Hi all,
I am Kat.
I'm nearly 30 and for the last year and a half I have been sucked into the whirlpool that is gambling addiction. It began with a fiver on sky bingo and has escalated into months of scraping by on no money, delayed bills and hours and hours of playing slots to try and chase my loses.
Currently I am 3 days GF.
I suppose I should mention I have an extremely addictive personality, and though I am aware many people here have probably had gambling issues for a much longer time than myself and lost much more than myself (I estimate I've lost around 2-3 k) my personality has definitely helped me reach a point where I know for the sake of my peace of mind, future and self respect I need to stop deluding myself that I don't have a problem.
So here I am!
Lovely to meet you all and I look forward to reading your stories and offering support to you all cos god knows this is d**n tough!
-Kat x
Hi kat
Welcome. Yes your in the right place and have taken the biggest step realising you have a problem. I also started by playing bingo.. online which escalated to online slots for 11 months. I have also realised quickly I have a problem and only happened to find this site a few weeks ago. It has been a fantastic help to realise we are not alone I'm this. Have you contacted gamcare helpline?
Welcome Kat - I'm sure you'll find this the perfect place to start a healthy gf life! I'm still a novice with only 14 days in, but this place is probably the reason I've got that far - and hopefully much longer as the days pass.
I know what you mean about an addictive personality - I've got one of those - and it can be a blessing or a curse depending on what you focus on. Gambling is definately a no-no for me.
I'm still trying to convince myself I don't have a problem - but like you mentioned for yourself, I'm probably deluding myself as all evidence seems to suggest I do/did have a whopping big problem. Even if I don't - I want gambling out of my life.
Well done with the 3 days gf - and here's to a life with more peace of mind and much less regret.
Take care
Equinox
Hey Kat,
I can certainly attest to having an addictve personality. When you add in the fact that i'm extremely competitive with a lot of things as well, it's not really a good mix š
I think the daily grind of scraping by on next to nothing is whultimately led me here as well - this is where i first posted
http://www.gamcare.org.uk/forum/just-dont-know-what-do-1
I think just unloading everything and actually admitting there's something wrong has certainly helped so you might find it actually helps you as well. I'm a week without gambling but for no other reason than I literally have no money over and above about a tenner to last me the next 6 days, but i'm hopeful that when I get paid next week, my time posting here and reading other people's stories will give me enough drive to actually make it past payday without having gambled.
Hope you can find the help you need š
Thank you for the replies right now I am finding just talking to like minded people is a massive help.
Sometimes I feel so alone when I am stressing about gambling and trying to fight the urge to gamble.
Strength in numbers I hope! Xx
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