I did it.
Just signed up with Gamstop for 5 years after losing £700 to slots.
The Gamban had been in place for about a week! & was installed after losing about £1.5k the previous few weeks.
I say losing but I was winning and losing the same amount of money a lot since starting in 2022.
It was really hard to sign up to Gamstop as I knew that this would mean the end of my matched betting career but it had to be done. What started as a side hustle to earn some extra money led down a dark path.
I have no issue with sports, it was the casino that got me and had tried a few times to quit and just do the matched betting side but it doesn't work.
Never thought I could have had a gambling issue but I can see how it re-wires your brain over time. It certainly felt like mine was changing.
The warning signs were there when I first started but I continued and it has escalated through getting a few good wins along the way thinking I can replicate & chasing losses.
I had worked really hard the last decade to build up around £100k's worth of savings/investments on an an average salary & this had started to be eaten into. (Not by much around £1k) but it was scaring the hell out of me. The lack of self control and losing the value of money was alarming.
As I say thankfully I am still up overall but have had a lot of emotional turmoil along the way.
It has eaten into so much of my free time. A lot of my hobbies were put on hold, my sleeping had been affected and I know my work performance had slipped. I work from home and no one has said anything but I know in myself that my work was being affected.
The recent losses hurt but I feel a sense of relief as can get back to my hobbies & concentrate on other things in my life. Thoughts of gambling were starting to take up too much headspace. I want them gone.
It's going to be difficult as I feel that I was doing it for the dopamine hits in the end but I am confident that this will now be the end of it.
All the best people & thank you to everyone who posts their stories on here. It really helps.
Woke up this morning wishing I hadn't Gamstopped.
I think the realisation set in that the matched betting / low risk casino offers that I had been doing over the last few years is over.
Was trying to reason with myself that If I regained control I could do the offers again without it leading to outright gambling. Well yes I had regained control in the past for a while.. but it slips and the slips were getting worse over time.
I was wagering so much that my value of money was being distorted and I could see that my brain was being re-wired.
I just need to keep telling myself that it would have got much worse if I had carried on and I was setting myself up to have major issues for the future. My recent gambling spree was after I had a stressful day and I will continue to have stressful days.
My fear is that at some point I will experience a bereavement of someone close to me and that could set me off if my mind is still consumed with thoughts of gambling.
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