First real attempt to kick gambling

Hi Gm.

Welcome to the forum. Its a great first step.If you read the stories and get involved, you will see that it reinforces what you already know inside.

It affects people from all walks of life as you already know and you also know thats its not really there as a money making scheme for the "punters"

Im afraid its not as easy as giving it a go and wishing you luck. Finishing gambling is actually about telling your partner your parents and anybody that needs to hear the truth. Its about self exclusions up to your eyeballs that you feel a sense of relief about

Its about so many blocks that you wont want to go to these events. Its about partners saying you are not going because you are an addict and have a history of wasting money you cant afford.

Its about finding something else to do with your time and money which is actually better than gambling...start windsurfing for example( ho ho) as this is what people do to get a buzz out of life.

You know what gambling has done and you know they have teams of people setting the odds. I have never seen easy odds on the only four legged horse....football results go against expectation and so on. I dont agree with gambling and if it reaches the stage of over betting or compulsion, its extremely dangerous to your finances and health.

keep reading and please take strong action to take the fight on. Im not sure how working in the industry plays out. Other people in recovery may feel inside a slight wind up trigger because they know what the industry has done to them. I hesitate to call it an industry but have to accept they are not stupid to logistically bring all of this together.

Everyone is welcome here and you will get some great advice that you need to act on. Surely you want your money to be yours and being gamble free is a great feeling. Tell you why....I dont miss anything at all once I realised that all it ever brought me was financial loss and pure misery

Best wishes

Hi GM, welcome to the forum 🙂

When we become compulsive gamblers, it stops having much to do about money & becomes much more to do with the buzz. Our whole lives start to revolve around the gambling & the only connection that money has to do with it is the need to have it so we can continue to chase the rush. We cannot win because we cannot stop! When I eventually admitted to myself that I had a problem, I went looking for help to control my gambling (stop losing) & was mortified to read that for us, there is no such thing. I really didn't want to stop, it was my favourite thing in the whole wide world, better than eating (& if you've followed any of my ramblings, you will see food figures very highly in my life) & the thought of never being able to do it again terrified me. Reality is, I'm way better without it & now that I'm out of the fog, I can clearly see that.

Practicalities are a need to get your gambling (time-money-location, remove one & you cannot gamble) triangle broken, figure out how to retrain your brain (counselling, offered @ no cost by this site, and/or GA), draw a line under your losses & deal with this One Day At A Time. None of the super Sundays are here this minute & Cheltenham is a lifetime away...Thinking about the forevers can be extremely daunting but when we break things down into bite size pieces, it is all manageable.

I would say that feelings against the industry can run pretty high @ times on here, take nothing personally! We are all here for the same reason, be it ourselves that need to stop or our loved ones. Cut yourself some slack & count every hour as a victory, it's hard to walk away from something that has been such a huge part of us for so long. You will have up days & down days but as long as you stay gamble free, there will be something to be proud of each day - ODAAT

ODAAT you smashed it: "Practicalities are a need to get your gambling (time-money-location, remove one & you cannot gamble)".

Spot on ODAAT

After you hit rock bottom,there's only one way up , I hid my gambling for years , I had everything my own business flash car ,wife kids , everything. Today I turned a corner I asked for help ,my wife and family were brilliant everything was a weight off my shoulders when I told them . Now the recovery I was so bad I didn't gamble for financial gain , I gambled to win and get the buzz of that makes sense but I was never happy until I gave back everything I won and then whatever I had on me . I couldn't get my head around it .im determined to beat this and not let it ruin my life .

Thanks for the kind and supportive comments. Now onto day 3, haven't gambled but have suffered severe anxiety and felt very down, from reading online I understand there can often be some "withdrawal symptoms" so hopefully this will pass soon.

I've self excluded on every account bar my w**********l which I've left open but with a £10 deposit limit, don't know why but I'm scared to take that final step & close it, it puts my mind at ease knowing if I do relapse I'll use that & be limited to £10.

I don't know if keeping that sort of "safety net" has been tried by anyone before or if it works?

Hi gm
Let go of the comfort blanket.
Keeping the door ajar to addiction is not going to end well.

You have to ask yourself why you need a fall back.
You're already Doubting yourself which is going to make your anxiety through the roof.
Belive in your ability to stop

We've all been there gm and it seems daunting so much so you're worried about up coming events. You cross that bridge when it come to it.

