At his headiest high, he was raking in wins of S$100,000. But for *Michael (not his real name), gambling was never just about the money.
“I was looking for thrills,” he told Salt&Light.
Six-figure wins happened often enough to feed that hunger. But the peaks were always bracketed by long seasons of devastating losses. He once accumulated a debt of S$500,000 within a year. On another occasion, he parted ways with close to S$20,000 in just one casino visit.
“You’re chasing your losses. But most of the time, you don’t win.”
He thought nothing of taking loans and maxing out credits cards to feed his habit. When the need to tango with Lady Luck deepened into an addiction, he resorted to begging from relatives, then…