TV documentary: Gambling addict Defne (23) gambles away 100,000 euros in one night

Last Tuesday (23 January) a documentary about gambling addiction was broadcast on ZDF. The 20-minute programme is about 23-year-old Defne, who became addicted to gambling at the tender age of 19. At the height of her addiction, she lost around 100,000 euros in an online casino in just one night. But how did this lovely young woman lose so much money at such a young age, and how is she doing now?

Defne, who was 19 at the time, was already living life to the full and was very successful both professionally and personally. She ran her own online shop, was good with money, hardworking and disciplined. She first came into contact with gambling in 2019, when she and her then-boyfriend deposited €50 in an online casino - and promptly won €300. She split the winnings with her ex-boyfriend. Even then, she enjoyed playing in the online casino. However, six months passed before she visited an online casino again - this time alone.

Young entrepreneur gets into debt through online casinos

In the ZDF documentary, which was only broadcast on 23 January, Defne explained that at the age of 19 she started playing for comparatively small amounts. After gambling away her first 50 euros, she started chasing the money she had lost - a fatal vicious circle:

"The first 50 euros were gambled away (...) And I thought: OK, the next 50 euros after that. As if I'm going to lose 50 euros twice in a row".

When Defne was 21, there was a time when she stopped gambling for a very long time. During this time, she set up her own online shop, which went from strength to strength. She says she had over 15,000 customers and was making "very, very good money". She credits her success to her reach on TikTok.

In the following months, Defne moved to Berlin. Here she lived with her girlfriend in a luxurious loft apartment. Financially, she took care to build up sufficient tax reserves and was otherwise very successful both privately and professionally. By her own account, she did not gamble at all during this period.

Shortly before burnout, Defne returned to online casinos

Over time, however, the pressure mounted and Defne felt increasingly overwhelmed by her online shop. This, combined with relationship problems, led her to return to online casinos. Thanks to her successful online shop, she was now in a much better financial position, so she started playing for a lot more money. Eventually, Defne herself realised that her gambling was problematic:

"When I noticed that I was losing more and more money, I started to block myself. But it's online - there are hundreds of millions of sites where you can gamble. When you felt the urge to gamble, you just opened a new account somewhere".

Back in 2021, we at GambleJoe published an article trying to answer the question of how responsible gambling can work.

Defne gambled away around €100,000 in just one night

In the documentary, Defne also talks about her biggest online casino win. With a stake of €2,500, she won around €100,000 in one go. At first, she wanted to go to sleep and stop playing after this impressive win. But since she couldn't sleep, she started playing again.

In the end, she played through the night and lost all her previous winnings - 100,000 euros gone in a matter of hours. Defne says it was the lowest point of her life. In a slightly older guide, we at GambleJoe answer the question of how to recognise and effectively combat gambling addiction.

Tax reserves gambled away - livelihood destroyed

In the weeks and months that followed, the 23-year-old gambled away not only her impressive €100,000 winnings, but also her other assets, including tax reserves for her online shop. The young woman gambled away most of her money in live casinos. These are still not licensed in Germany.

After gambling away all her money, Defne was unable to pay her bills and became insolvent. Today, she is estimated to owe around 70,000 euros. She is now planning to file for personal bankruptcy.

She believes that all forms of gambling should be banned:

"I definitely think that anything to do with gambling in general should be banned. I understand that it's an experience. But there are other ways to entertain yourself and maybe not put your life at risk".

As recently as the end of December 2023,we wondered in an article whether a complete ban on gambling advertising would make sense.

Conclusion

At the end of the ZDF documentary, Defne revealed that she is currently trying to recover at least some of her casino losses with the help of a law firm. After moving back to her parents' home in Berlin, she also started therapy. After her experiences with money and gambling, material things are no longer important to the 23-year-old. Defne's final words in the documentary are surprising: "An addict will always be an addict!".

Image source: https://www.zdf.de/funk/tru-doku-12074/funk-gluecksspielsucht-defne-23-verschuldet-sich-durch-online-casinos-102.html (Screenshot)