Financial News

The comparison website says 13% of gamers can only afford their habit by borrowing money and a further 8% are using up personal savings.

Figures show that one in three adults around 14.3 million people claim to gamble once a month, spending on average £21 a month.

But nearly a million people, three quarters of whom are men, spend between £50 and £150 a month taking on the odds.

Sean Gardner, chief executive of MoneyExpert.com, said: Millions of us enjoy a flutter on the Grand National and play the Lottery every week. But borrowing money to fund a habit like gambling is potentially disastrous itll inevitably lead you down a dangerous spiral of more and more debt. Borrowing when there is by definition a real risk youll lose the money is a dangerous game to play whether you win or lose your creditors will want their money back. Anyone who is betting using a credit card for example should be extremely wary if you start to miss repayments itll affect your credit rating. Its easy to lose track of the money you owe on your credit card, particularly with online gambling.