Husband just blew 34k on online casino

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Just thinking about something, I seem to remember that a drunk person can not enter a contract....

Any legal eagles able to verify ?

True to a certain extent, as far as i can remember the other party has to be aware that the person was intoxicated. Obviously if its online this cant be verified.

Plus they have to be intoxicated to the extent that they did not understand what they were doing.
 

this might well be the case here. As an mbna cc holder I know that mbna treat betting deposits as cash withdrawals ie interest from day one. recently changed from boylesports to paddy power and made sure I was in credit before depositing with PP. happy that the deposit was covered a few days later I used the card again and checked online to verify. Paddy Power deposit was still not on card, other transaction was. I now know why and agree with Bluetonic that this is a real possability. This is a shocking case and as someone who is painfully aware of the effect alcoholism had on a close family member I sympathise. No amount of immediate pain/hurt/apologies will stop an addiction. waiting for accums to come good is part of the denial. If you are really serious about this you will have to take bagoftricks advice and get on to bet365 asap to sort out this mess. and if you husband hasn't already enrolled in GA then he is not alone in denial, he has no intention of doing anything about it.
 
Hp

As i have stated i am more than happy to talk with you on the phone and go over the situation from start to finish and advise you what steps to take and who to contact.

If you wish i will even go and negotiate on your behalf with bet365, that being said i would like all records of this matter to examine before i do so.

I make a living from people who gamble online and i personally do not think that if this situation was explained properly to the right person and if everything occurred the way you described it how I could not get the debt reduced.

The ball is in your court. If everything happened the way you said it did then you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.


Regards
Bag
 
The fact as well that you're waiting for some of the bets to come through (the accumulators) makes me think this is no longer a case of a drunken mistake. You are actually soberly choosing to keep the bets running.
 
I have to commend bagoftricks for this offer. I also have to say I have a bad feeling about the OP too- either the OP is the gambler or they are kidding themselves. I hope the OP will wake up and grab the lifeline that has been extended.

Only other thing that has occurred to me is whether online gambling is regulated by IFSRA so OP could seek help from them or perhaps go to the Ombudsman and get some help there.
 
Take some of the wise advice above - there's plenty of it there.

In terms of the accumulators - forget them, write them off, whatever. What do you think the message will be to him if they come good ? Of course (as any gambler will think and as you alluded to above) he will think he has beaten the system, his luck/skill has come good in the end and it was all a storm in a teacup . . . and it will all start up again. Added to that, you will be in the dog house for trying to 'help' him.

In practice, don't write the bets off if they are still live and have a chance of coming good, but you should make very very very clear that this money is not coming his way if it does come good.

Gambling that sort of money - he should realise fully that this level of debt has the ability to land him in very serious trouble. If he had spent that much of someone elses money do you think they would be thinking twice about calling the Gardai and letting him keep the account open ?

z
 
Its an unfortunate situation and I know someone who was in a similar one (gambled the full deposit on a house) who went and still goes to GA. GA recommend that everything is transferred into the gambler's partners name including salary, bank cards, joint accounts and even mortgage deeds! They advise that even buying a lottery card for someone else is gambling to an addict so I don't know what they would make of the OP's intent on seeing how previous bets pay off!

All you can do until your partner admits he has a problem is cover yourself. AFAIK GA also run meetings for partners of addicts so if you go along yourself you will get some practical financial advice which might help prevent something as drastic as this in the future.

As for resolving the current problem of 34K debt, Bagoftricks has made an offer which is above and beyond what anyone could have expected. You can't afford to refuse his very generous offer.
 
KalEl - I don't want to actually close the bet365 account because there are some accumulators which have a very good chance of coming in over the next few weeks so it would be stupid to throw that chance away. I might try to see if they can agree to suspend it in some way - i.e. refuse all new bets.


that says it all! !!!my heart goes out to you but you have to draw the line somewhere. You have to cut your losses and get out and then you might be able to help him. if you go softly then it will never end.
 
Waiting for "accumulators" that have a "good chance of paying off?"

It sounds like your husband is not the only one with a gambling problem.

