Gambling Problem with my brother?

Question

I realy want to help my young Brother, and he is verry smart man, works so hard, and earns good money, but he is so much in debt, and iam tired of bailing him out, or giving advises he realy have a problem and i cant give up on him becouse he is my brother so what do i do to get him out of this habit?

Answer 1

As others have noted, professional help is certainly the best choice, not only for your brother but for you as well.

I am not a professional but I have worked with some because I am in a situation similar to yours. I also have a sibling who is a problem gambler.

Until your brother accepts that he has a problem and needs help dealing with it there is a limited amount you can do.

I believe one of the first things you need to do is to stop "bailing him out" unless he is willing to accept that he has a problem and is willing to work on it.

Here are some things I have done to help my sister:

(1) paid for here to get professional health

(2) required her to set up an account at the bank that requires two signatures for any withdrawal

(3) required her to give me authorization to transfer funds between accounts at her bank through telephone banking. Every payday before the bank opens I transfer her pay to the two signature account. Later in the day we get together and get money orders to pay her bills from the two signature account.

(4) to reduce the amount of cash she has available, I also take "gift cards" for groceries and gas to that meeting. I give here those cards for their value in cash.

(5) we participate in a conference phone call with my other sister every week

Obviously none of this would be possible without her cooperation, and she would not cooperate if she did not accept that she had a gambling problem, and that she needs help dealing with it. The longer you, or others, bail out your brother, the longer he can deny the problem.

If you are not familiar win Gam-Anon I suggest visiting their site at

http://www.gam-anon.org/

for more information.

Answer 2

get him help he needs it thats an addiction help him threw it.

Answer 3

Gambling is only a problem if you lose.  

If he's into sports betting, find out which team he's betting on and take the other side.  If he's a loser than you'll be a winner.

Answer 4

I think you also know that he needs professional help.  Gambling addiction is just that...an ADDICTION.  So find yourself a qualified professional to help him out because he can always turn himself around with a little support from friends and family!

Good luck!

Answer 5

That's good that you love your Brother.

Unfortunately, when you bail him out, it prevents him from hitting his bottom and experiencing the true negative consequences of his actions.

Tell him you love him, but you won't be able to give him money anymore.

He needs to go to GA (Gambler's Anonymous) and YOU need to go to Al-Anon (For friends & family of addicts/alcoholics)

You really can't control what your Brother does, but you can take care of yourself. Tough love.

Good Luck,

Yam King

Answer 6

I had a gambling problem in the past. I reckon I have lost £20,000 due to gambling and I'm only 21. Luckily though I have never fell into debt. But I have learnt my lesson and WILL NEVER gamble again. There's bet money to spend your hard earned mone on.