Fobt

Very true timetochange I know that the two together are not good.

I like a beer on a weekend and have now learnt to enjoy that without the gambling element coming into it , its still very hard watching races / football and getting urges to gamble but so far I have managed to fight them

And what I forgot to add before i got involved with my own thoughts was...

......I welcome any posts that keep FOBT's on the front page of this forum - all of those who have problems with roulette machines should have a collective resposibility to keep FOBT's on the first page......

Im far from recovered but it concerns me the amount of people who are on here at the moment because they have fallen into the FOBT trap , I know the exact position all these people have been in and try to offer my help on how I started recovery , if I can help one person then its been worth while

I would hope that anyone and everyone who experiences the heart ache of the FOBT try and help each other out of the black hole.

I just hope that the government try to limit the machines whilst they might make them money in tax they really need to address the issues these machines are causing to peoples lives

I couldn't agree more John. There are things I can't really speak of at the moment but this is being discussed at the highest level at the moment as a concern - whether anything comes of it, I don't know but it's being taken seriously for maybe the first time since they were installed.

The strange thing for me was that I played them for about four years and lost in excess of £250,000 - I found them incredibly, incredibly hard to give up at first but then, I found them the easiest thing to stay away from because I knew what that first spin would lead to. Win/Lose is irrelevant - either way, you'll want to carry on playing so putting eveything into not starting is key.

Good work for keeping this in people's minds my friend.

JamesP

Hi all, just seen this post as I am new to the forum. My issue is also with FOBTs and although it is not out of control yet, I can see it going that way and that is why I want to stop. I have no problem with gambling on horses (maybe place 2 or 3 bets a month) and I bet on football rarely, but do not have the same urge as I do with machines. I am willing to stop gambling all together if it helps stop me going on the machines, at least until the urges have stopped every time I walk into a bookies.

I am looking to keep a daily diary on the recovery section of the site that will hopefully help people out, as well as giving me a welcome distraction from taking a walk to the bookies.

Hi Adam,

My advise to you is to stop all together and self ban yourself from the bookies you go in.

I thought that I could just bet on horses / football / dogs which I enjoyed but each time I went to the bookies I could never resist the machines , £1000s later although I might have the odd win on the horses the fobt stung me for £300 on at least 20 occasions within the last year , it will only get worse and no amount of chasing will ever bring that money back.

Can only agree. Whatever benefit you might get from FOBT, in the long run, the house always wins.

Good thread, glad to see it visible as so many people have a machine problem. Of course they have many guises as you can pick roulette (my problem) in different forms and fruities..

I also can honestly say I was able to control my gambling until the FOBT's entered bookmakers. I think that was in the 90s in the UK?? Can someone give the year ?? Anyway it seems an age ago since I first started on them and the nightmare began.

Oneday. I had a few quid on me and after having a bet on horses/dogs, I had a punt on the roulette and won £900, and gradually became hooked on the thought of an easy big win..

On the very odd occassion I have won £1k but 99.9% of the time I lost. I have lost tens of thousands, possibly more. All my savings (thousands) and now 1000s in debt

I stopped gambling in the bookies for a while but then played real and virtual roulette online and eventually the TV shows, losing in the end naturally...

So all FOBTs have done for me is get me hooked on roulette and losing tens of thousands of pounds I do not have..

I have self-excluded from all local bookies, and blocker in place online. However more times than I would have wanted I have gone back in to play the FOBTs machines and also Fruit machines in arcades (500JP type) in other towns. It is too easy to find another hellhole to gamble in.

In the last one month I have lost over a thousand pounds on the FOBTs after staying off quite a few months. So back in more debt, and an equal sum on JP500 machines in arcades over £3k in all, sickening after making some progress stopping my gambling.

You simply cannot beat the roulette machines. Even if (as people often say) the numbers are programmed, like in a real casino the odds are stacked against us in casino games and we always will lose in the end anyway! Also we are always chasing past losses and the bookies know we will be back giving them more of our hard earned cash.

The machines drive you mad. Saw someone hitting one the other day. You begin to think there are patterns and you can predict the numbers. A man next to me telling me he knows which one it will land on (AFTER THE BALL spin has started) Or it lands on the one number you have not done or had just done before. Well that is the reality it is unpredictable and there are no strategies to win. Anything can happen... it is not fixed that is life it is a game of chance.

