day 1 (again)

hi mate im about 20 years younger than you and i think the lure of FOTB affets all ages , money goes so quickly through them , they say gambling is always part of you , its just teaching your brain not to do 1st bet as leads to more , like you said your going get more out of the councelling , be interested to hear what they say if you want to feed back to me as im a CG as find it very hard to quit for a day and you done a year ,so you have got the will power in you

some good advice is break the gambling triange u need money , time , location to bet , no bookies no gamble , no money or cash card no gamble and no time , it good tp post here hope to hear from you soon bud

Thanks mate for the advice....I think all these barriers help but we all know they can be overcome if you are determined enough to have a bet. I can honestly say during my one year of abstinence I was not thinking about gambling every minute of the day....it is a habit that you can honestly get out of over a period of time. Looking back

I failed to recognise just how much good work and effort can easily be undone by one "harmless" little punt and you find yourself sliding down that ladder back to square one. I return there every 2/3 months and am trying to comprehend why I do this. I do not lose vast amounts of money anymore and don't think I could be as reckless as when I was younger but I am still trying to shake this half dead monkey off my back and bury it for good.

This is a tricky post for me, because I would most definitely 100% say, that a complusive gambler, should give up gambling 100%, so I would never ever suggest that anyone on this site, shouldn't attempt that.

BUT.......I'm 45 and up until I was 38, was a compulsive gambler. Now I am a gambler, but not compulsive.

I used to gamble hundreds, if not even sometimes just over £1k away a month without fail, both on and offline. I had a large amount of debt and it seemed like, I was never ever going to be able to live a normal life.

Then along, with several others, I vowed to quit gambling. Like you I sustained for many long periods varying from 6-9 months. But every so often I would gamble again, nothing major for me about 10% of my wages a month. In those 6-9 month periods over a 3 years or so period, I saved like mad, cut all non essentials and cleared the debt, while accumulating some savings.

Where I am now, well I am still the same, I go periods without gambling, but if I fancy a little gamble I will, I have blocks in place to ensure that it doesn't get out of hand. I still save a large % of my wages away in my savings, which I don't touch, as it's for my retirement.

For me gambling has become a controlled part of my life, and I accept, that just like chocolate, I will not be able to give it up permanently. I can have a bit now and then, because I do enjoy the thrill, but I don't smoke, I don't drink regularly, I have some spare money, after the savings are topped up and after the bills are paid. Plenty of people spend more than £200 a month on smoking. Plenty of people gamble responsibly but still spend £100 a month on the lotteries, something again I don't do.

What I guess I'm saying is, that there are many more millions in this country who do gamble responsible, but being around these sites, it seems everyone doesn't. That £200 or so, every few months, is still a waste and could be used or saved and put to better use. If it is affecting your lifestyle, then it still needs to stop, but if it's not, is it the be all and end all, that you should have a bit of spare money to do what you want to do with.

Everyone is different and I don't know much if anything about you, so I hope you and other here are not offended by my post, but I will say it is possible for some people to actually gamble responsibly, after being a compulsive gambler, but it certainly isn't something I would recommend to anyone who hasn't given their all to quitting completely.

Hi Steve, at the moment my desire to quit is strong but hand on heart I can't see myself going the rest of my life without ever having another bet. My fear is how would anyone feel after abstaining for say 5 years then having the huge disappointment of a tiny slip to burst that balloon. I can see the benefits of controlled betting to prevent this scenario happening but then is that not conceding defeat? My dilema is not so much how to stop but how to make that an

absolutely permanent state of being.

Well that is the thing, do you want to stop all forms of gambling or just the main one/s.

People who do the lottery for a couple of quid a week, or have a bet on just the Derby and Grand National are still gamblers, but they are not compulsive gamblers.

To what lengths will you go to not gamble? And what lengths will you go to gamble?

You need to start to look at what you gamble on, how you gamble and maybe why you gamble.

Then look at ways to block the gambling.

The first question I'd ask myself in your position is why haven't I self excluded at my local bookies.

You're probably say causes there are several in my area, but so what, go into each one and self exclude.

It may seem harsh, but if you're serious about giving up then you'll do whatever it takes.

Most times I self excluded in the past, has been the moment I've lost my money. Gamblers remorse lasts a couple of days at most, so strike while the iron is hot.