Gambling Recovery: Taking Back Your Life

This week, I’m joined by Daniel Bullen, host of The Addicted Recovery Show, a podcast reaching people across the globe with honest conversations about gambling addiction, recovery, relapse, and rebuilding life after gambling. Daniel’s story is one of strength and perseverance. Along with overcoming gambling addiction, he survived a devastating car accident that could have easily claimed his life....

What happens when a man spends years chasing the next high, the next bet, the next escape, only to realize he’s really been running from himself? Today’s guest, Tom Jenkins, knows that story all too well. His journey has taken him from gambling and alcohol addiction to a relentless search for meaning, purpose, and recovery. Originally from the UK and now living in Colombia, Tom has spent years ask...

Today’s guest is someone who has become one of the leading voices in gambling addiction awareness and prevention, especially when it comes to young adults and sports betting culture. Saul Malek grew up in Houston, Texas, in a loving family. What started as a fun way to connect with friends eventually evolved into sports betting after being introduced to a local bookmaker during college. And like s...

For a long time, gambling felt harmless to Mickie. It was exciting. Social. Fun. A way to escape reality for a little while. It started with casinos, scratch off tickets, laughter with friends, and moments that felt alive. But over time, the excitement slowly turned into secrecy, obsession, isolation, and emotional exhaustion. In this deeply vulnerable episode, Mickie shares how gambling gradually...

Some addictions are easy for the world to recognize. Others hide behind success, routines, and a smile. From the outside, Mary D. looked like she had built a beautiful life, a thriving career, a family, stability, and everything many people spend years chasing. But behind closed doors, she was fighting a private war with gambling addiction that nearly took everything from her. Mary’s story did not...

Some people are remembered for what they had. Others are remembered for what they achieved. My mom is remembered for how she made people feel, loved, welcomed, laughed with, and never forgotten. In this episode, I share the story of Carmella, a woman raised in Chicago’s Little Italy neighborhood who became the kind of person people never forgot. She was strong, funny, stubborn, deeply caring, and...

Renée Siegel has spent over 40 years helping people heal, grow, and better understand themselves. As a mental health counselor and Enneagram coach, she also works closely with individuals and families impacted by gambling addiction. In this episode, Renée shares how the Enneagram became a powerful tool in her practice, while also opening up about her personal experience with a gambling addict in h...

In this episode, I sit down with Reeve L., whose story didn’t start with gambling, but with growing up in it. He watched it tear his family apart and swore he would never become that person. But years later, during a battle with cancer, gambling became his escape… and slowly turned into the very thing he once feared. What followed was years of silence, isolation, and losing himself completely, unt...

Every person who develops a gambling addiction has a beginning. For many of us, it doesn’t start in a casino.
It doesn’t start with massive losses or life falling apart. It often starts with something that looks harmless…
a card game with friends, a March Madness bracket, a trip to the race track, or watching poker on television and imagining what it would feel like to sit at that table. At first,...

Father George A. spent his life guiding others through faith, offering strength, hope, and spiritual direction to those in need. But behind the collar and the calling, he was quietly fighting a battle of his own. What began as a harmless escape slowly became something far more powerful, an addiction to gambling that pulled him into secrecy, shame, and a life that felt completely at odds with the m...

Today’s episode is an honest look at gambling addiction and recovery. Mason B. shares how gambling quietly took over his time, his work, his relationships, and his mental health, all while appearing functional on the outside. He opens up about secrecy, shame, bipolar disorder, and the constant pull to escape, numb, and chase more. I wanted to share Mason’s story to show what recovery can look like...

My guest is Jody Bechtold, LCSW, ICGC, IGDC, PC — a clinician, educator, and advocate who has spent her life standing at the intersection of addiction, mental health, and human suffering. As the CEO of The Better Institute, Jody works daily with individuals and families whose lives have been quietly fractured by gambling addiction. What sets Jody apart is not just her credentials or expertise, but...

