History Main / TrappedByGamblingDebts

** This is also true of financial institutions, from banks to investment firms. The only thing worse than having someone with gambling debts on your payroll is not knowing about it until they steal a whole lot of money from the vault.

** Often a motive for a bad guy to become TheInformant as well.
** Note that this is averted respecting legal gambling institutions. Legitimate casinos and betting houses know that your gambling debts ''can'' and ''will'' be discharged in bankruptcy (unless you defrauded the house): they lose millions if not billions a year to gambling debtors who either have all their debts discharged or settle with the casino/betting house for a lower amount, and any gambling institution will have accounted for all this in its budget. This is a fairly common argument in favor of legalizing gambling, as between the dischargeable/settleable nature of gaming debt and the ability to admit gambling problems without having to admit to a crime, gamblers are more likely to seek help for gambling addiction than turn to crime to support their habits. It's not a 100% solution, as some gamblers still react to the social shame of admitting a gambling problem by committing crimes,[[note]]A fairly common problem for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_court drug courts]] to grapple with is whether gambling addicts are eligible for admission to their programs (which offer people who have committed crimes to support an addiction the promise of a relatively clean record if they comply with rigorous treatment), as the statutory language authorizing drug courts tends to specify substance abuse as the sole acceptable addiction for admission, but the research shows that gambling addiction is so psychologically similar to drug addiction that it kind of makes sense to bring it in. This has been a particular issue in New Jersey, where gambling has been legalized for a relatively long amount of time (since 1977) and which has a robust drug court but also a fairly clear bar against using gambling addiction as a basis for admission to the program.[[/note]] but it has been accepted in some circles.

** Note that this is averted respecting legal gambling institutions. Legitimate casinos and betting houses know that your gambling debts ''can'' and ''will'' be discharged in bankruptcy (unless you defrauded the house): they lose millions if not billions a year to gambling debtors who either have all their debts discharged or settle with the casino/betting house for a lower amount, and any gambling institution will have accounted for all this in its budget. This is a fairly common argument in favor of legalizing gambling, as between the dischargeable/settleable nature of gaming debt and the ability to admit gambling problems without having to admit to a crime, gamblers are more likely to seek help for gambling addiction than turn to crime to support their habits. It's not a 100% solution, as some gamblers still react to the social shame of admitting a gambling problem by committing crimes,[[note]]A fairly common problem for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_court drug courts]] to grapple with is whether gambling addicts are eligible for admission to their programs (which offer people who have committed crimes to support an addiction the promise of a relatively clean record if they comply with rigorous treatment), as the statutory language authorizing drug courts tends to specify substance abuse as the sole acceptable addiction for admission, but the research shows that gambling addiction is so psychologically similar to drug addiction that it kind of makes sense to bring it in. This has been a particular issue in New Jersey, where gambling is more or less legal and which has a robust drug court but also a fairly clear bar against using gambling addiction as a basis for admission to the program.[[/note]] but it has been accepted in some circles.

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]
* In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/14997911/chapters/34874444 The Horsewomen Of Las Vegas]]'', this was Wrestling/NiaJax's backstory. Her mother was the one trapped by gambling debts and Nia agreed to work for the small-time criminal crew to WorkOffTheDebt. When crime boss Wrestling/CharlotteFlair sent a hit squad to take out the crew, Nia fought back so well that Charlotte offered her a job as her personal bodyguard and took care of the debt.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* ''WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany'': If one notices at the end Fagin the hobo makes a bet with Winston and after losing it, tries to walk away, implying that this was how he got involved with LoanShark Sykes.

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* A series of ''ComicStrip/GetFuzzy'' comic strips had Bucky facing the threat of getting killed by another cat because Bucky lost a bet on a baseball game and didn't have enough money to pay the debt. [[spoiler:The team that Bucky bet on was the Mariners, but he lost that bet because one of their players had retired before he even made the bet.]]
* This happens several times, to Rudy Wong, Lily's brother, in ''ComicStrip/TheWorldOfLilyWong''.
[[/folder]]

* HoylesRulesOfDragonPoker [[SarcasmMode ''helpfully'']] requires players to use only Clubs when they fall into debt. [[ZigzaggedTrope Zigzagged]] in that the guide discourages players from letting anyone lose too much in friendly games.

-->'''Ike''': You are going to be working for us for a very long time, my friend.

