Finding my Sikh faith against the odds

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 26 September 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Harj Gahley is a Sikh who began gambling when he was just 23. What started as a ‘fun’ night out with friends at a casino spiralled out of control, nearly costing him his life. For over a decade, Harj kept his addiction a secret, living a double life that led him to borrow, steal and defraud from family and friends. His addiction pushed him to the edge of personal and financial ruin. Eventually, his deception came to light, devastating his wife and family. Harj’s hidden truth also revealed a deeper cultural stigma. When he first turned to his faith and community leaders for help, instead of finding compassion he says he was met with shame and judgement. A painful confession to an elder exposed just how little understanding there was around gambling addiction. Now a campaigner, Harj works to raise awareness about the damage gambling can do, supporting others as they face their own battles with addiction. This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from Heart and Soul, exploring personal approaches to spirituality from around the world

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.
0:07.5	The reason I want to bring you over here, because Farnham Road is a very multicultural place.
0:13.3	We have the Somalis, the Indians, the Muslims, but there's two places that I regularly visited.
0:19.1	I'm talking about the bookmakers.
0:20.4	Two betting shops
0:21.1	with literally less than 50 yards from each other.
0:24.1	So there are betting shops and some of the biggest names in British and even international
0:29.5	bookmaking and betting and gambling.
0:32.9	Everyone in there is in there to try and win money.
0:37.1	Everyone would understand who you are because
0:38.7	they've all experienced those losses. Actually, you don't even feel judgment in there.
0:42.0	It's interesting because in Sikhism, the Sangat, the community is a big part of the faith.
0:49.3	And within those betting shops, you almost had your own Sangat, your own community.
0:54.8	Just a bit like you would do
0:56.1	with the Sanghut, when you're happy with certain
0:57.9	things, you're going to overly
0:59.6	give. You talk about
1:01.7	Seva, maybe overly giving to people because
1:04.0	it's making me feel good.
1:05.9	I've got some of your old bank statements
1:07.7	and what I can see
1:09.4	it's 500, 500, 500, 500,000. I mean, these are bets going out. I can see the odd win. There's some hefty wins as well. You know, you're winning 5 or 6,000, but then straight away, you know, 500, 500, 500, you're back out minus 8,000 in a day. To be honest, you, I feel disgusted even the fact that you're saying
	...

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