I shall keep this brief, I am new to this site.
I had been struggling with a gambling problem for nearly two years. I had attended a few GA meetings but they weren't that accessible to me due to my location and no car. Anyway before Christmas after quite a hefty loss on the FOBTS, I decided enough was enough and I had to take control of my problem. I had been gamble free since yesterday when a friend of mine suggested going to the bookies to put a football bet on with him. I agreed and I feel it was the best thing I have done gambling wise, all the time I had been away from gambling I had been constantly thinking about it. I put £10 into the FOBT and played small stakes up slightly down slightly and I just had the realisation of how ridiculous it was, needless to say I lost the £10 but with over £200 in my wallet and numerous cards on me in the past this could have ended up in a huge loss but no I just laughed at my £10 loss and just lost all desire to play. It opened up my eyes even more to the guy next to me who was in a state of desperation spinning £100 every time and I felt sorry for the man. I didn't say anything as it isn't my place to say. I have woken up today with NO desire to gamble, a new attitude towards life that I am no longer consumed by gambling all because I had the power to walk away.
A huge achievement! Well done 🙂
Hi Sammy, great to hear, well done.
There will be some days where your willpower and wellbeing will be at a considerably lower level - these are the times to "ride the storm", because you will likely feel better the following day, probably at the level you are now.
Jusge for yourself as to whether you feel you need GA or not - I wouldn't cut your ties completely, despite the difficulty in getting there; there are many people who attend who have stopped long-term who still go on occasion; I have stopped for five years and pop in every now and again.
Well done for this positive post and I hope it leads to a considerable amount of progress.
JamesP
Well done for holding off but remember you still stepped into the bookies that is always the first step to a bet.. A better achievement would have been making no wager and not even thinking about gambling with your friend.
You are putting yourself at risk by even stepping into these places let alone a football bet and then onto the FOBTs
You had a lucky escape from the bookies laughing at you.
Easily, the scenario could have been different if you had started to win you might have easily found yourself emptying your wallet and then found yourself crying over spilled milk.
I am only trying to help as I know for me these places are pure evil and have stolen my money as well as some of the freedom having plenty of money allows
Awayout
Sammy, Very well done mate.
I found your post about the £10 really interesting. Frank Skinner once said something very similar about alcoholism. He said once your an alcoholic... your always an alcoholic. You never stop counting. Your always a prisoner of never drinking. So in essence your never cured... your always guarding against it. Always counting the days. Always resisting. But.... if you can go into a pub an have one pint, and then leave. Not bothered about having to have another one. Then you have truly beaten it.
Now I would never suggest to you or anyone else on this site that the way to beat this is to ACTUALLY go and bet... that would be ridiculous. And as much as I applaud your victory at the bookies with your mate, it still requires a lot of caution in that approach. If possible confide in your friend. He would have never have taken you there if he had known you were a CG. I hope that one victory was enough to bolster your belief in yourself and never enter another bookies again in your life.
Incidentely, for me. This is my 1st post in about 2 and a half years. I came across this site again by accident. I stopped using after i went 100+ days gamble free. I just couldn't deal with reading about gambling any more. I haven't gambled in such a long time, I re-read my old posts and I could actually see the change in me. Could actually see that I was fixing myself and growing in confidence. Even from my early failures.
All I can say is keep up the good work mate Im going to try and help a few people on here now. I feel I can now speak from a positive position. Yours is the first blog ive written on so far.
All the best
Kyle
The biggest win I will ever have, is to learn I can never win.
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