Gambling and My Life: From Detriment to Friend, and Back to Detriment

Sports Gambling: (n) A drug used by many sports fans to make their viewing more exciting. A hindrance to thrill seeking persons all over the world, often affecting the way that they live their everyday lives.

All right, so I made that definition up off the top of my head, but I think it is pretty accurate. Everybody knows that sports gambling, and gambling in general, can be dangerous—so what happens when it first affects a 15-year-old boy?  How will it hinder him—how big of a negative impact will it have on his life?

I am the living example of this. Now 18, I still suffer from an addiction to gambling. This is a short recap...

I started legitimately gambling when I was 15, a sophomore in high school. I was basically bored with my life, craving the excitement you hear so often about, so I started by dropping out of school.

I started working at a Pizza Hut—an experience I would like to forget—until I was eventually fired for eating a piece of pizza out of a customer's delivery order. Well, the college football season had just begun, and I was a huge Texas Tech fan...

Tech was scheduled to play in Lubbock against Sam Houston St., and I saw a line for the game with the over being 70 points. I knew for a fact that Tech alone would score for more than that against their worst opponent of the season, and I went looking for a local bookie who would take an obscure bet.

I didn't need to look far, as one of my closest friend's brothers was a bookie. He limited my bet to $200 as it was such an odd bet to place, but alas, it was made. Tech ended up winning 80-21, and easily covering it, thus making me a profitable first-timer.

My next bet of the season would come three weeks later, against a Nebraska team that was 4-0 at the time, although losing to Tech 70-10 the season before. I found a line as of Wednesday that surprisingly was even and approached the same bookie. I tried to place the bet. He took it, but only by my agreeing to pay out $400 to win $300.

I agreed, almost sure in my mind that Tech would manhandle the Cornhuskers.

Tech took a 21-point lead before squandering it and trailed 31-27 with two minutes left. That is where the excitement happened. Tech QB Cody Hodges was intercepted with 1:11 left, and the game was over—or so I thought.

I kicked the coffee table, breaking it into three pieces, and headed upstairs—but then I heard the words, "He fumbled it!" As I looked back, the Nebraska defender, trying to run the ball back, fumbled it back to Texas Tech. Tech ended up scoring with 11 seconds left on fourth down and won me $300.

I couldn't answer why the coffee table was broken, and my parents were mad for a while, but I didn't care. I was addicted to the money, the excitement, and the suspense that hinges on every play.

I ended up picking some bogus parlay the next week and winning something like $117, but I didn't care. I was too hyped about the Texas/Texas Tech game the next week. I had talked to the bookie about it for a week in advance, letting him know that I was going to put down a lot of money on the game, and I was assured he would be able to take it.

The game finally arrived, and I put $1,250 on the game at Tech. I waited until Friday to make the bet though, as the line changed to 10.5. I sat and waited hours downstairs for the kickoff to arrive.

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