Might Bite: The Secret Life of a Gambling Addict
Patrick Foster
Feb 2022 · Bloomsbury Publishing
5.0star
2 reviewsreport
Ebook
256
Pages
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About this ebook
'An electrifying account of gambling addiction ... compelling' - The Times
'Searingly honest ... should be in the hands of anyone who has eyed a bet' - Daily Mail
'A remarkable piece of work' - The Cricketer
With a foreword by Marcus Trescothick.
For more than 12 years, Patrick Foster lived a double life. Turning 31, a popular and sociable young teacher and former professional cricketer, he had a lovely girlfriend and a supportive family. But he was hiding a secret and debilitating gambling addiction from even those closest to him.
Huge bets had led to huge debts, thousands of lies, and consequences for his mental health that pushed him to the edge of the platform at Slough station, where he was moments from taking his own life in March 2018.
That month Patrick had turned a £30 bet into £28,000, then lost £50,000 on a single horse, Might Bite, in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, watching the race in a silent classroom as his students undertook a mock exam in front of him. In his desperation, he had taken out every possible loan, and borrowed money from family, friends and even the parents of children he taught. Although his life was unravelling around him, he could not stop.
You might think that this is just one man's story. But problem gambling affects one in 200 people in the UK alone. Hundreds lose their lives annually as a result. The industry is worth more than £14 billion.
Might Bite is a shocking, cautionary tale of just how easy it is to fall victim to the insidious lure of 'winning big'. And of how recovery is possible from the depths of addiction, no matter how inescapable it seems.
'Searingly honest ... should be in the hands of anyone who has eyed a bet' - Daily Mail
'A remarkable piece of work' - The Cricketer
With a foreword by Marcus Trescothick.
For more than 12 years, Patrick Foster lived a double life. Turning 31, a popular and sociable young teacher and former professional cricketer, he had a lovely girlfriend and a supportive family. But he was hiding a secret and debilitating gambling addiction from even those closest to him.
Huge bets had led to huge debts, thousands of lies, and consequences for his mental health that pushed him to the edge of the platform at Slough station, where he was moments from taking his own life in March 2018.
That month Patrick had turned a £30 bet into £28,000, then lost £50,000 on a single horse, Might Bite, in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, watching the race in a silent classroom as his students undertook a mock exam in front of him. In his desperation, he had taken out every possible loan, and borrowed money from family, friends and even the parents of children he taught. Although his life was unravelling around him, he could not stop.
You might think that this is just one man's story. But problem gambling affects one in 200 people in the UK alone. Hundreds lose their lives annually as a result. The industry is worth more than £14 billion.
Might Bite is a shocking, cautionary tale of just how easy it is to fall victim to the insidious lure of 'winning big'. And of how recovery is possible from the depths of addiction, no matter how inescapable it seems.
Ratings and reviews
5.0
2 reviews
Lawrence Freeborn
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February 21, 2022
I found this entirely compelling. I'm glad Patrick has come out the other side. Two small points: Patrick states that the odds of landing green twice in a row are 1/1396 but this is misleading because when he placed his bet, the first half of this possibility had already come in. The odds of Patrick landing a green were more like 36/1. Second: interesting to think about the psychology of big wins. Maybe it is useful to think of them as a function of variance without changing the overall trend direction. Put another way, Patrick went from zero to minus 150k but it wasn't a straight line. There were ups and downs along the way. You are bound to get some huge, low probability wins if you are placing thousands of big bets but you are still heading inexorably for rock bottom unless you have implausibly good luck (or indeed judgement). How long it takes to reach rock bottom just reflects how much spread the bookies take on each bet, and how desperate you are to postpone the end.
D T
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March 26, 2023
A brutally honest story of the experiences of a gambling addict. Shocking at times but brilliantly articulated.
About the author
Patrick Foster is a former professional cricketer, insurance broker and school teacher whose life was shattered by a pathological gambling addiction. He now devotes his life to preventing others following the same path through his work with EPIC Risk Management, the leading gambling harm-minimisation consultancy in the UK.
Will Macpherson is a sports journalist. For the last two years he has been the Evening Standard's cricket and rugby correspondent. Before joining the Evening Standard, he worked mainly for the Guardian and the Times.
Will Macpherson is a sports journalist. For the last two years he has been the Evening Standard's cricket and rugby correspondent. Before joining the Evening Standard, he worked mainly for the Guardian and the Times.
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