Client Case Study – Reece’s Story

This is the story of Reece*, a 34-year-old army veteran from Queensland who started to gamble while he was in the military.

His gambling increased to the point of becoming harmful after he left the military, particularly due to his excess amount of time, lack of structure like he had in the military, and the ease of gambling at venues like return service leagues (RSLs).

Reece contacted Gambling Help when he began to realise the financial devastation that gambling was having on his life. The Gambling Help Service (GHS) helped Reece to control his gambling, get back on track towards his personal and financial goals, and break down the gambling-related stigmas he was worried about.

Client’s name has been changed to protect his anonymity.

Picking up gambling while in the military

Reece joined the army when he was 19; most of the people enlisting with him were between the ages of 18-24.

Many of Reece’s peers in the army had come from working at a local shop earning only a couple hundred dollars of week.

When enlisting, they were suddenly living on a defense base earning thousands of dollars per fortnight with little or no living costs. Many of these individuals were also adjusting to living away from home for the first time.

Reece described the military workplace as a densely populated, high pressure environment.

Reece noticed that many of his peers in the army turned to alcohol, gambling, or drugs to break up the military lifestyle. He observed that it was to let off steam and to fill spare time. The sudden surplus of income and lack of expenses only contributed to these choices, especially gambling. Online gambling and gambling apps made gambling easily accessible.

Reece determined the gambling to be an admittedly unproductive use of time that put a lot of individuals in potentially vulnerable and risky positions.

After the military: Gambling increases as Reece returns to civilian life

Gambling formed a big part of Reece’s adult life both during and after his time in the military.
Like many others, Reece found the transition from military life to lack structure and routine.

“Sometimes you’re not sure what to do – how to structure a day and time can be difficult. When you’ve been ordered where to be and what to do, the idea of now having choices can be difficult to deal with at first. You can easily see how clubs and gambling are appealing while you’re working out what’s next.”
After leaving the military, Reece accepted a role at an island resort off the coast of his Queensland hometown. This job came with long shifts and a requirement to be available on call outside of his rostered shift times. This work pattern took a lot of Reece’s energy and made it hard to rest between shifts.

On his days off, Reece would take the ferry home where he would spend a lot of time in gaming venues. For Reece, the electronic gambling machines (EGMs) were an outlet to release stress and unwind while he was off the clock and had no demands.

Reece realised his visits to the gaming venues were stretching up to six hours. He recalled looking at his watch in “absolute shock,” thinking he’d been there for 45 minutes – only to find that several hours had gone by.

“Regret and remorse” – Reece’s gambling reaches a tipping point

That’s when Reece decided to contact the Gambling Help service (GHS).

Contacting Gambling Help – “Help and support outweighed what I’d hoped or expected”
Reece called Gambling Help, not having any clue what to expect. He was connected to a Gambling Help counsellor, who he spoke to for an entire hour.

“I knew I was being heard without judgment. I wasn’t being rushed off the phone. I was quite emotional… It meant a lot to be treated as a human. That initial call was supportive and nonjudgmental. Help and support outweighed what I’d hoped or expected.”

Reaching out to the GHS helped Reece feel less alone in his situation. Realising others were going through similar things helped reduce the intensity and make it all more manageable.

“Whatever your challenge might be, it’s easy to think you’re the only one going through it. Knowing I wasn’t the only person to have called the GHS seemed like I stepped out of the hot seat.”

Gambling counselling with the Gambling Help

Reece found his experience with the GHS to be helpful.

“Having someone to speak to instead of having it all roll around in my head, finding different ways to think about what happened, and planning where I could take things from there was hugely valuable. Help and support outweighed what I’d hoped or expected. The initial call experience was so good and led to such a good outcome.”

His conversations with his Gambling Help counsellor encouraged him to continue pursuing gambling counselling.

“Follow-up sessions with the GHS got better and our conversations got deeper each time. My conversations were with real people, and I was being treated like a real person the whole time.”

Setting new goals through gambling counselling

One part of gambling counselling focuses on setting goals and working out strategies to reach them.
“It wasn’t until I stopped that I could see the gambling for what it was, how wrapped up in it I was… I was blind to what I was doing and lost sight of my other goals. Counselling helped me step back and gain perspective of what I really wanted to do with my money and myself.”

Moving forward from gambling harm

Gambling counselling can help you with strategies and coping mechanisms to help you reduce or stop your gambling.
Your counsellor will work with you to find strategies suited to you and your lifestyle.

“For me it’s been really important to build strong connections: it could be talking with friends, exercising, or going for a walk. Having something there so I don’t have to fill an empty void through gambling.”

What gambling help and support would you like to see for veterans?

Like all Australians, military veterans have especially easy access to gambling. RSLs across Queensland have gaming rooms complete with pokies and slot machines.

“A lot of RSL clubs are set up for veterans to keep connections with the service community. These places recognise the work and lifestyle veterans have had. A lot of the time RSLs pretty dense with poker machines… It would be good to have places like that where gambling isn’t a focus.”