<p>
	Shane wasn&#39;t the average gambling addict.</p>
<p>
	He bet on the National Lottery&#39;s Lotto jackpot and never showed any interest in horse-racing, poker or casinos.</p>
<p>
	&quot;I often said that I didn&#39;t have a gambling problem &ndash; I just couldn&#39;t win the bloody Lotto, no matter how much I spent.&quot;</p>
<p>
	Shane, a Waterford-based shopkeeper, ended up spending over &euro;300 a day on Lotto tickets.</p>
<p>
	&quot;The machine would go live from 7am and that&#39;s when I&#39;d start buying tickets. Believe it or not, I once won &euro;200,000 but my gambling spiralled out of control from then on,&quot; he said.</p>
<p>
	Shane attended addiction recovery centre Aiseiri for treatment and now attends weekly meetings of Gamblers Anonymous.</p>
<p>
	&quot;Playing the Lotto is gambling and that needs to be said.</p>
<p>
	&quot;The important thing for people to realise is that there is help out there.&quot;</p>
<p>
	Shane added that he feels it is important for people to speak out about gambling so others can get help.</p>
<p>
	He paid particular tribute to a number of sports stars who spoke about their gambling problems.</p>
<p>
	Offaly GAA star Niall McNamee quit gambling after he realised that betting was crippling his life.</p>
<p>
	&quot;It had got to a stage that I was no longer able to leave a bookies unless all of my money was gone, or the nice lady behind the counter was turning off the TV because they were closing,&quot; Niall said.</p>
<p>
	&quot;There were times when I would have turned the smallest amount of money into a huge sum in the space of a couple of hours. That was the problem for me, no matter how much I had lost, I still had the belief that I could win it all back.&quot;</p>
<p>
	Armagh GAA legend Oisin McConville admitted his gambling spiralled out of control after the county&#39;s famous 2002 All-Ireland triumph.</p>
<p>
	At one point, he had run up debts of over &euro;120,000.</p>
<p>
	But, after seeking help, he turned his life around.</p>
<p>
	Former Manchester United and Northern Ireland star, Keith Gillespie, revealed last year that his gambling habit got so bad he once bet &euro;130,000 in a single day.</p>
<p>
	Over an 18-year career spent at top clubs including United and Newcastle United, Gillespie estimated that he lost over &euro;9m.</p>
<p>
	&quot;You&#39;re always chasing the next winner. I would have bets on every race going in the bookies,&quot; he said.</p>
<p>
	&quot;It didn&#39;t matter what the stake was ... it was the buzz of winning.&quot;</p>
<p>
	<a href="http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/case-study-i-was-spending-over-300-a-day-on-lotto-tickets-30182746.html">http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/case-study-i-was-spending-over-300-a-day-on-lotto-tickets-30182746.html</a></p>
