From now on, I'll only bet on myself! Enough, Mike. You can do it.

Today is my day one too. Although I think I may have already lost everything and everyone I love. I started gambling in December 2024 online when my Mum died. It for bad and I stopped for a few months but recently I fell off the wagon so to speak. 
Here if you need to talk 

Hi Mike,

Like myself I signed this weekend also 

We're in the right place as a first step to recovery 

I am really glad u have came on here to seek help this addiction doesnt discriminate  regardless who u are their plenty of stories of millionaires who had successful businesses ruined by this addiction it can happen an does happen it give u a false hope of control and keep u trapped by making you feel good then has time goes by most gamblier start to realise it causing harm so u try to limit yourself and make adjustments due to this nature of this addiction as an addict u cannot control gambling it take everything away to an extent taking loans to cover losses unless u have endless stream of cash eventually it take everything and those peoole who have unlimited suply of money lose their health in the process it becomes such a habit it becomes a chore which is just has bad has lossing house bills recovery is slow process and it one u have to continue on relapses happen for varity of reasons and i have seen them time and time again some could have been prevented others are alot more difficult one thing i learnt after my second time of recovery 2+ years bet free urgues can come back for a number of reasons fortunately for me i am a regular attendee of this forum and just few days ago an urgue came out the blue i knew why it happened and it wasented me who initiated the conversation the urgue only last about 5-10 mins and my mind was all over the place i rang up gamcare and spoke to the advisor for about an hour and in that time that all it took as i was in a state of shock this urgue was the worst one i had since this attempt and i know if i didnt have this support in place it was enough to cause a relapse and i know even though i dont want to gamble and i am doing everything to prevent this from happening i have to accept stuff like this will test me very few can overcome this addiction and never bet again those people are very small minorty

Best of luck on your journey, my day 1 is today and I can totally relate to the destruction this horrible addiction causes.

@tazman Thank you so much for your kind words. Today I decided to join the forum to see if anyone responded. I'm still struggling with my mind. Every day those dark thoughts return, where I think, "What if I play today and win and win it back?" I thought it would be helpful to share how I started. As I mentioned, I had earned good money working in my profession. I was 27 years old at the time and had no idea about online casinos. I had been to conventional casinos before, but I never liked them that much. The first time I registered for an online casino was one that accepted cryptocurrencies. Unfortunately, and I say this unfortunately, that day I won a significant amount from betting just $100. That day my struggle began.

Gambling hooked me so quickly because it took me a long time to start losing big. It was like months where I watched slot machine videos, online casino content creators, and I followed all of this content, and I saw it as normal. But up until then, I hadn't lost. It was approximately 45 days after having earned a lot with that account, that one day, I lost my mind because it seemed like everything was against me. I wasn't paying anything, I lost all the money I won, I added more coins by buying with my credit card and lost $2,000. I felt devastated, a miserable person. I began to isolate myself. I didn't go out, I didn't answer messages from my lifelong friends, I lived thinking about how to recover the money... I swore I would quit gambling, but I keep going from relapse to relapse... sometimes I won, sometimes I recovered, but it was never enough. It's like your mind loses control, an almost stupid devaluation of money occurs, because you prefer to gamble than to help someone in need. Sometimes $100 can change a person's life, but from what I know, gambling turns you into a selfish person. I've been dragging this on for 3 years, I'm still clean, but I'll need a lot of help with this, because neither my best friends nor my family knew about this, nor suspected. Thank you for your words, I would love to continue sharing with people who suffer the same thing. As exercise, whenever I feel like gambling, and I have money left over to do it, I automatically proceed to pay off debts, or simply invest in myself by eating healthy, going to the gym, swimming, and I think I'm doing well, but it's very difficult.

Can you give me advice on what to do when you realize a relapse is coming?