I guess I can now understand what my father went through. I have reached the point where I have almost thrown away a promising career, blown my savings and investments, and almost lost what is most dear to me, my family. So it seems such a cruel joke that today, I find myself in a much worse situation than my father was in. I became a student leader and participated actively in school. When I got into the IT (information technology) and computing course at one of the local universities, I was overjoyed.

I studied hard, despite not having enough money for food, books or uniforms. They would splash paint on the walls, slam and break all our potted plants along the corridor, and bang on our windows every other day at midnight, just when all of us were about to doze off.įrom then on, I promised myself that I would never follow in my father's footsteps. He was a compulsive gambler who would deliberately find funerals to visit just so he could play card games like blackjack.įrom the age of six, I was exposed to the violence and scare tactics of loan sharks. 'GROWING up, I detested my father because he subjected the family to much fear and harassment. He attended a gambling counselling session last Saturday night organised by One Hope Centre. Tim, 34, a father of two, is in debt to the tune of $600,000.

'I lost $600,000 in six months at Resorts World Sentosa'