Gm admitting that gambaling has you licked is step one in overcoming a gambaling addiction.

Working in the industry you will have a pretty good idea how bad thing's will get if you carry on.

Gambaling addiction isn't some fairy tale ending were we get the boat. As you know we're paying for the boat only we will never get to drive it.

Let go of the rope mate and see how far you can go without the need to gamble.

All the best

I tried lots of safety nets before finally seeing the light....including keeping one account with a £10 deposit limit telling myself that it would limit my losses. When the urge got too strong I just increased the limit. Sure I had to wait 24 hours, but the next day I threw another grand down the toilet.Don't kid yourself. £10 is never going to give you the buzz you'd want. It took me a good year to close every door. I'd go long stretches without a bet, but every time the going got tough I'd find a way back in. Bolt the doors, put the blocks in place, and get some support to figure out your triggers. And try not to look too far into the future.Looking at Cheltenham and already saying you won't manage it is like an alcoholic thinking about next new year and saying they can't get through it without a drink. Who knows how you'll be feeling by the time it comes around? Take it day by day or hour by hour if you need to. It's tough at first, no denying it, but it's definitely worth it.

LifeBegins x

Thanks again for the responses, I've actually been surprised at how helpful this site is when you get the urge to gamble going on and reading stories on here can genuinely draw you back.

I've excluded that last account now. Bit worried about getting through the weekend which was previously my main betting time.

Maybe an odd question but were any former big sports betters ever able to enjoy televised sport again after quitting? I've just been hiding away from it as fear I'd get the urge to gamble if I watched it.

I was never massively into sport's betting although I did it every week with out fail. Mine was just low stakes dream big betting on sports. I do find I watch less sports now. Mostly because I don't have an interest in some matches. But I do like super Sunday's. Because there's some good games.

I've seen the same post countless time's. People saying I can't do this and that because it might trigger my gambaling.
But that's addictions way of trying to make stopping as hard as possible. Similar to your wife saying well if you split up with me I'm taking the kid's and you won't see them.

What I'm saying is don't let it keep you hiding in the house. If you like football go watch it.
Take control of your life back
You can enjoy sport without betting on it. And if you can't you most likely don't like the sport anyway.
Best wishes

Gm that's a great point I am exactly like you wrapped up in this idea that to watch it you have to bet on it . It's just the routine we have set but as my councillor but across to me we at like computers in a way our minds need to be reprogrammed ,I thought about wat she said and it made perfect sense I created this addiction so it's up to me to get rid of it ,the how part is what I'm still trying to work out

Hi,

This is the thread I needed to see - I also work in the gambling industry, for about 2 years now, so it's comforting to know there's others in the same situation. I really want to stop gambling, but I'm worried that it'll be tough being stuck with it all day at work. I really love my job, but it's 40 hours a week being in an environment where everything is gambling. It's quite the paradox, especially given that my paycheck comes from people losing their money. Yet I gamble anyway.

I hope you make it mate. This is day 1 for me too.

Regards

Hi mate. Football betting is where it all started for me. When I was 17. Starting off with £1 on 5 aways to £1000 on a single. I got to a stage where I would bet on every game that was on tv, and with sports coverage these days my weekend betting increased to midweek as well. I eventually narrowed it back to weekends but found all the bets I fancied through the week - Champions league for example I would always pick winners but never place the bet. Generally speaking and this isn't being naive over the years I am probably slightly in profit from football betting. However a football loss sparks something in my brain where I need a quick fix. That resulted in playing roulette in casino's, fobt or online live casinos. In 2013 I got in so deep and got myself in major debt, resulting in bankruptcy. I overcome my compulsive gambling and went about 3 years clean. A very happy 3 years. Last year I slowly introduced football betting, winning here and there but emotions started creeping back in and I was getting that buzz back. It has been spiralling recently and this weekend just after winning £500 on a football bet I decided to play roulette. Long story short I lost that, and another £3000. I joined this site to meet people like yourself. It's good to know you're not alone. Good luck friend

I've just read back through your previous posts. I'm a Spurs fan and would pretty much bet on them (unless no value) every game. It added so much emotion to the game that I actually ended up hating watching them. Find your buzz elsewhere. This is going to sound crazy - But if you're a football fan set up a fantasy team with the premier league that will keep you entertained, does me!