well, ive been playing fobts in the bookies for 10 years now..just can't get these out of head, i'm 30 now....final straw came last week, I get paid monthly, however this month it fell on a monday meaning my wages actually went in my account on the saturday....yep you guessed I did all my wages £1700 in the fobt loading £200 at a time with £50 restriction per spin in place, before the monday came, when all my direct debits including rent were due to come out....somehow I got out of it, my mum baled me out..i said my account is on an automatic sweep and the whole lot went into my savings ISA account where withdrawals would effect me losing a years interest....thats a wake call, not been on them since thursday...never been in a casino in my life or betted heavy on the football/horses on into the internet, its just these fobts.. they are something else...worst form of gambling by a mile...not just me i see it in others in there, its ripping them apart..shame the roulette is not reduced to £2 a spin.....
thiing is im too quiet for ga meetings, I hate discussions in a room, and im not telling my parents...they think i have thousands saved up, also any future inhertance to me would be effected...
.got to try this myself..typing on here might help, and reading various forums everyday. ive set up a standing order to send a large amount to a savings account with another bank (that has no card attached), that should hopefully help and leave me with a smaller amount to get through the month, getting paid monthly on a monday this month (happens once a year) a right pain!, as with most banks it will appear on the saturday!!!!
ive tried giving it up loads of times throughout the 10 years, sadly the longest is 30 days, im going to try hard to beat it.... .
Hi Pete and welcome to the forum.
FOBT's were also my downfall in a big way but you have to look at it from a recovery viewpoint.
The FOBT is in a bookies. If you don't enter the bookies you won't bet. If you self exclude from the bookies even better.
If you don't carry cash you can't bet. Now I know some people will say "I need cash on me to function. Bus fare, train fare, coffee, lunch, after work drinks" You don't need to always carry cards or cash and you can function without it.
Handing over your cards to someone else to manage. Again it will stop your access to cash and you cannot gamble.
To be fair it maybe didn't matter which day you got paid as like me I was on the FOBT every day. Before work, lunchtime, after work. The only thing I needed was my FOBT fix daily just like a drug addict or alcoholic needs a fix.
How do I know the above works. Well I stopped FOBT gambling (and all forms of gambling) 166 days ago and the methods I described are what have got me where I am. Yes I have still stopped and deal with things one day at a time.
Am I fully recovered. No. But I know the danger signs and deal with them accordingly.
Do I carry cash or have access to my cards today. No. If I need cash wifey provides me with cash and I provide a receipt.
What I am saying is it can be done but please just take one day at a time. Look out for danger signs and put barriers in place. The FOBT industry will not change to £2 a spin but you can change.
Lastly keep posting, keep reading on here and keep learning.
Best wishes in your journey
Wise words. I'd listen to them Pete. 10 years ago I lost 10's of thousands on them and over the last 18 months have drifted back to them. Luckily I've come to my scenes and stopped again before I loose everything I've worked hard for. We all have a choice and you like me need to choose to be FOBT free. You cannot win my friend because you cannot stop. End the cycle now and get your life back on track. You can do it 🙂
Hello Pete1209 Welcome to GamCare Forum I hope you find it helpful
You say you are to quiet for GA meetings and you hate discussions in a room. There is one to one counselling available (no fee) face to face counselling or online counselling. To get more information you can call freephone 08088020133 or use the net-line to speak with an advisor and they will give you further information on what is available in your local area. There is also a nightly Chat room here on our site you may find helpful its every evening between 8pm and 9pm .
Caroline
Hi Pete and welcome ,. It's 20 days tommorow since I last played the Fobt's. I have also lost thousands playing the evil fecker's and thats just over the last couple of years ! They are the most evil form of gambling you could ever wish to meet ! They suck you in , mess with your head so your always chasing your losses and when done with you , they spit you the f++k out , . It's taken me a few years to realise you cannot beat them and you never will !! Take all the advice being given , exclude yourself from as many bookies as possible and limit your access to cash and cards , you came clean on this site and admitted your gambling problem exists, thats the hard bit and well done you !! You can beat this and you will , Forget all your losses , thats gone and chasing it will only make things much worse .. Stay strong and take little steps to get your life back !! Alan who will not gamble today!!
Just a small point on GA....it doesn't have to be as described. You don't have to speak and you don't have to get involved in discussion.
You can still work the programme, and listen to others. It will all help.
It's not for everyone but has worked amazingly for me..18 months ago I couldn't walk a bookies without wasting £££, now I'm approaching 550 days without a sniff of a bit.
Hi, that sad bloke playing the FOBT in the betting shop, losing and getting angry wanting to pick the machine up and chuck it through the window, that was once me. Do yourself a favour, try and get to a GA meeting, you don't have to tell your parents but it might help you a lot. You will hear people just like you, you're not alone in the pit of despair. Just stop playing them for 1 day at a time, then get to a month, pay your bills and whatevers left if you still want the feeling of being in something that might one day win you some money then put it into premium bonds, it's far better than wasting it plus it will mount up and that money your perents thought you had will be there. It's not easy i know and let's face it you're in deep, when you're doing all your wages in 1 or 2 days then there's a problem. I've been there, my wages wasn't enough so i took out big loans and still that wasn't enough, it's never enough, it's just ammo to keep playing. How many more lies can you tell? i'm surprised your parents fell for it and lets face it they know what you've been up to, we think they don't but trust me they know because they know your ways and the way you're acting right now is the weird way you act when you've lost a shed load.
