It is an overcast Thursday afternoon and in a wood–panelled room of a remote mansion in the Scottish countryside, 11 people sit in comfortable armchairs arranged in a circle. Through the large bay window you can see dramatic forests and hills beyond a neatly trimmed lawn.
I’m at Castle Craig, a rehab clinic about an hour’s drive from Edinburgh, where gambling and cryptocurrency addicts come to seek help and share their stories in a group led by Tony Marini, a therapist and former gambling addict.
Karim*, who has spent a month at Castle Craig, became addicted to trading cryptocurrencies. He said he had lost about £1.5 million making speculative bets on the price of cryptocurrencies — last year his marriage ended after he took money