From a Small Win to a Crushing Spiral: How Gambling Pushed a Joburg Father to the Brink

A win that felt like hope

When Eddie* placed a R30 bet on a soccer game years ago, he wasn’t chasing luxury or thrills. He was unemployed, anxious, and looking for a way to survive. That first win R1,300 felt like a lifeline. Enough to eat, enough to pay rent, enough to breathe again.

For a while, gambling didn’t feel dangerous. It felt practical.

But in Johannesburg, where online betting ads flash between WhatsApp messages and wheel-spinning games are just a tap away, hope can turn into habit far quicker than most people expect.

When gambling stops being a choice

Now 30 and working in retail, Eddie says December was his breaking point. In one month alone, he lost nearly R12,000 to gambling. By January, he was R15,500 in debt, borrowing from multiple people just to survive sometimes to gamble, sometimes just to get to work.

Transport money ran out. Anxiety moved in.

He lives with the constant fear that people he owes might arrive unannounced to take what little he has left.

A father carrying quiet guilt

Eddie is also a father to a toddler. He admits the addiction has shaped how much he can provide emotionally and financially since 2018.

“I wake up thinking about betting. I go to sleep thinking about betting,” he says. “I don’t trust myself with money anymore.”

In a moment he calls his deepest regret, Eddie sold his family’s R40,000 plot of land. Every cent disappeared into gambling. His family knows about the addiction. They’ve tried to help. Nothing has stuck.

The trap of online betting games

He singles out Spina zonke, a popular online wheel-spinning game, as especially destructive. Designed for speed and repetition, it offers constant near-misses the kind that keep players convinced the next spin will be different.

“It’s almost impossible to win,” he says. “But you keep trying.”

Many South Africans online echo similar stories, with social media flooded by comments from people who say these games emptied their bank accounts faster than traditional betting ever did.

“It’s like being in love”

Eddie describes gambling in emotional terms, not financial ones.

“It’s like being in love with a beautiful woman,” he says. “You become obsessed. She becomes the only thing you care about.”

That obsession, he believes, is why he’s considering sending his salary straight to a relative just to stop himself from touching it.

“I feel cursed,” he says. “If I have money, I have to finish it the same day.”

A warning written in fear

This is no longer about chasing a big win. For Eddie, gambling has become about fear, survival, and trying to stop a spiral before it ends in tragedy.

“I feel like this could end with me dying,” he says quietly. “Because people will come for their money.”

His message is simple, and painfully clear: the small win that feels like rescue can become a trap that takes everything.

*Not his real name. Changed for privacy.

{Source: IOL}

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