He lost over $1m to gambling and blew his mother's life savings

One month before his wedding about five years ago, John's (not his real name) fiancee broke up with him. At that time, he had lost more than a million dollars, blown his mother's life savings, and was hounded by more than a dozen legal and illegal moneylenders.

The 39-year-old director in an IT firm said he became suicidal after the wedding was cancelled, adding: "My whole world just stopped. I hid my gambling problem from her and I told her I had only credit card problems. I looked down on myself and I felt a lot of shame and anger, yet I didn't want others to look down on me.