An ex- gambling addict who tried to take his own life after being kicked out of uni and sacked from jobs told how he turned his life around.
Talented footballer Paul Pettigrew, 25, spent three years in the grip of addiction, which caused him to wake up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat and losing weight as his mental health went out the window.
He was signed with football club Greenock Morton as a teenager but released weeks before his 18th birthday, and first set foot in a casino in Glasgow when he was able to - and left with £1,000.
Gambling filled the gap football had left, along with the rush of winning, and a lucky streak got Paul hooked.Within three months he was gambling every day - but a year later, aged 19, he was £30,000 in debt, and tried to take his own life aged 20 as addiction scrambled his relationships.Paul said: "I had just stopped playing football so there was a massive gap in my life, and it was filled right away by gambling."I went to the casino for the first time with one of my pals.
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