Been gambling on and off for 8 years.

Hello @hope_2020,

Welcome to the Forum, and well done on starting your recovery diary.

You have taken a very positive first step in recognising that you have a problem with your gambling and in reaching out for support with this. The Forum is a great place to get advice, ideas, motivation, and understanding from people who have been in your situation and can empathise with what you're going through.

Morning Hope_2020  

It sounds as though you have made the made the most important first step, reaching out for help and support. I would echo admin’s advice to speak to an advisor. However it is that you have chosen to gamble, there are additional blocks that can be put in place to reduce the risk of it happening again. Getting help to understand why you choose to gamble will aid your recovery. It definitely has for me. 

Stopping for long periods before shows that you are very capable of beating this addiction. The group chat room can be a great place for advice and support and somewhere where you can talk openly about what is going on for you without judgement. 

I wish you all the best Hope_2020. Keep asking questions and it would be great to know how things progress for you. 

Thank you and I will keep you all updated.  

Hi

I gave my wife complete control of my finances and it's working well for me. I get my salary paid into her account and whatever cash I need throughout the month she gives to me. No money = No Gambling. Get rid of the credit card too. 

Wishing you well pal

Posted by: Murlo

Morning Hope_2020  

It sounds as though you have made the made the most important first step, reaching out for help and support. I would echo admin’s advice to speak to an advisor. However it is that you have chosen to gamble, there are additional blocks that can be put in place to reduce the risk of it happening again. Getting help to understand why you choose to gamble will aid your recovery. It definitely has for me. 

Stopping for long periods before shows that you are very capable of beating this addiction. The group chat room can be a great place for advice and support and somewhere where you can talk openly about what is going on for you without judgement. 

I wish you all the best Hope_2020. Keep asking questions and it would be great to know how things progress for you. 

Murlothis is what I dont get, i have counceling starting on Monday and dknt see how this will find out if any reasons why I gamble, it seems to be a really complex thing to ***. I would live to know why I've gambled in the past, the only thing I can think is chasing that loss but then I think this cant be true because I dont dwell to much on what I've lost as I look at it as though there's always more money to be earned. Tbh my relationship with money is terrible and I'm glad I've finally handed over my finances to my partner who is the complete opposite to me and can stock the money up so well. I need to build up to this eventually.

Even other things in life like waiting 20-30 quid a time on sweets and pop. Then I regret it afterwards.

Sorry for just bombarding your post hope.

Hi no problem. I’m very similar to you with being bad with money and a partner who is good with money. I’ve tried counselling in the past but it didn’t work for me and I just started gambling again. I dread to think how much I’ve gave these bookies since I was 18-19. For a few years I gambled because I didn’t like where I lived so it was an escape as I didn’t want to go home. I gambled for a bit when I spent money on clothes, food etc as I was getting back what I spent but in the end an winnings all went back in the bookies. Now I’m literally just trying to win some money because I’m not left my much when my bills have all gone out. I let myself down this morning as I put £300 in the FOBT and now I’m overdrawn going into next month and my wage needs to last 5 weeks with it being Christmas. I do the Irish Wednesday and Saturday but always end up on the FOBT or football. 

I just want to stop altogether but I’m struggling a lot.