Just a few minutes of madness caused Gabriel Lim, 28, to
lose S$100,000 – his entire life savings – on an online gaming
website. What possessed him to take such a risk?
Currently unemployed, the former store supervisor first got
hooked to online baccarat last November after
friends introduced him to the game.
The lure of ”easy money” induced Lim to set up an account
with the online gaming website. Initially, Lim started with
small S$5 bets but blessed with ”beginner’s luck”, his
winnings soon came up to an average of S$2,000 a day in the
first few months.
“I was playing it almost three hours each day at home and
sometimes in the office too,” he told Yahoo! Singapore.
“I remember winning S$15,000 within a day, it really felt
good,” said the diploma holder, who quit his job to focus
full-time on his new passion.
The adrenaline “rush” from winning big caused Lim to make
bigger and bigger bets, all in the hope of making a
huge windfall. Then came the crash in March earlier this year
— in just a matter of minutes.
Revealing how he lost $100,000 in the blink of an eye, he
said, “The simple rule [in online gambling] is to use the
‘doubling up’ method, where you double your bet amount each time
you lose. But remember, once you lose ten games in a row, log off
and accept defeat,” Lim said.
“But I lost discipline and control and went against the ‘rule’.
I continued with the 11th game thinking I would be able to win
back my losses but lost everything instead.”
“I was stunned for a few minutes and when I realised all my
money was gone, the only thing I wanted to do was smash things up
to vent my anger and frustration,” he said.
Afraid his parents would find out, he turned to his elder
brother after seeing his personal savings wiped out.
“[My brother] lost S$50,000 at the casino so he understands what
I am going through,” Lim said.
So how is he dealing with the loss?
Lim nonchalantly said no one is to blame except
himself. When Yahoo! Singapore spoke to him, the single man
didn’t appear too affected by losing such a huge sum of
money.
He even remains adamant that he is not a compulsive
gambler. He says he is now looking for a new job so he
can start saving from scratch in order to build up another
pool of capital.
“I will continue to gamble once I save enough cash and I believe
this time round, I will follow the rules and win back my money,” he
said confidently.
“I don’t consider myself a compulsive gambler because to me,
it’s more of a tactical thing where I strategise to win money. The
key is discipline.”
-- Yahoo!
At 28, he has $100,000.... Certainly not a small amount.
Probably he won them earlier on?
