A former conman has revealed how he lost eight-figures through his gambling addiction, stealing from friends, family, and employers to fund the spending. [Image: Shutterstock.com]

Starting young

Former conman Pat Sheedy has written a book while in prison detailing his crippling gambling addiction that saw him lose about €1m ($1.1m) and receive almost 100 criminal convictions.

his first-ever bet was at the age of 12

The Irishman spoke to the Irish Independent about how his first-ever bet was at the age of 12 when his father asked him to go to a nearby retail sportsbook. Addiction started taking hold three years later after he won 100x his stake from a bet, giving him a significant sum back in the 1980s.

He described how he loved the feeling that gambling gave him, providing an escape from the rest of his life. Sheedy was robbing his employer, family, and friends to fund the betting by the time he was 20 years old.

Turning things around

He avoided prison time by agreeing to go to a treatment center in 1991 for his addiction, and this helped him avoid betting for about 12 years before he decided to place a bet again. This led to an on-off spiral with addiction once again over the intervening years, ripping people off by selling fake rugby tickets and stealing from employers once more.

started educating himself in prison and took a creative writing course

After receiving a four-and-a-half-year sentence in October 2020, Sheedy started educating himself in prison and took a creative writing course, which led to him writing ‘A Hundred to One.’ He believes that getting incarcerated ultimately saved his life.

Calling for change

Sheedy highlighted how destructive online gambling can be, describing how retail sportsbooks in Ireland closed at 4pm in the 1980s compared to people now having access 24/7 to betting sites. He believes he would be dead if online gambling was around when he was a teenager.

Sheedy will return to his former prison on Friday to host two writing workshops and hand out free copies of his new book.

He called on the Irish government to pass new gambling legislation “as a matter of urgency.” This bill would create a new regulator in Ireland, introduce stricter rules around gambling ads, and have more comprehensive player protection laws.