What most people don\’t realize is that gambling is one of the most serious addictions in existence.
Why do we say this?
Unlike other addictions there\’s no risk of you ever overdosing while gambling – the only limitation on your gambling addiction is how much money you can find to place your next bet with. This obviously results in people being able to accumulate monumental levels of gambling debt which collects more quickly than a snow drift in a New England winter. When it comes to debts of this type before very long you\’ll have creditors knocking on your front door.
There is every chance that your gambling gets so out of hand that, creating a financial hole so deep, that bankruptcy appears to be the only real solution available to you.
The question is though whether or not you can actually discharge gambling debts as part of a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing?
How Bankruptcy Works
The process of being able to declare bankruptcy exists to protect you from creditors and allow you to make a fresh start financially. The most important aspect of being able to declare yourself bankrupt is that you can effectively eliminate some, if not all, of your existing debts. In as little as 5 short years through chapter 13 you can be completely debt free, and have a clean credit history to go with that.
Bankruptcy & Gambling Debts
Technically gambling debt can be discharged as part of your bankruptcy filing, but it\’s far more complicated than a standard debt discharge. Although there are no laws in place to stop you from attempting to discharge gambling debts as part of your bankruptcy filing, you\’ll find that most judges aren\’t overly receptive to cases of this type being brought in front of them.
The main reason why this happens is that in a judge’s eyes you accrued your gambling debt without any intention of actually repaying it, and you hoped that bankruptcy would provide you with a way out of repaying the money you owe.
Debt Timing
In most bankruptcy filings the debts being discharged are usually built up over a period of months or years, and are viewed as \”normal\” debts when it comes to having them discharged. One of the biggest issues courts have with gambling debts is that in the vast majority of cases they\’re incurred just before you file for bankruptcy, proving to the court that the only reason you\’re filing for Chapter 7 or 13 is to get rid of your debts from gambling.
The courts take a very dim view of people who run up massive amounts of debt just before they declare themselves bankrupt, and this is doubly so for a person who has taken out personal loans or credit cards to gamble away a small fortune just before declaring bankruptcy. Basically the court can see that you had no real intention of ever repaying the gambling debt, and may refuse to discharge it as a result of this.
Show Good Faith
If you\’re currently in a position where you owe a considerable amount of money as a result of your gambling addiction you can take steps to improve your chances of having it discharged as part of your bankruptcy filing. The first step in this process is stop gambling right now, and then follow on from that by getting professional help with your gambling problem. Taking these steps can help prove to a court that you\’ve realized the “error of your ways”, and that you simply want a second chance at a responsible life.
Just remember that when you\’ve already incurred large amounts of debt because of your gambling addiction the answer to your problem isn\’t to gamble even more in the hope of winning all your losses back – that simply never happens.