National Student Money Week runs from 2nd to 6th of March 2026. Students regularly share with us how gambling is affecting their lives.
Our Money Guidance Service has put together this blog outlining three money mistakes we commonly hear about, along with the support available if you are affected by your own or someone else’s gambling.
1. Budgeting for the first time
Having access to your own money for the first time is a big responsibility. Student grants and loans often arrive as large lump sums which can make budgeting a real challenge, particularly for those leaving home for the first time. It is entirely normal to find this overwhelming.
There are various tips and tools you can use when learning to budget. One option worth considering is a bank account with separate spending pots to help you budget, sometimes known as a ‘jam jar’ account, which can make it easier to manage different expenses, including gambling.
2. Gambling to raise extra money
We often hear from students who tell us they started gambling when they started college or university or when first leaving home. Many cite financial pressure, with the hope that a big win could ease the strain. For others, it began as a social activity with friends, whether betting on football, or going to a casino.. Some turned to it when they felt bored, lonely or isolated.
You might want to consider adding a bank gambling block to your cards. These are free tools offered by most UK banks to help get your gambling under control and allow for an extra layer of friction to help stop yourself from gambling.
3. Chasing losses
It is common for students to experience some wins and then feel the need to continue to gamble to win more. This often leads to significant losses. As the losses mount, students tell us they find themselves chasing losses and falling deeper into financial difficulties. This can lead to students falling behind on bills and resorting to borrowing from friends and family, taking out loans and credit cards to stay afloat.
If this sounds familiar, you can take control now using self-exclusion and blocking tools like Gamban and GAMSTOP.
We’re here to help
Help is available through our Money Guidance Service. If you are aged 18 or over, you can get support from one of our Money Guidance Specialists who can work with you to get a better understanding of your finances, look at your priorities, help you get the support you need if you have debts, support you to put together a budget and help you take control of your finances.
We are not here to tell you what you do with your money and we will never judge you. We understand how hard it can be asking for help but we can support in a way that works for you.
If you would like support from our Money Guidance Service, call our National Gambling Helpline on 0808 802 0133 or via live chat. The line is open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. Just call and ask if you could be referred through to the Money Guidance Service. The Helpline Adviser will do a short assessment and refer you through to us if we can support you.
The post Three money mistakes students make with gambling (and how to get help) appeared first on GamCare.
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A Private Blog Network (PBN) is a collection of websites that are controlled by a single individual or organization and used primarily to build backlinks to a “money site” in order to influence its ranking in search engines such as Google. The core idea behind a PBN is based on the importance of backlinks in Google’s ranking algorithm. Since Google views backlinks as signals of authority and trust, some website owners attempt to artificially create these signals through a controlled network of sites.
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