Hi allÂ
I am a 35 year old female I have 3 kids and a partner. I have been gambling since I was around 13 it became a problem around 8 years ago but the last year really bad. I have turned into and do things I really hate in others became a LIAR!Â
Only partner works I currently am at home all day I receive some benefits a top up of 726£ in universal credits I also receive 170 in child benefits and 213 child Scotland payment my partner thinks we only have his income and the child benefits which works fine for us we always have food on the table I’ve kept all this for gambling, I started gambling at 13 my gran used to get us to pick horses when visiting her I then started asking people to go in and put a horse on for me standing outside the bookies, fast forward to 8 years ago I was playing bingo online only £10 and won 5000 whilst they were confirming my identity I tried slots for the first time I went from 5k to 9k in the space of an hour when they emailed me that I was confirmed I had 2700 left I cashed out 1500 after this I started playing slots I’d put in 20 get up to 700 etc withdraw 500 keep rest to play this kept going I then started depositing 200 at a time I’d get up to 3000 and spin till it was gone, I still went in to bookies every so often and put 20 30 on a horse here and there but always collected my winnings and would never put in to the slots in there if I was near post office I’d deposit it into my bank and spin it online, I self excluded for 5 years and put blocker on my phone a year ago as I started depositing the 726 in one go and spinning it all within an hour I started using a friends account and play it on my sons laptop she also has a gambling addiction so she knows if I win I will give her 100 etc off it but if I win 1000 I’ll take 500 out give her 100 and leave 400 to play when that is gone I’ll put the 500 in that I took out and it gos on and on I put a Gamban on all devices managed to stop for 10 weeks with only going to bookies but I always collected my wins from there if I win 400 I’ll put £12 etc back on I never do big bets in there well over the 10 weeks I managed to have 3868 in my bank my partner got a new phone no Gamban on there so asked him if I could use it to play £5 on bingo he doesn’t know the amount I gamble win he sees me win I tell him I played £1 bingo etc as obviously there have been times I have managed to get us trainers or tv before putting back in but very few well anyway deposited 200 then 100 and so on I’m now sitting with £3 in my bank I contacted gamblers anonymous last night and am awaiting a call I am so angry at myself this morning I had bookie slips from Monday in my purse I went and cashed them out this morning £80 and never put as much as £1 on a horse for today for that I am proud as I am determined to stop all gambling slots being the worst but I’ve played raffles and competition pages etc too many sleepless nights I got up to 6000 whilst having deposited £400 yesterday so could have had 9000 instead of £3 this morning I’m way out of control I’ve had 30,000 etc before in accounts and buggered it on roulette and slots and walked with nothingÂ
Im really sorry to hear what u are going throw i too was in a similar situation i too was able to win huge sums off money however i was never able to keep the winnings the more i had the bigger the risks i would take untill it was all gone my turning point came when i won large changing money the issue i too had i simply just couldnt quit and lost it all within a very short period of time i just could registered what had happened and i made a decision too take a bank loan i just couldnt accept what happened and in my head i believed they owed me this money and has it goes i lost it all, that was my turning point am on day 568 days g/f managed to clear the debt and am debt free, u can do this too, i realised as i simply couldnt quit their simply was no other outcome and the only way out is to get all the help i require i always did stuff my way and believed i could quit on my own accord since joing gamcare care i realised the addiction never goes away it can be contained however i am simply not cured it always going to be 1 day at a time
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