I admit I have gone from being rational to being one of those people who said they can 'see patterns' backwards number 13/31 etc. The FOBTs especially roulette really messes with you mind.. and are very damaging to my life.

The bookies want us to 'believe in the dream' of the 'big win' that will make things rosey. Well until you realise it is a delusion (partly self formed delusion) you will continue to lose and as I have painfully found out you will just be a cash cow for the betting industry.

The betting industry have milked me and others far too easily... yet we continue to go back as they have formed a deep ingrained addiction in us. Yes we chose to gamble on the FOBTs but they provided the source for countless people's addicitons. They need to be forced to act responsibly and ban the machines.

Roulette (my enemy) is a very psychological and mentally damaging and highly addictive game. They should never have brought the casino into the high street.

I have seen real fresh faced youngsters playing them just as I was when I started..there will be more casualties..

I think they have had to reduce the number of machines to three, whereas it used to be more.. but it is not enough.

If I could turn the clock back (know I can't) I would never have put those first few pounds in that led to being virtually robbed of my life savings and, years of wages and getting me into years of future debt (not yet paid off). IF I do no continue with the arcade and roulette machines in bookies.. only then have I won.

With FOBT's and the betting industry's use of them to make money from vulnerable and more and more addicted people (from the machines) the phrase:

'LIKE TAKING CANDY FROM A BABY'

comes to mind. (must remember that for future reference)

Hope this post helps me to stop and others..

Awayout

I agree these machines should not be aloud in betting shops. I have also lost thousands on them and in a real bad way. I have around 15000 worth of debt threw them

Hi Awayout

It's good to see that you keep posting on here. This addiction is really hard to break, isn't it ? It can be done but only by totally stopping gambling. Controlled gambling does not work for addicts.

You asked when FOBT's first appeared in the UK. It was in 2001 and I seem to remember at that time there was no limit on how much you could bet or win on each spin but there was, and still is, a daily £10,000 payout limit ( not that I've ever seen anyone need to worry about that !! ). In 2004 the most you could bet in a single spin was set at £100 and the most you could win was set at £500.

Incidentally the reason people know where the ball will land is because the position where the ball starts on the screen determines where it will land. It varies depending on the type of machine though.

As it's turned out the FOBT problem is now so out of control that something must be done. I wonder how bad it would have been under the old ' no limit ' betting ?

Regards

Blackjack

Thanks Blackjack

I need all the strength I can get from posting here. I have been posting like mad today.June was a terrible month for me going to arcades and roulette FOBTs at bookies. there must be a link to these machines causing problem gambling. I never hardly went in the arcade until FOBTs

It is spare time that is the key MONEY=TIME=LOCATION break that chain someone said on here and we can recover.

Thanks for reminding me of the date as I realise how quickly the machines have ruined me and they still have an eerie and terrifying attraction.

Their addictive potential is overwhelming and it is like giving up a drug I am sure.

As regards payout. I think the outcome would be the same whatever the payout as people will become addicted to the game as long as the prize is reasonable £500 is a lot to most working class people..

However if the payout were only £5 I think the attraction would soon go... The bookies are selling the dream of a big win, but it is fake one. They will always win in the long term and for me even in a couple sessions of what is effectively compulsive gambling I can never collect..

I am a compuslive binge gambler, but I recognise that and want to stop.

Awayout

Just waiting for the usual response from Gamcare regarding FOBT its bound to come sooner rather than later.............

FOBT are recognised by gamblers and bookmaker staff as highly addictive and potentially leathal, the only people who dont accept that they have changed the whole face of gambling in the UK are, Bookmakers (making money) the government (making money) and Gamcare (hmmmmm)

I know the issue of the FOBT is being discussed at higher level at the moment due to the speed in which a compulsive gambler could lose everything.

My advise as simple as it might sound for now is to self ban from everywhere , block all the sites off your computer and get some professional help.

These machines have taken peoples lives , no doubt lots of peoples money and the havoc they cause is here for all to see on a daily basis.

Yes, I think you're so right John B.

Awayout - You often write in your diary about how you go to another town(s) so you can gamble where you aren't self-excluded.

You really do need to self-exclude EVERYWHERE within many miles of where you live.

It will be one hell of a task to do so but really that does seem to be the only way for you to beat this problem.