A 23-year-old university student opens up about their harrowing journey with an online gambling addiction, which began with playing video games as a 12-year-old
As a university student, Niks Kolosnicins, 23 was thousands of pounds in debt, severely isolated and trapped in a vicious addictive cycle of online gambling. Unfortunately, his story is part of a severe and growing problem.
According to a study commissioned by the UK Gambling Commission in partnership with Ygam and Gamestop, almost half (49%) of university students in the UK have gambled in the past 12 months. With 17% at high risk of experiencing gambling-related harm.
Niks was just 12 when he first got into gambling. And it started off with something many kids and teens engage in every day. “I got into gambling through playing video games,” he says. For Niks, it was Counter Strike: Global Offensive, a popular shooting game available on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.
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“Basically you have things called loot boxes,” he continues, “which are quite integrated within the game. So I opened a few loot boxes, which is very normal for kids who play that game, everybody does it.”
Loot boxes in video games are similar to blind boxes, which are items players purchase before they know exactly what’s inside them. The risk comes from the possibility of reward. You can either receive a high-value item or a low-value one.
He was then able to use those items that he bought in blind boxes to sell on an online market and gamble on unregulated websites that “don’t have any age verification.” He explains: “Even though it’s not real money, technically, it’s like an in game currency that you’re basically gambling, but it’s very easy to convert those items back into real money.”
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His parents didn’t suspect anything because it just looked like he was asking for money to spend on a video game. “But in reality, I was using pretty much all my pocket money just to gamble,” Niks says.
The problem escalated as he came further into his teens and began placing bets on Esports via illegal websites. It was a vicious cycle – and one that consumed his life.
He would spend his entire day betting until his accounts were down to zero. Then once he ran out of money, he would plan his next bets. He says he was isolated from friends and it took a toll on his schoolwork.
But it only got worse once he began university. “It was a much more isolating experience because you’re learning independently,” he says. “There are no teachers to tell you to go to class or to study. It became much more difficult for me to manage. I didn’t feel like I had much support coming into university.”
Just three months into starting his degree, he says he dropped 25 kilos due to his addiction. “I was about 95 kilos when I first started, then I dropped down to about 70,” he says.
Financially, he was also struggling. He admits he gambled his student loan the summer before he even arrived at university. He didn’t have enough money to pay his rent. But he was too afraid to tell his parents. “I was very ashamed that I gambled all of my money. I didn’t want to upset them. I was scared how they would react.
“It affected my uni studies, but also just everything, mentally, socially. I wasn’t involved in university life whatsoever, because I was completely consumed by gambling and chasing my losses.” He failed his degree twice because of how much time he was spending on his habit.
On top of gambling his student loan, he took up work a delivery courier. “For me as a gambler, this job was the worst thing, because there was no time delay with getting paid,” he says. He could spend it straight away.
“I would deliver even when it was pouring down raining and I wouldn’t stop. I would keep going because I wanted to continue gambling.” He admits he spent most of his student loan and the majority of his earnings on betting. He wasn’t able to pay for his accommodation and he ended up in around £7000 in debt.
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His friends eventually encouraged him to attend Gambling Anonymous meetings, but these didn’t stop the addiction. It was only after he attended a rehabilitation centre for three months that he was able to stop. There, he didn’t have access to his phone or Internet, which meant he wasn’t able to access gambling sites.
Now, he has managed to complete his second year of university, he firmly believes that more awareness should be spread over the dangers of gambling. “It’s a very normal thing for people to gamble, and I didn’t understand, didn’t have awareness at that moment, that it is very addictive and is very difficult to overcome,” he says.
Zoë Osmond, CEO of GambleAware, told The Mirror: “It is vital to protect students and young people from the misconception that gambling is harmless fun. ” She added: “More regulation is needed.
“We have been calling for restrictions to be put on gambling sponsorship and advertising – including a ban on gambling marketing at sports events, which are often attended by younger people – and health warnings to be put on all gambling adverts to make the risks clear and signpost people who are worried about their gambling to where they can get help,” she added.
The Mirror has reached out to Xbox and Playstation for comment.
Anyone worried about how gambling makes them feel can search GambleAware or contact the National Gambling Helpline, available 24/7 on 0808 8020 133 for free and confidential advice, tools and support.