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Nicolas Hamilton is currently working on a campaign with GambleAware to break the stigma surrounding gambling harm; however, it wasn’t too long ago that he suffered his own troubles from it
Nicolas Hamilton may come from a family of sporting royalty – but he felt as though he had nowhere to turn when his gambling spiralled out of control.
The brother of seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis, 33-year-old Nicolas, admits that at his lowest moment, his experiences with gambling harm left him with barely a penny to his name. After reaching out to Samaritans – and eventually, his family – Nicolas is now clear of the “dark spot” that betting dragged him into, and is now striving to help others who find themselves looking to overcome the obstacle.
“It just started out as a real simple bet on football,” Nicolas, a racing driver in the British Touring Car Championship himself, told the Mirror in an exclusive interview. “I did it with a friend of mine. We were watching an Arsenal game or whatever, and he was like, ‘Why don’t you chuck two pounds on Arsenal to score?’. And that’s how it started.
“I got roped into going on websites and seeing more online gambling in terms of live casinos and stuff like that. That’s where it really hooked me – it was the amount that I was winning so quickly.
“The wins really got me fired up. But also the losses didn’t really repel me away, and then it just spiralled from there where it just got worse and worse and worse.
“It put me in a dark spot, in a dark place that I didn’t want to tell anybody about. I was living a parallel life. I was going over to my parents for dinner, but they didn’t know that I was going through everything personally and really feeling quite low in myself. That’s how it grips you.”
Like for many who experience challenges with their gambling, Nicolas fell down the trap of trying to get his finances back on track by staking more, until he had lost everything. On turning a new leaf, he said: “That’s when I was like, right, something needs to change.
“But it was hard because at the time I didn’t really have a career. I didn’t really feel like anyone really cared about me in terms of what I wanted to do.
“I’m not talking about my family. I’m just talking about general society. And so, yeah, I was a very lost man at that point. And that’s when I reached out to the Samaritans and then they got me to eventually speak to my parents. My parents were the most supportive people and that’s what threw me out of it.”
Nicolas joined football commentator Clive Tyldesley and the Football Supporters’ Association in supporting continual initiatives by GambleAware to raise awareness of gambling harm. This week, he was present at a powerful installation featuring 85,000 poker chips – one for every child currently experiencing gambling harm in Britain – which was unveiled at the Westfield shopping centre in White City, London.
A recent YouGov survey of 85,000 people found that more than two-thirds of the UK public feel there is still a stigma around gambling harm. A similar number said that they saw gambling advertising ‘everywhere’.
Of those experiencing gambling harm, 24% said that they were not seeking support due to feelings of shame or embarrassment. “We’re trying to really showcase the difficulty around advertising with gambling and how that can affect pretty much everyone in terms of gambling harm,” Nicolas added.
“A lot of people in the UK are being affected by gambling. It doesn’t really matter what age you are. It seems [people] 12 onwards are affected by gambling in loads of different forms and all over the UK in terms of marketing and advertising.
“We’re trying to create more awareness around it, try and get people to speak up more, be honest and open about their situation, their addiction, and really start to tackle it at the root cause. And hopefully, at the end of the day, help a lot of people.
“There’s a lot of people at rock bottom, and although you might feel low at this moment in time, times will get better. But you have to make the correct steps to do that.
“And personally, for me, it would be to, firstly, accept where you are – accept that you have an issue, accept that you need help, and start reaching out for that help.
“It doesn’t have to be your family. It doesn’t have to be your parents or whoever. As I said, there are people like the Samaritans out there. Sometimes you just need someone to listen to, someone to be that supporter’s ear.
“Make that step and then eventually start turning to the people close to you, because you really don’t realise until you have to ask for support from your family how amazing they are.
“Some people don’t have a family, so if you don’t, turn to charities, supportive charities. There’s many out there, and there’s loads of people in the same position. So don’t feel alone and get the support you need.”
If you’re worried about how gambling makes you feel, you can find free, confidential advice, tools and support, by searching GambleAware or contacting the National Gambling Helpline, available 24/7, on 0808 8020 133.
