A gambling addict lost his girlfriend and hundreds of thousands of pounds betting through online sites and smart phone apps.
Michael, 34, from Liverpool had his first taste of gambling at the age of 15 when he became hooked on fruit machines in pubs and shops.
Going on to download a number of different apps and online betting sites, from racing to live casino games, Michael's life soon spiralled into a full blown gambling addiction.
The dad of two lost over £100,000 to online bets - along with his partner, who left him after she discovered the extent of his addiction.
Featuring in a new TV series looking into problem of online gambling across the country, Michael met with Ross Kemp who asked him all about his addiction.
The 34-year-old dad of two, said: "I've had people say to me 'it's your choice to go on your phone,' and it is to a certain point but I cant help it, my brain mustn't work like the average person because of the addiction."
Michael says his favourite site is Sky Vegas - a live casino game with a roulette table and a real life dealer interacting with you via your phone.
Michael said: "If I got a 15 minute break in work, I'd gamble then.
"If my girlfriend or kids are about I wouldn't just sit there and do it - I do it in secret.
"Inside, I'm thinking 'hurry up and go to bed', because I can't wait to get back to gambling to win my money back.
"I sit here for hours and hours sitting on my phone trying to win the money."
Speaking of the extent of his addiction Michael said, he's "massively down hundreds of thousands of pounds".
And the 34-year-old's life went from bad to worse when his partner Jen left him last year.
She said: "In my eyes it was selfish. I couldn't understand the addiction side to it because I thought in my head I wouldn't be selfish enough to do that, to gamble that amount of money."
"It was heartbreaking, it was a family breakdown. The whole world got turned upside down."
However, almost a year on from the break up, Jen and Michael managed to work out their differences and the couple got back together.
Explaining how the pair are working through Michael's addiction, partner Jen said: "You can go on and put pass codes on to stop you from downloading certain apps and to stop certain sites from loading on the phone.
Michael added: "I still gamble and I still slip up and do more than I can afford to lose sometimes, but compared to 12 months ago when we split up I'm a lot better."
Jen added: "We're still building trust there has been slip ups and it is awful when he does slip up but working together rather than against each other is the only way forward really."
In response to the gambling issues raised in the programme, Sky Betting and Gaming said it "Takes safer gaming very seriously and has policies and procedures in place to protect vulnerable customers.
"Such as, monitoring account activity and pro actively identifying and interacting with 'at risk' customers, which exceed its regulatory requirements."
