Henry Brayshaw, the son of Channel 7 cricket broadcaster James Brayshaw, has lifted the lid on how he as soon as discovered himself owing round $180,000 in playing money owed, on account of a crippling habit.
Brayshaw, who can also be engaged to grownup content material creator Annie Knight, revealed that his habit received so dangerous that he had as soon as spent a $10,000 mortgage from his fiancée within the house of an hour, betting on horses.
Throughout a confronting interview with the Soberly Speaking Podcast, the 28-year-old, who’s one among 4 brothers, revealed that betting on horses was his ‘poison’ earlier than opening up on how his playing habit started.
‘So, it began off as a boys’ tradition at, you already know, at our seashore homes as children going to the pub and placing on $5 quaddies simply to win beer cash,’ he defined to the podcast’s host, Julia Rangiheuea.
‘For lots of people, it remained that method. However for me, I began, you hear the time period chasing. I might get right into a little bit of debt after which I might chase.
‘So, I might double down and put the final $500 on a horse paying $25. And if it gained, you’d get a pair hundred or, you already know, $20,000 or $15,000 or no matter. Typically you’d hit and also you’d be like: “I’m so near being out. Yet one more!”
Henry Brayshaw, the son of Channel 7 cricket broadcaster James Brayshaw, has lifted the lid on how he as soon as discovered himself owing round $180,000 in playing money owed, on account of a crippling habit
‘And you then’d put all of it on a positive factor that might come lifeless final and all of a sudden you are $30,000 within the gap. And so I used to be all the time chasing to get out.’
He added that he was ‘lucky’ to have a bunch round him who helped him get out of that gap.
‘It’s loopy how habit works and the way it may be so particular,’ the 28-year-old mentioned.
‘Mine was once happening Sportsbet, TAB, Ladbrokes, which I’m now banned.’
Henry added that as his playing habit started to spiral, he started to make use of medication and alcohol as a coping mechanism.
‘Instantly you hadn’t paid hire, and all of a sudden you hadn’t paid off all of the individuals you mentioned you’d that week. And that’s after I’d use medication and that’s after I’d use alcohol. And I’d use the money I had available to go have enjoyable that weekend. Simply to flee that headspace.
‘And that was actually my life from 18 to 26, and I’m 28. Nonstop.’
His pals would see him because the larrikin of the group who would all the time go more durable than everybody else.
Henry recounted the second he instructed his dad James (proper) and his mum about his playing concern throughout the podcast
However then got here what he calls his ‘icebreaking second’.
Henry requested his fiancée, Annie, for a lump sum to get a financial institution mortgage to repay a few of his money owed.
After Annie gave him the cash, Brayshaw revealed that he spent all of it within the house of an hour.
‘I may have lodged it with the financial institution. I may have gotten the cash and I used to be scot-free, out of hassle.
‘I ended up saying to um my companion, this simply occurred. And I might by no means lied to her for therefore a few years as a finest pal at the start. And I used to be like, prepared for her to chop ties and be like: “You’re performed. We’re performed. Get a lawyer concerned. Get my a refund”.’
‘The polar reverse occurred. It is like she knew the entire time that there was one thing. However she was and he or she’s such a wise lady, however she couldn’t fairly put her finger on it as a result of I’d hidden it so nicely.’
Knight has beforehand been candid about her earnings, revealing to Information.com.au final yr that she had been bringing in round $300,000 monthly, which equated to $3.5million per yr.
Henry defined that it had gotten ‘actually darkish for him within the build-up to that point’.
He additionally revealed that he had requested his fiancée, Annie, to lend him $10,000. He deliberate on utilizing the cash to safe a mortgage with the financial institution however as a substitute spent it inside one hour, betting on horses
At one level, when he was 26 years previous, he revealed that he owed round $180,000 to a number of individuals, together with banks and mortgage sharks.
‘I owed one explicit particular person $60,000. It was loopy.’
He added: ‘I might be this man on the weekends, this happy-go-lucky Henry that might placed on a present… the week that I’d spend in mattress in a darkish room, not speaking to anybody was most likely a little bit of a telltale that I wasn’t proper.’
Henry’s pals, fiancée and household ‘wrapped their arms round him’ and helped him get out of that tough state of affairs.
‘Happily, I had this group of three or 4 those who simply doubled down and dug their heels in and supported me, which not lots of people have that luxurious.
‘That is not misplaced on me as a result of that is when it may get actually dangerous. And it received actually darkish for me within the build-up to that point. However they wrapped their arms round me. They helped me.
‘My household was a tough one. It was onerous for them.’
Henry paid tribute to Annie for serving to him navigate that tough interval, including that he was ‘grateful for all the help’ from his family and friends
Henry admitted that Annie had satisfied him to get his dad, James, and mum, Sarah, in the identical room collectively and inform them about his downside. It got here after the couple divorced again in 2014.
‘That was terrifying as a result of I hadn’t seen them in the identical room in a very long time. I simply went to water. Mum cried, dad cried, they hugged, they had been like: “Mate, you already know, thanks for telling us,” was the very first thing that they mentioned.’
He thought his mother and father had been going to kick him out of the home, however they helped him determine a strategy to tackle his money owed, with Henry forming a debt plan, earlier than going off to work on FIFO. He added that it was the quickest method for him to generate profits to repay his money owed.
Annie and Henry revealed that they had been engaged in March 2025, with Henry revealing that she was the primary person who he had instructed about his concern.
‘Annie and I’ve had so many stunning conversations about this. We’re studying day by day. God bless her, she’s put a lot effort and time into understanding this life.
‘I don’t have any entry to that kind of cash. Annie is the brains and the brawn in that house. We’ve tried the allowance factor, which sounds emasculating, proper? I can’t do something greater than that, I don’t need any extra of that. We tried a considerable quantity prior to now two years and I spent it.
‘It’s a little bit of a head f*** at instances, however I can’t have it every other method in the intervening time and I’m grateful for the help.’
Henry inspired others battling playing points to strive self-exclusion. The free program permits people to ban themselves from playing venues or on-line web sites.
‘You place all of your particulars in and it’ll by no means ever permit you to make an account,’ Henry mentioned.
‘So like performed, banned and you may by no means return. And that saved me. [It is] an enormous factor that individuals ought to do. It is a actually optimistic step.’