* A variation in ''VideoGame/Hitman2016''. The final target of Season One is a former assassin turned board director who, despite presumably having a high paying job on top of a comfortable pension, is constantly short on money thanks to his crippling gambling addiction. Because of this, when he suddenly needs a major expensive surgery using an impossible to get transplant organ to save his life, he was forced to [[spoiler:sell out the ICA to Providence]] in exchange for the surgery, which results in Agent 47 sent after him to claim retribution.

* In the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series, [[spoiler:Glen Elg]] fits this trope. [[spoiler:He created a powerful computer virus, MC Bomber, to repay his debt in barter (the virus would be worth millions on the black market). However, he won enough in the lottery to repay his debt - and as such, Furio Tigre, to whom he'd owed the money and who was desperate to repay a massive debt of his own (the collateral was enough to repay his debt, but the money Glen owed was not), murdered him to claim the virus and lottery ticket together.]]

* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'', a Twi'lek laborer is so addicted to Pazaak that he gambled away his ''girlfriend''. You can play the dealer to whom he owes the debt in order to bail out the girlfriend, or simply buy her freedom if you have the credits for it. Either she dumps her idiot boyfriend, or you order her to go with her idiot boyfriend, or you can take ownership of her yourself and keep her wages while telling the idiot boyfriend he's out of luck.

* Subverted by Tsunade in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', who uses her jutsu to change her looks from an old woman to a young girl and everything in between, and is always on the move with Shizune, to escape her creditors, with IOU note in tow. (This aspect of her character may be inspired by the {{Tanuki}}.)

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

* Gambling debts are what got Booker [=DeWitt=] involved in the plot of ''Videogame/BioshockInfinite''. This article's header, "Bring us [[LivingMacGuffin the girl]] and wipe away the debt," is one of the game's [[ArcWords Arc Phrases]], although [[spoiler: it's not actually referring to what he's doing in the present day.]]

* The film ''Film/{{Drive}}'' has an ex-convict having to pay off the mob for the protection he received in jail, at first it was $2,000 but it quickly rose to $8,000 when he got out of jail. This forces the protagonist to go on a heist in order to protect the ex-convict's wife and child, who he's madly in love with.

* ''Series/TheSopranos'' features various examples throughout the series, as illegal gambling is one of the prime moneymakers of TheMafia. It is even the one aspect of his illegal career that Tony Soprano admits to his daughter when she confronts him, [[ConfessToALesserCrime while still denying the existence of the Mafia as a whole.]]

* In ''Film/TheSlamminSalmon'', the owner of the titular restaurant is in debt to the Yakuza for about $10,000 and thus forces his staff to go all out on service to make some money quick. Near the end, it's revealed that [[spoiler:his debt is actually 10,000 in Yen (which amounts to roughly $190) and that he simply didn't know the difference between the two currencies]].

* In ''Film/TheSlamminSalmon'', the owner of the titular restaurant is in debt to the Yakuza for about $10,000 and thus forces his staff to go all out on service to make some money quick. Near the end, it's revealed that [[spoiler:his debt is actually 20,000 in Yen (which amounts to roughly $190) and that he simply didn't know the difference between the two]].

''Film/TheDry'': [spoiler: Scott Whitlam is TheGamblingAddict who fled Melbourne to a remote country town to escape his debtors. However, the people he owed money to pursued him and winds up committing embezzlement to pay them off, and then commits murder to hide the embezzlement.]]

** The pilot shows Tony trying to collect a debt that a gambler simply can't afford. Hesh Rebkin, a [[LoanShark moneylender]] and associate of Soprano, says that the guy ''really'' doesn't have the money so no amount of intimidation will get him to pay. Since he works in the financial sector, they decide to exploit his financial business instead.

** David Scatino was Tony's childhood friend and is now the owner of a large sporting goods store. Despite already being in debt to Richie Aprile, he gets involved in some of Tony's high-stakes poker games and gets way in over his head. To "repay" the debt, Tony decides to "bust out" David's store: forcing him to buy useless crap on credit and give it to them so they can sell it (for practically all profit). Within weeks, the business is dead and David is forced into bankruptcy. This wasn't the first time David's gambling had gotten out of control, and his family actually took steps to put the business under his wife's name so he couldn't sign it away, but their efforts come to naught since the Mafia doesn't care about the store's official ownership title.

