Hi everyone, this my first ever post on this site, I am like most of you, probably, someone with a gambling problem. I tend to be able to get myself out of trouble most of the time but in the past have managed to create debts of approx 2-3K which have taken an age to resolve.
Around 18 months ago I stopped gambling paid my debts over time and self exlcuded myself from everything site I had been on. including all the usuals *********, ***********, ******* etc etc.... Last week a few of the boys in my office were having a punt on cheltenham and I relapse it took one bet and all of sudden that is my enabler for more by friday I had £10 on every race at cheltenham and multiple trebles. needless to say it started good and ended bad, however of that had been it I would have managed but it wasn't. I found a casino site that would let me open an account called Eurogrand and proceeded to blow £900+ in one day... gutted... this has provided me with the motivation to stop again however I have found out that Eurogrand is part of the *********** group and there self exclusion policy is applied to the group. I have requested all account transactions be reversed and am struggling can anyone offer any advice on this situation please?
Hi David0405, welcome to the Forum,
You have done exceptionally well to stop for eighteen months my friend - you deserve a great deal of credit for that.
Self-exclusion can only do so much - there will always be other sites, new and old, springing up. Blocking software, like K9, Betfilter or Gamblock, is the best and only way forward for you.
You have been there before my friend, you know that there is no such thing as "one bet" for a compulsive gambler - if you lose, you will face soul-wrenching desperation to regain what you have lost (which invariably leads to losing), if you win, then all it will make you do is crave more within hours, maybe even minutes (which invariably leads to losing, and then spending money you don't have)
You are not a failure, and this doesn't have to be "Day 1" all over again if you learn from this experience and ensure you don't make the same mistake again. You found a way of life that didn't involve gambling - maybe you didn't quite get far enough to the point where you were emotionally distant from it. I can understand that; I have stopped for five years after gambling for twenty - complacency can be just as dangerous as a strong urge - you have been through so much that you believe it won't affect you again, but it can take seconds to spiral out of control again, as it did to you my friend.
Well done again my friend - this is your "Part Two", not your "Day 1"; remember what you went through and how you felt when you relapsed, nothing is worth that, no Cheltenham, no amount of money, nothing - you are better than that now my friend, and you came farther than a lot of people ever will.
JamesP
Hi David,
At the risk of trading old war-stories, your post really resonates with me. I gave up gambling in '09 after a few false dawns. I remember this one time I'd given up for about 3 months, self-excluded from all my usual sites, then had a booze-fuelled rampage one night and gambled around £500 (which to me is a HUGE amount of money). Anyway, to make a change I actually won, and won big. I went to bed feeling awful that I'd given in, but thanking the universe I'd got lucky and saved myself from having no rent money, etc. (I'm sure you know how it goes).
BUT...
After cashing out and waiting for the 48hr withdrawal window (during which time you can still reverse it - which I think is pure inspired evil, but that's another story), I got an email from the site saying: "Sorry, we notice you self-excluded from our partner's website a few months ago, so this voids your winnings and we will not be paying you. Bad luck sucker! Suck it up."
Unbelievable! Even when I win I lose! As you can imagine, I went batshit crazy, ended up doing Kung Fu with my laptop.
I use this memory above all others to remind myself what genuine s******s bookmakers are, with their offshore tax avoidance hubs in Gibraltar or Jersey, etc. You better believe if I'd LOST that night I wouldn't have got their email weasel words. And they never mentioned it whilst I was depositing money at such a fast rate it would've been clear even to a child that there was a compulsion issue there.
Use your painful experience too to remind yourself next time you feel tempted what devious and heartless P****s the people who run gambling sites are.
(Sorry if my language is too strong, but even after 5 years free from watching these greedy b******s use my money to light their cigars, this one particular memory still makes me rage).
Molehole x
1:- listen to james P, 2:- read my thread, then just stop, in the end you will not win. why do you think james P and I are on here??
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