Walsall, Birmingham UK – A man diagnosed with Asperger’s sundrome has been forced to declare bankruptcy after racking up over £60,000 in debt with his out of control gambling addiction.
Tim Eldridge, 29 from Walsall, Birmingham, UK filled in forms to over 150 bookmakers in the area with his photograph in a bid to stop them from taking his money when he went in to bet. Despite this he was still able to loose over £60K in fixed odd betting terminals, or FOBTs in under 4 years.
Mr Eldridge who has lost 14 jobs due to his addiction and is now on state benefit, bought and immediately sold goods from catalogues to make his betting money. At the height of his addiction he lost over £1,000 in 20 minutes.
He said:
“Self exclusion doesn’t work. I find that unless the staff know me personally, most of the time I’m free to gamble as I like. My addiction to these machines affected my health. I couldn’t work.”