* ''Series/TheSopranos'' gives us David Scatino, Tony's childhood friend and now owner of a large sporting goods store, who gets involved in some of Tony's high-stakes poker games and gets way in over his head. To "repay" the debt, Tony decides to "bust out" David's store: forcing him to buy useless crap on credit and give it to them so they can sell it (for practically all profit). Within weeks, the business is dead and David is forced into bankruptcy. This wasn't the first time David's gambling had gotten out of control, and his family actually took steps to put the business under his wife's name so he couldn't legitimately sign it away, but their efforts come to naught since the Mafia doesn't care about the store's official ownership title.

* ''Series/TheSopranos'' gives us David Scatino, Tony's childhood friend and now owner of a large sporting goods store, who gets involved in some of Tony's high-stakes poker games and gets way in over his head. To "repay" the debt, Tony decides to "bust out" David's store: forcing him to buy useless crap on credit and give it to them so they can sell it (for practically all profit). Within weeks, the business is dead and David is forced into bankruptcy.

* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicII'', a Twi'lek laborer is so addicted to Pazaak that he gambled away his ''girlfriend''. You can play the dealer to whom he owes the debt in order to bail out the girlfriend, or simply buy her freedom if you have the credits for it. Either she dumps her idiot boyfriend, or you order her to go with her idiot boyfriend, or you can take ownership of her yourself and keep her wages while telling the idiot boyfriend he's out of luck.

* In [[MultipleChoicePast one of the origins]] of SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker, he was a poor schlub who needed to pay off his gambling debts so he got roped into being the Red Hood (the alleged head of a gang but really just a guy the rest of the gang hires to be [[FaceOfTheBand The Face of the Gang]]), then fell in a vat of chemicals and became the Joker.

* ''Disney/OliverAndCompany'': If one notices at the end Fagin the hobo makes a bet with Winston and after losing it, tries to walk away, implying that this was how he got involved with LoanShark Sykes.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius'': Makalov is a compulsive gambler with a tendency to wrack up large debts then skip town, leaving others, often his sister Marcia, to deal with the debtors. This leads him to the employ of various shady characters until his sister drags him away to join the Greil Mercenaries. Ike has the debts paid off to keep collectors from hounding them, so he now owns the debt, and has Makalov fight to work it off.

* Invoked by the heroes in ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006''. [=MI6=]'s entire plan was to send Bond in to bust out Le Chiffre, so that he would be forced to come to them for protection from his creditors.

* In ''Film/HussarBallad'' that's the reason for Lieutenant Rzhevsky to visit the main character's house. His uncle covered his card debt, but insisted that Rzhevsky finally marries.

* The IneffectualSympatheticVillain in ''[[Film/NannyMcPhee Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang]]'' desperately tries to convince his sister-in-law to sell her half of the farm to him because he gambled his half away at a casino, and for incentive, the owner's two hit women are sent to collect either the deed, or the man's kidneys.

* [[spoiler: Ludovic Bagman]] in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'' is suspiciously generous to Harry during the Triwizard Tournamet, always offering him tips and pointers and giving him consistently high marks. At the end it's revealed he's in massive debt to goblins and was trying to help Harry because he put a massive bet on him to win the tournament. It doesn't work because [[spoiler: the goblins argue that Harry drew even with Cedric Diggory ([[SacrificialLion never mind the latter ending up dead]])]], so [[spoiler: Bagman]] goes on the run [[LongBusTrip and is never seen again]].

** A Naval Intelligence agent in ''Literature/{{Brokenclaw}}'' manages to get inside the eponymous villain's inner circle because her father's gambling debts. She is presented to Brokenclaw as a payment, and he takes her as his lover.

* ''Series/MiamiVice'' has an episode in the final season where Switek has to convince a aspiring football player to throw the BigGame to cover his massive debts.

* On ''Series/PersonOfInterest'' a [=PoI=] is forced into participating in a money laundering scheme because he owes a crooked casino owner a lot of money. However, Finch later discovers that the man accrued the debt not because he is TheGamblingAddict but because he is [[spoiler:a CardSharp who cheated the casino out of a lot of money to pay his wife's medical bills and could not pay it back when the casino owner found out what happened]]..

* A series of ''ComicStrip/GetFuzzy'' comic strips had Bucky facing the threat of getting killed by another cat, because Bucky lost a bet on a baseball game and didn't have enough money to pay the debt. [[spoiler:The team that Bucky bet on was the Mariners, but he lost that bet because one of their players had retired before he even made the bet.]]

* Invoked by the heroes in ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006''. MI6's entire plan was to send Bond in to bust out Le Chiffre, so that he would be forced to come to them for protection from his creditors.