You have a great future but you've got to grab it, you've got to want it and it will just take a little time for you to start seeing it but you must stop gambling to see it. Gambling creates dark clouds of negative thinking, it sucks you into a world of make believe nonsense about chasing losses, this is not living, it's a nightmare. Living is not spending hours in a bookies on a silly machine that will wreck your life, living is about getting out there seeing the world by spending that money we waste wisely, being a nice person and making people happy.
I don't know anyone whose life has changed by winning a fortune on the roulette FOBT, do you? i know people who have won big online but trust me, i know a lot more who haven't and have spent the fortune they would have liked to win trying to (ME)!
Thought I would update this...day 13 now...feel abit better than 2 weeks ago, when i did my months wage in 2 days all on roulette machines in the bookies and the thought of the next 31 days potless, and getting to work on that monday..and hearing colleagues talking out loud, its payday today wohooo. and me thinking to myself `well not for me, i spent it all on saturday`.....how low i felt inside was indescribable.
going over other low points- spending £900 in a hour lunchbreak and felling utter c**P at work all afternoon, doing £600 before work even worse!! or spending £1500 in one day when you have your brothers birthday party to attend in the evening.... what an idiot. all for that a high for what...30 seconds.. that felling of hitting £13 number, screaming across the room in bookies...get in there!! giving a high five too all of the 5 or so p****s surrounding you and begging for money when you collect it...I even tipped the cashier a score what a fool!!!
can this get automatically moved to recovery diaries section?
Keep up the good work pal, it's mad isn't it we all no we never gonna win but still go back for more that's what scares me about quiting do I really won't this illness gone, just messed up brain gonna beat this and so are you my friend
Hi Pete,
fobts were also my poison. Just wondering how you're getting on?​
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day 25...doing ok, its amazing how the days disappear.. i still get urges, like an electric surge going through my body.. its like its automatic- my body and brain is just so use to playing fobts 10 years straight... but wth no money since 24 september i cannot play then....
i look ahead to wednesday, the biggest test of all- montly payday..all montly essentials paid on this day, i'll keep about £100 for myself to spend socially for the month, with the rest of the money automatically going straight to a new account i have no cards and online/ phone logins access.
obviously Ive been a hermit for the last month not going out socially, had so much time thinking....just laying on the bed thinking what i've done last 10 years, its horrific, not been on holiday, dont drive, no girlfriend...all caused by these fobts i done nothing with my life except play these machine last 10 years....
the machines are unreal, the cleverest con trick going....making you think you can nick a few quid each time from them.....do a £40 spin to win £45, and then press collect and walk out..easy fiver!! however, it dont work like that, covering 95% of the board and getting a losing spin...then talking to myself `that is unbelievable` while i turn round and look with disgust at the staff behing the counter....then it sucks me in and before you know you've done a few hundred quid chasing... they are a clever con trick.. there is probably not many people out there that have played them more than me in the last 10 years and i tell you this ,there is no way they are trully random in my opinion, like picking out a raffle ticket out of a hat- no way!! yep i know they are b2, and not b3 like the slots on there... I dont think we will ever know the truth behind them as they generate so much tax for the government...
Hi I'm paul I'm same as you addicted to the roulette, they is noway they are random as when the ball spins I know we're it's landing and that can't be random way u gotta look at it is do u see bookies going bump? Do u ever see the likes of w**********l etc closing down nope just open more n more all because of people like me and you we all need to step up and let them.feel what it's like to have nothing would love to protest against then, good luck with your recovery mate ur not on your own
50 days free now from the fobt's....10 years of mental abuse on the brain ...its unreal, how they messed me up over the decade ...can't do it know more.
have to admit, i still do the euro millions and small footy bets...unusual on here? dangerous i know stepping in the bookies still, i have so much hatred for the machines..i cant stop myself talking to people on them, and warning them about them, I've put in over £100k in 10 years and had no life what so ever....i could never put £200 on a team or a horse but could put it in a machine... and when its lost, your chasing. you increase your bets, trial and error and before you know it you've done £800 plus...
even the staff give me looks like *that strange he is not on them, he normally puts in loads`
i'm gradually getting my life back on track...when you've lost of lot dough spending 4 hours sitting on a machine or losing half your months salary in an hours lunch break, its frys your brain, you dont want to talk to anyone `, i remember once i had a careers advice one to one with head of department at work- half an hour with him, in the afternoon after doing £500 in my lunchbreak, .i was a mental wreck, i was depressing as hell, luckily he didn't realise anything was up...its a hidden addiction, on the outside no one has a clue, but inside its eating me up badly...
Hi Pete . Justed popped by to say a big well done on your 50 days , sorry ! 51 days gamble free !.
Keep up the good work buddy .. Best wishes ......Alan
well, i have had a big blip recently...3 months of no FOBT up to 24 dec, but i was dabbling in football betting, lost alot, then turned back to fobt in a hope to decrease loses, £10 on zero to soften the blow. 30 spins later its still not come out... learnt i've got to pack it all in now...seems no better time with the new year coming up...
ANY FREE ANTI GAMBLING ONLINE SOFTWARE PLEASE..the two mentioned on here dont seem to be free...
on the football betting, i was backing:
over 0.5 goals first half: 10,15 mins into the game..yep got done so many times
or
in the second half 60 min mark, backing 1 more goal in the game .....you play football to score goals, just my luck, no one can hit a barn door...
or
no more goals, 5 mins to go..... hearts v celtic, on sunday done me big time...i am absolutely cursed, watching it on sky sports.. celtic seeing the game out with ease protecting their 2-1 lead not looking for another..then hearts score a 90 min free kick absolutely out of knowhere to equalise... unreal..
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