Honestly I'd recommend joining GA yourself.

Once you do that, I'd suggest reviewing your finances and changing them so that his accounts are separate from yours. Look into using paypal for online transactions and calling your credit card company to block customer not present transactions (they can do that). You can also look into single use credit cards (I think AIB do them).

Lastly I'd seriously suggest discussing divorce. Addicts need to hit rock bottom, you can help him glimpse that point if you quit enabling him and start forcing him to face consequences for his actions.

Get help for yourself first, change your finances to stop the harm to yourself next and finally stop enabling your partner.
 

A lot of sense spoken here. Heed the advice OP
 



What kind of volume had been reached in the past? If it was regularaly in the tens of thousands, then perhaps bet365 are not being as irresponsible as first appeared.

Also, do you really expect them to reduce the debt, and then pay you winning from accumulators? or after they don't win, then reduce the debt after taking the risk of lpaying you off?

If you are to be taken any way seriously about this you should have asked them to void these and close the account already.
 
how come they would allow 34k pass through the credit card and not stop it?
But I thought the 34k was made up of monies from 4 different places and not from one credit card, ie 9k each on two different cards, 3k overdraft and 14k you already had (which, incidentally, comes to 35k)?
 
Something interesting for you:

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article675422.ece

 
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Why would a couple have 13 or more credit cards? Is there a business reason for having that many? If you did why would you leave them accessible to someone with " a history of gambling problems".
 
From previous posters it seemed the gambling companies would not like bad publicity and don't want to be seen condoning massive gambling, being such as responsibile industry and all that but based on that William Hill statement they couldn't care less which ties in with the OP saying she had gotton nowhere ringing bet 365. Unless bagoftricks knows better than us.

OP - I recommend getting everything in your name including the house, this could happen again even if you do everything in your power to prevent it. If he runs up massive debts they will eventually go after his share of the house unless it belongs to you. Also if he doesn't own any assets, it will make it harder for him to get credit etc.
 
I know someone who works for a famous Irish gambling company, and their policy is "see no evil, hear no evil". Basically, don't get into a conversation about gambling problems with heavy gambling customers; if they say they might have a problem, legally their account has to be closed.
 

So your husband rang up a debt of 9k on a line of credit that was supposed to be cancelled? Any reasonable person would read this as your husband either deceitfully or possibly fraudulently used a line of credit to which he was not supposed to have access. That the bank did not close it off is unfortunate; but your husband should not have accessed it. [It also indicates that perhaps your husband was not that inebriated after his night on the town, if he could figure out that this account was still available.]

What has happened is not the fault of the gaming or credit card company and you are just wasting time and effort trying to blame it on them due to possible inadequacies in their systems. If your husband had won megabucks by exploiting such inadequacies you would not be looking for advice.

Basically, you (collectively) need to take personal responsibility for this debt of 20k and draw up a plan to clear it. While not insignificant, this is not a particularly large sum by today’s standards. If you own an average house it probably represents about 6% of your assets so it’s manageable and you are unlikely to lose your house over it. You say you have a low mortgage, so could you extend your mortgage or modify your mortgage repayments until the debt is cleared? Could you ask the bank for a one off loan to clear it, and then pay the loan off by automatic monthly deductions? Do you have any other savings or is there anything you can sell to pay off a lump sum on the debt and then pay off the rest at say €1,000 a month? As a dual income family with a low mortgage you can easily clear this debt in 18 - 24 months if you put your mind to it.

Look on the bright side. Your husband didn’t do any of the other things that can easily happen after a night on the town, such as killing or maiming someone while drunk driving, downloading child porn over the internet, or shagging your best friend. You’ve only lost money, that with sacrifice you can repay.

As for your husband’s possible gambling problem, your GP or maybe Gamblers Anonymous are better placed to direct you to possible sources of professional help than suggestions from unqualified but well-meaning persons on this forum.
 
Hang on. I have never heard of any gambling websites which let you deposit money via your bank account.

Combined with the fact that the OP is waiting for the "accumulator" bets to come through...

This story seems a bit fishy.
 
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