My husband bets £100 a month. Is that a lot?

[Cherryblossom36]

I've just discovered that my husband bets £109 a month and I was really shocked. I knew he betted on the football but didn't know it was to this extent. Am I overreacting by being stressed?

Is he using family money for betting?

Depends if you have a spare £100 a month. How would he react to you buying a £100 bag each month?

To me any amount spent on betting is too much. It's such a waste of money.

He seems to think that betting small amounts each time makes it ok and he makes some money out of it each month but just a small amount. I personally don't think we have spare money as I work part time so each month we just cover costs. He does do extra shifts though so uses some of this money to bet I think. I would never spend £100 on myself each month but do buy the odd dress etc

Depends on
A) whether you have the money and
B) whether he has it rigidly budgeted as hobby money and is able to stick to it.

It’s quite a lot - if someone’s Sky TV bill was 100 quid a month I’d say “really?!”, but lots of comfortably off people do spend that much on going out on a Saturday night, or live football or wine or theatre or spa treatments or whatever. If you can afford it and he really doesn’t have a gambling problem then I’d say that betting on sports can be a reasonable hobby (unlike online casinos or fixed odds terminals which are always aimed at driving addictive behaviour).

X-post - in that case it sounds like you don’t have the money to spare and you should ask him to cut back to maybe a tenner a week or something you can afford.

What else does he spend money on? For example -
Does he play golf (expensive)
Does he always buy the latest strip for whatever football team he supports (100+)

£100 is less than some people spend on beer each month. It's all relative.

Absolutely depends on income.

Is he using family money for betting?

Surely all money is family money?

It is a lot, even if your income was high.

I'd tell him that you each need to get an equal amount of disposable income per month to fritter as you please. If he says there isn't any spare income then the obvious answer is that you both get £50, he can gamble his away and you can use yours to buy clothes.

Gambling is always a waste of money

Well we have a three year old so we don't really go out much drinking etc. Maybe it's his way of escapism? I certainly go for coffees and buy dresses :)

Of course it depends on income but for me, yes, that's a lot.

My partner wasted £70 on the fruit machines this weekend. A couple of weeks ago, it was 200.

Unfortunately, this is a regular occurrence and it drives me up the wall. We can just about afford it.

So I think it depends, really, on your income and budget; as long as you have the money for the necessities, and to save, it's ok. Not ideal, but ok.

If he generally covers the cost of doing it, then he's not spending £100 is he - though budgeting to spend £100 is prudent.

Used to work with a guy who bet on the horses and made a couple hundred a month above the couple hundred bring bet, though after taking cost of newspapers etc into account it was under minimum wage for the hours he had to put into it.

Depends if you have similar amount if spare time and hobby money I guess.

If he's winning enough to cover his outlay I don't see the problem.

Dh and I probably spend about that much on betting between us each month - although a bit more maybe if there's a big meeting on.

It comes out of our respective 'entertainment' money, which is calculated after bills and savings so not an issue.

Are you getting a similar amount to spend as you wish?

Forget the figures for a minute, look at the behaviour

Just discovered - does he hide it or even just not tell you?

Do you have access to all accounts, bank, credit cards and most importantly credit files?

If the answer is no start posting on friends and family in forum of gamcare

Experience: over 20 years addiction, currently 360 days gamble free.