Hi everyone,
This forum has really helped me, so thank you to everyone for posting. Reading the stories has made me realise that I can never win at gambling.
A quick background on my gambling. It started about 12 years ago. Mainly online, playing blackjack every day for a while. I have been addicted to online poker - I remember the first day I discovered it playing for more than 12 hours straight. I have never withdrawn anything from an online poker site, so that shows what a money drain it was!
The main one for me over the last few years though has been roulette. I have played it online loads of times, mainly when drunk and have lost 500 in a couple of hours a number of times. 500 is not far of 50% of my monthly income, so it is a large amount of money to me.
I am lucky that my family has put away money for me my whole life and therefor I have a fairly large amount of saving, which so far I have never been tempted to spend on gambling. I think this has made it harder for me in some ways because I fool myself by thinking losing a few hundred quid doesn't bother me because I have enough saving for it not to cause any bother. Don't get me wrong though, when I have lost money it does feel terrible, I hate myself, I feel guilty and like I am a horrible person...
Anyway, I have managed not to play online roulette etc for about two months and generally feel ok. I did take advantage of a world cup offer to sign up to a new casino and won the intro bet and took the money out then self excluded. So, a small victory. Probably wasn't the best idea as it got me thinking about gambling again.
Last weekend I was on a big night out for 2 best friend's birthdays. As everyone went off to a nightclub, I decided I should go home as I had work the next day. Once I left them, I got a real urge to go to the casino, "just to put 50 on one spin of the wheel, then leave." My girlfriend managed to persuade me not to, thankfully. Her argument was that if I left my best friend's birthday night, because of work the next day, I should go home and not to the casino. She was of course correct, but it didn't stop me arguing with her all the way home.
Sorry for rambling... the main point of my post was to say that, now that I have stopped gambling (and stopped some other addictions that I used to have) I find I am bored alot of the time. As with many people, one of the main reasons I gambled was for excitement and to get a buzz.
I am taking part in my favourite sport 2 or 3 times a week... I would play more, but my body can't take it! I also swim once or twice a week. So, I am trying to take care of myself and keep busy but sport only takes up a couple of hours a day. That still leaves a lot of time to fill. I keep thinking I want to go and jump out of a plane or something just to try and get a buzz!
Sorry for ranting on, if you have got this far, well done! I would really appreciate hearing from anyone, who has felt the same after quitting gambling, and how they got over it.
Thanks for reading
Hi dontdoit. Firstly, well done on getting this far on your gamble free journey.
Your post resonates with me as I also have had major issues with roulette and the buzz you get just from playing. I managed to give up for a few years but have recently been sucked back in, and I'm now trying to give up for good with the help of this site.
I do think playing competitive sport is a good way to fill the void, but like you say there's only so much your body can take (oh to be 20 again, when I played football nearly every night!). I found when I gave up last time, studying for an open university qualification took up a lot of my spare time, perhaps you could do a part time course? I'm currently trying to read books etc but I'm yet to find a hobby which replicates the buzz of gambling.
Good luck
Andy
Hi Andy,
Thanks for your reply and sorry it has taken me so long to respond. I guess for me, that's a good thing as I haven't been thinking about gambling much and things have been going ok for the last week or two.
I'm sorry to hear that roulette has tempted you back recently. It certainly can give a buzz, which is very hard to find anywhere else. I just focus on the fact that even if I was to win, I would just put it all back in to playing more. Also, no amount of high feeling is worth the low feeling you get when you lose hundreds of pounds in the blink of an eye!
Thanks for the suggestion of doing a part time course. I have been thinking recently about learning Spanish. Maybe I could do some sort of online course in that. Have you thought of doing another course?
Today should be ok, I am off for an intense badminton session then a swim before this work this afternoon. Plus, the sun is shining! If only everyday could be like this!
Good luck with your journey. Let me know how you are getting on.
Also keen to hear from any other members on this topic.
Gareth
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