‘Most of my student loans went to the casino’

I met Michael (26) at his home on a Thursday morning. He spoke candidly about his past as he sipped his coffee. Later that day, he went to a classical piano concert to relax after the busy period surrounding the release of his debut book, U Heeft Helaas Niet Gewonnen (Unfortunately, You Didn't Win). He looked together and thoughtful, even though his life looked very different a few years ago.

Michael began studying classical guitar at the conservatory in Tilburg before transferring to Utrecht University, where he took a pre-master's in Musicology and then enrolled in Philosophy. However, he only took a few courses. "I was still enrolled at the university, but I didn't study. I only remained involved with the university because student loans were my largest source of income for gambling," he says.

From student to gambler
He started gambling rather innocently at the age of sixteen, with occasional 10-euro bets on the old slot machine in the pub around the corner. "At first, it was just a game, just a way to liven up the evening. But when I was studying in Utrecht, I started playing more and more often and with increasingly larger amounts," he recollects.

He was drawn deeper into the world of gambling on a hungover morning in 2021, after writing his pre-master's thesis. He was flooded by online gambling advertisements while scrolling on his phone, which aroused his curiosity. "The first time I actually gambled was just out of boredom. I had been seeing those advertisements for weeks, telling me to deposit 50 euros to get a 250 euro bonus. Before I knew it, I was hooked." 

"Everywhere I looked, I saw adverts that praised gambling sites as innocent entertainment. It seemed so easy: you could start gambling after just a few clicks." In the end, he lost thousands of euros in casinos, both online and physical.

Trapped by hypnotising machines
In his book, Michael investigates the gambling industry and states that he is one of many addicts who fell prey to a law that liberalised the gambling industry and led to a flood of gambling advertisements. "In the first month after the law passed, major players such as Toto and Holland Casino spent more than nine million euros on advertising," Michael writes in his book. "Since then, the number of online gamblers has skyrocketed. Research shows that over 800,000 people have started gambling on these platforms since the start of the advertising offensive."

Michael became more and more addicted over time, to the point he was doing everything he could to gamble. "It wasn't about winning anymore. It was rather about losing myself in gambling so that I didn't have to feel guilty about my addiction anymore," he says. He barely studied and spent his student loans and profits from shares on gambling.

The development of a slot machine involves hundreds of people, including neuropsychologists who know exactly how to get you to keep playing

In his book, he investigates how gambling companies use psychological tricks to keep players coming back. "They create an environment in which you no longer have any sense of time and money," Michael explains. "There are no windows in a casino, no clocks. Everything is geared towards keeping you playing."

In addition, Michael writes that casinos use scent marketing to get gamblers to play longer and spend more money. He specifically mentions Holland Casino's establishment in Utrecht, where he used to spend most of his time. There, around eight thousand scent holes emit aromas with both stimulating and calming effects to induce players to reach a "state of flow", losing track of time and acting more instinctively. 

Michael notes that it is financially interesting for casinos to keep gamblers addicted. "This small percentage of players is responsible for the bulk of their turnover. 80 percent of casino revenue comes from just 2 percent of customers. This indicated that problematic gamblers form the backbone of the revenue model. After all, they have an ‘infinite willingness to pay’, not because they enjoy the game but because they are forced to keep betting.
 

Impact on loved ones was his turning point
Michael hid his gambling addiction from his family. "I didn't want to tell my parents about it for a long time. At a certain point, I finally wrote a letter saying that I was 'sick in the head' instead of talking about gambling, purely to make sure I would receive their support," he says. His family was understanding, although his mother suffered psychologically. Her doctor even prescribed her tranquillisers. "A British study from 2017 showed that a gambling addiction affects an average of six others apart from the addict himself," Michael writes in his book.

The turning point came when Michael finally took a good friend to the casino. This friend saw Michael gamble away hundreds of euros and said: "I don't recognise you anymore." Michael: "After two years of gambling, that was the moment something clicked for me. I decided to impose a gambling ban and financial restrictions on myself to keep me from gambling. I also sought help: cognitive behavioural therapy didn't help me, but writing did."

Writing against relapse
Michael decided to turn his experience into a book. "At first, I just wrote personally, but gradually I immersed myself in the gambling industry like a journalist. The more I researched, the clearer it became how underexposed the manipulative strategies of this sector are. They have managed to boost their image so carefully that gambling is now seen as innocent entertainment, while my research reveals just how distressing the reality behind that façade is," he says.

He hopes his book will raise awareness of this problem. "I hope the book ends up on the desks of people who are in a position to change things: people in the government, policymakers or people in the industry," he says. "I was recently asked to talk about the book at a school, which is nice. Awareness is crucial."

His message is clear: the gambling industry is a system that deliberately holds vulnerable people in its grip. For him, writing the book was not only a way to share his story but also to keep himself from relapsing. He is grateful to have found a publisher. "I just had to write this book," he says. "There was a huge urgency behind it. As if I had to get it out. Once I realised how that industry works, there was no going back: I won't spend another cent on it."

Michael van Dijk, U heeft helaas niets gewonnen. 2025. Uitgeverij Pluim. 22.99 euros. Book in Dutch only.