some day, I pray I can make amends and re-write my wrongs.

Grateful to have survived it all.

It is well bro.. I sent you a PM

I remember those days in my area, there was a nigga whose brain was addicted to gamblin'. Gee would do/sell anythin' just to gamble, knowmsayin'? Nigga once sold his newly purchased flipflop for that sh!t...

Hope this s not another format to raise money ... Mr gambler

AhmedEmeka:
Very romantic

sorry, not what you expected

UDUJ:


Continue gambling your life away, you think you are doing us, you are doing yourself. At your age you still don't know what to do with your life. I still remember when you joined nairaland. Sincerely ask yourself what you have achieved since you started gambling.

I hate seeing young men like yourself waste away. Continue gambling. Rubbish

hmm. I achieved nothing from it. it's an addiction bros. I am working on it

You will still go back , i stopped it for 6 months. I started playing bet9ja virtual from 2015.
ever since then i have not achieved anything .i almost droped out of skul twice year1 and year2 . Papa j ,save me i swear.i keep on losing interes everyday,i already gave up on virtual(baby) to be precise

i just play it for fun up to now, i have only played 100naira booking.

Omo addiction is real. I actually don't understand addiction because of the type of self control I have. I started sports betting in 2014 but I never had issues of addiction up till now. I have even gained from them more than them from me. I can go half a year without betting, drinking or smoking and when I start I can do it for like a month and stop again. I do have the urge to bet or drink sometimes within those hibernation period but it doesn't Overwhelm me. Smoking is one thing I have no urge whatsoever for, so I can't even begin to relate how people get addicted to it. But Las Las, self control is the key and it's not everyone that has it.

falcon01:
haba come one, guy Is trying to turn his life around atleast support him or desert him.

Thanks for your solidarity and understanding.

it's startling how I paid so much attention to betting, while neglecting my deteriorating health & necessary expenditures

april2018:
It is well bro.. I sent you a PM

I don't have access to this mail again

Spysees:
I remember those days in my area, there was a nigga whose brain was addicted to gamblin'. Gee would do/sell anythin' just to gamble, knowmsayin'? Nigga once sold his newly purchased flipflop for that sh!t...

hmm.. gamblers are wired differently from others. We are not to be relied on until we are finally cured

laughitall:
Hope this s not another format to raise money ... Mr gambler

I am not asking for money. I am lamenting & tired of my addiction

you get tire of something when you don't get a better result from it.... Addiction is bad.... i can help you bro... dm me 07018 89 27 17

ChildOfDoom:
I am not asking for money. I am lamenting & tired of my addiction

haaa,child of doom... No b u be dis ni that lost abt 800k on gambling.... Abeg don't dm me again... you don't need help....

ChildOfDoom:
I am not asking for money. I am lamenting & tired of my addiction

wanted to help this dude out but guess what, he shot his self on the leg.... by now, he should have been thanking God and dancing.

VicM6:
wanted to help this dude out but guess what, he shot his self on the leg.... by now, he should have been thanking God and dancing.

That is how some people lose opportunities. Every opportunities that comes your way, you have to grab it by full force..

Keep it up for giving a helping hand. I believe one day I'll help people here as well.

ChildOfDoom:
I have tricked my parents, friends, family, my new employer, sponsors etc. The list is endless.

I just hope I have changed for good.

Some day, I pray I can make amends and re-write my wrongs.

Grateful to have survived it all.

The progress you have made so far is commendable. Addiction to anything is a dangerous thing but it's not an impossibility. I have a friend who used to be addicted to alcohol. It was crazy then. He'd get drunk and fall in gutters, pee in his kitchen, break his back severally among other things. But do you know what? He stopped! No church deliverance sessions, no herbalist concoctions or therapists or counselors' sessions. He got determined from his own inside and stopped. It's been 4 or 5 years now.

You just have to make up your mind to stop. You too can be set free. Pray on your own knees for God's help. You must be a brilliant young man. You have a rare gift of being able to persuade people but you have to use it positively. "I can change!" Let that be your mantra first thing as you wake up and last thing before you sleep. You have already spent a month without it, did you die? You can live your life, more purposefully and more fulfilling without gambling. Please, I'll be glad to see a better you. Don't wait till some day.... The time to change is Now!

Rahyberg:



That is how some people lose opportunities. Every opportunities that comes your way, you have to grab it by full force..

Keep it up for giving a helping hand. I believe one day I'll help people here as well.

thanks bro... the guy isn't serious at all.... imagine him saying he fooled us..... instead of him to sit down and reason abt life then he is there saying he fooled us...... like i said bro, people like him don't deserve a second chance of help.... so i will let it slide away... He has lost that opportunity.

ChildOfDoom:
I am not asking for money. I am lamenting & tired of my addiction

you should try and read the book of lamentation

Deffjam:
You will still go back , i stopped it for 6 months. I started playing bet9ja virtual from 2015.
ever since then i have not achieved anything .i almost droped out of skul twice year1 and year2 . Papa j ,save me i swear.i keep on losing interes everyday,i already gave up on virtual(baby) to be precise

i just play it for fun up to now, i have only played 100naira booking.

hmm.. Happy for you. To what you said in the first sentence, you might be right. That's why i am not rejoicing yet about avoiding betting for just a month. Taking my rehabilitation step by step

derealj:
Omo addiction is real. I actually don't understand addiction because of the type of self control I have. I started sports betting in 2014 but I never had issues of addiction up till now. I have even gained from them more than them from me. I can go half a year without betting, drinking or smoking and when I start I can do it for like a month and stop again. I do have the urge to bet or drink sometimes within those hibernation period but it doesn't Overwhelm me. Smoking is one thing I have no urge whatsoever for, so I can't even begin to relate how people get addicted to it. But Las Las, self control is the key and it's not everyone that has it.

You have not done it sufficiently. When you do it for long enough, you invite the spirit that regulates the act, then your willpower is taken away.

Redbeans can't you just stop all these??

Over 7yrs now and counting

ThothHermes:
You have not done it sufficiently. When you do it for long enough, you invite the spirit that regulates the act, then your willpower is taken away.

Cut that spirit crap. I started betting before this dude here did and I didn't fall into the kind of mess he got himself into, so don't tell me it's not long enough. Everybody is not the same.