Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

John Robins: I’d be dead if I could have gambled online at height of addiction

John Robins (Jane Barlow/PA)
John Robins (Jane Barlow/PA)

John Robins has said he would have probably killed himself if he had access to online gambling at the height of his addiction.

The comedian and radio presenter said he started gambling at the age of 16 on fruit machines in pubs but the situation got out of hand and he became desperate and started self-harming.

Speaking in a BBC Three documentary Can You Beat the Bookies? he said: “I haven’t really spoken about it.

“I’ve tried to write about it but it’s something that means too much to be funny about it I guess. It’s part of my life pre-comedy.”

Describing how he got into fruit machines, he said: “For me it was a way of switching my brain off. As soon as I was stood in front of a fruit machine it was just like flicking a switch, where I didn’t think about anything.”

Robins eventually went to Gamblers Anonymous, and said: “The situation was getting very out of control and I was very desperate and self-harming.

“This was about 1999/2000 but over the course of going, the make-up of the groups that I went to got progressively younger and as gambling moved online a lot more women started going.”

Asked by fellow comedian Lloyd Griffith how he thought he would fare today if he was a teenager with access to gambling online, he said: “If I had the same problem now as an 18-year-old as I did then, with access to the internet and apps on my phone, I would probably be dead because I would have killed myself.

Fruit machines
The comedian said his problem began with pub fruit machiness around 1999/2000 (Katie Collins/PA)

“And what is quite scary is that in all the progress that we have made in understanding problem gambling, it’s actually easier to become one now than it was 15 or 20 years ago.”

In the programme, Griffith embarks on an experiment to find out if he can uncover the secrets of gambling success and in the process learn the truth about how the industry operates, meeting both professional gamblers and those who have suffered the consequences of gambling addiction.

The Gambling Commission, which is responsible for regulating the gambling industry, said: “Licensees are required to have procedures for interacting with customers who may be at risk of harm and should take account of the level of expenditure incurred by a customer.

“Operators must step in if any customer shows signs of problem gambling.”

Can You Beat the Bookies? is available on BBC Three from 10am on August 4.