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, because of a crippling dependancy.
Brayshaw, who can be engaged to grownup content material creator Annie Knight, revealed that his dependancy bought so dangerous that he had as soon as spent a $10,000 mortgage from his fiancée within the area of an hour, betting on horses.
Throughout a confronting interview with the Soberly Speaking Podcast, the 28-year-old, who’s one in every of 4 brothers, revealed that betting on horses was his ‘poison’ earlier than opening up on how his playing dependancy started.
‘So, it began off as a boys’ tradition at, you already know, at our seaside homes as youngsters 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 manner. However for me, I began, you hear the time period chasing. I would get right into a little bit of debt after which I would chase.
‘So, I would double down and put the final $500 on a horse paying $25. And if it received, 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, because of a crippling dependancy
‘And then you definately’d put all of it on a certain factor that will come useless final and instantly 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 dependancy works and the way it may be so particular,’ the 28-year-old stated.
‘Mine was once occurring Sportsbet, TAB, Ladbrokes, which I’m now banned.’
Henry added that as his playing dependancy started to spiral, he started to make use of medication and alcohol as a coping mechanism.
‘All of a sudden you hadn’t paid hire, and instantly you hadn’t paid off all of the folks you stated 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 associates would see him because the larrikin of the group who would all the time go tougher than everybody else.
Henry recounted the second he advised his dad James (proper) and his mum about his playing subject through 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 area 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 bother.
‘I ended up saying to um my companion, this simply occurred. And I would by no means lied to her for thus a few years as a greatest good friend 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 she or he’s such a sensible girl, however she couldn’t fairly put her finger on it as a result of I’d hidden it so properly.’
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 outdated, he revealed that he owed round $180,000 to a number of folks, together with banks and mortgage sharks.
‘I owed one specific individual $60,000. It was loopy.’
He added: ‘I might be this man on the weekends, this happy-go-lucky Henry that will 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 associates, fiancée and household ‘wrapped their arms round him’ and helped him get out of that tough state of affairs.
‘Thankfully, I had this group of three or 4 people 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 will probably get actually dangerous. And it bought 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 laborious for them.’
Henry paid tribute to Annie for serving to him navigate that tough interval, including that he was ‘grateful for the entire 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 drawback. 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 stated.’
He thought his mother and father had been going to kick him out of the home, however they helped him work out a technique to handle his money owed, with Henry forming a debt plan, earlier than going off to work on FIFO. He added that it was the quickest manner for him to earn cash 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 advised about his subject.
‘Annie and I’ve had so many lovely conversations about this. We’re studying every single 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 area. 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 up 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 manner in the meanwhile and I’m grateful for the help.’
Henry inspired others fighting playing points to attempt self-exclusion. The free program permits people to ban themselves from playing venues or on-line web sites.
‘You set all of your particulars in and it’ll by no means ever can help you make an account,’ Henry stated.
‘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.’