Thank you to every single person who has listened, shared, and supported this podcast. Whether you’ve been here since episode one or you tuned in for just a single conversation, thank you. Your presence matters more than you know. As we close out Season 1, this recap isn’t just about numbers or milestones, it’s about growth. I’ll be talking about what I learned, the mistakes I made along the way,...

Today’s guest is someone who chose integrity over silence.  Massachusetts State Senator John F. Keenan, who represents the Norfolk and Plymouth District, has emerged as one of the most courageous voices in America calling out sports betting for what it has become: a growing public-health crisis. While many celebrate the revenue, Senator Keenan has been willing to confront the human cost. Insanity,...

You heard Bob S. share the night his gambling addiction finally brought him to his knees in episode 2, along with the years of secrets, anxiety, and quiet unraveling that led him there. Today, we’re turning toward the other side of that story. Karen, Bob’s wife, lived through every part of this journey without a guide: the confusion, the red flags, the half-truths, the moment everything came crash...

In this powerful episode, I sit down with Dane L, someone who’s lived through many painful layers of gambling addiction: the rush, the secrets, the chaos, and the fallout that touches every corner of life. Dane talks about burning through jobs, lying to family, and sinking deep into debt , convinced that fixing the money would fix everything. But instead, the addiction took more: his peace, his ma...

In this episode of Gambling Recovery: Taking Back Your Life, im going to take you inside one of the fastest growing addictions in American sports gambling. A mental health emergency  What started as a game has become a business built on human weakness and temptation. 
Once about heart, competition, and being present with friends and family,  sports have been rewritten by odds, profits, and algorit...

Today’s episode features Allen H., a man whose story of recovery spans more than thirty years. Even after more than three decades free from gambling, Allen remains deeply committed to his recovery , still attending three to four GA meetings each week and giving back through service. He’s a living example of humility, gratitude, and what it means to never forget how powerful this disease truly is....

Today I sit down with Steve Kapela, a man whose life is proof that recovery can take you further than you ever imagined. Steve has been free from gambling, alcohol, and drugs since May 12, 2008, and in the years since, he’s not only rebuilt his own life but dedicated himself to helping others do the same. He’s become a trailblazer in peer recovery, a licensed social worker, and one of the earliest...

At 23 years old, Teddy S. first walked into the rooms of Gamblers Anonymous with his mother by his side. He wouldn’t see the inside of another GA room until the age of 45. And by then, the addiction had only grown darker and more destructive. When Teddy finally made the decision to take recovery seriously, everything changed, and he has never looked back. But recovery is never a journey walked alo...

Sometimes in recovery, you meet someone whose story feels less like coincidence and more like destiny. That was the case when I first heard Adam H share his journey. On an ordinary Saturday morning, while celebrating 15 years free from gambling, Adam spoke with a depth and honesty that felt like a spiritual awakening. In that moment, it was clear his path and mine had crossed for a reason. Adam’s...

This episode is for my parents, and my brother  Today, I’m doing something I’ve been carrying in my heart since the day I entered recovery. This episode is for my parents ,the two people who stood in the storm of my addiction long before I ever saw it for what it was. My mom passed two years ago. My dad, just this past May. And as I try to make sense of life without them, I find myself reflecting...

Today’s guest is a special one, and not just because of what he does, but because of how our paths crossed. Sam Sherman isn’t just someone I admire in the mental health space, he’s the reason this podcast exists. Years ago, I met a man named Teddy in a Gamblers anonymous room who made a lasting impact on my life. I never imagined that decades later, I’d be teaming up with his nephew to launch a po...

Today’s episode is one of truth, vulnerability, and the courage it takes to begin again. My guest, Brian R is here to share the history of his gambling, his personal admission of powerlessness and the unmanageability that followed. This is more than a list of consequences. This is a look inside the life of someone who spent decades chasing bets, hiding lies, and losing pieces of himself along the...

From innocent March Madness brackets with his brothers to secret loans, mounting debts, and gambling away life’s biggest milestones. Jordan’s addiction didn’t explode overnight. It crept in quietly, tightening its grip until his world began to fall apart. For over two decades, he lived in the illusion of control, telling himself he had limits, that he could manage the chaos, that one more bet migh...