Former gambling addict who started when he was just 14 creates site blocker to help others kick 'scary' habit

A former gambling addict who lost thousands after starting when he was just 14-years-old has launched a site blocker to help others kick what he described as a 'scary' habit. Jack Symons, 35, lost tens of thousands of pounds playing for as long as 14 hours a day after becoming addicted to online slots.

He admitted he was just a teenager when he first started gambling online and said he became 'numb' to the huge financial losses he faced. However, since beating his addiction, he has launched a website blocker after he faced struggles when stopping himself accessing the sites.

He said: “I first discovered online poker at 14 years old and I started to get good at it. My parents didn’t realise I was gambling, from their perspective it looked like I was just gaming, and for a long time I was a very responsible gambler.

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“By the time I went to university, I was playing poker a lot and would withdraw my winnings to put in the bank. Ads for other casino-type games that are more fast-paced and volatile would pop up while I was playing poker... like blackjack and slots," he said.

“I started to get hooked on them and the gambling addiction took over. With those games, it’s quite scary how you can have the ability to lose a lot of money very quickly. I found myself in a gambling trap."

On a losing streak, Jack admits he would increase his bets in an attempt to break even. “I would just plunge more and more money into it," he said.

"It wasn’t as much as other gamblers, at first it was £100 or so in a session. It would make me feel sick to lose that much but it got to a point where my tolerance for loss was going up. I