Hello guys. Just thought I'd share my story.
After reading a lot of people's stories on here mine seems fairly tame, especially in regards to amounts etc, but for me it's enough of an issue to bring me here. I'm 25 and have been betting since I was about 17. I won over £1000 off a £2 acca on my second ever bet and was hooked from then on, but never really thought I had a problem until the last few years.
It's mainly sports betting for me, particularly inplay, and I only ever seen to deposit £10 at a time, and place £4-£5 bets but it will be on almost any sport, and half the time I won't know anything about the sport.
I'm lucky really in the sense that my girlfriend is in control of most of our finances so this hasn't got me into debt as such, but we both allow ourselves a certain amount of 'spending money' each month, and you can guess where all mine goes. The last few months I've been slowly creeping into my personal overdraft, thinking 'it's ok, I'll get paid in a few weeks' but that's not really the point. It would be so nice to have money spare to do other things other than gamble.
So I've tried closing or self excluding from sites, but I will always end up opening a new account in my girlfriends name or on another obscure site. Does anyone have any tips on how to kick it all together?? My girlfriend knows I like to bet, and has told me to cut down on the past, but she doesn't know it's got to the stage that I'm going overdrawn becuse of it.
Thanks in advance guys!
Hi ra, I'm 11 days gf so not really equipped to offer advice but what I can say is you have come to the right place as the advice and support I have had on here has been amazing. Ring gamcare and speak to them they can arrange counselling for you if you want to go down that route. Can you not give all financial control to your oh. That's what I have done I have also installed a blocker on my Internet so even if I wanted to gamble I can't as it blocks all gambling sites and my oh has the password. I will be attending my first ga meeting tomorrow evening as I know I need all the support I can get. One thing I do know is I can never gamble again on anything as one bet leads to a path of all consuming self destructing obsession. Have you thought of sitting down with your oh and being honest with her I found this hard to do but helped so much as no more lies or secrets. Will stop waffling now tc and good luck x
Hello and thanks for the reply.
I'm going to hold off telling my partner for now and give it a really good go at giving up. I'm hoping that once I go a few weeks without betting and start to see the benefit of having more money that might spur me on, but I've tried it before with no luck.
I feel a bit silly really after reading other stories and seeing how much worse other people have it than me, I guess I'm trying to nip it while I can before it gets me into any real trouble.
Good work on the 11 days GF btw. That's really good work
Hi ra don't feel silly at all, everyone's stories are different but we are all cg's regardless of how much we lose. At least you are doing something about it before its to late. I haven't got in any debt which I'm so thankful for but if I carried on there's no saying what I would of done to get my fix. Keep coming on here and posting and there is a chat room at night for an hour. It really helps me if I'm having a wobble or any urges just to come in here
Tc x
It's good that you recognise that you could have a problem, if you don't curb the habit now and that is a good start.
With so many places on and offline to gamble, you need to look at why you gamble and how you gamble. You also need to work out how much you are gambling a month. It can be difficult to add it all up, because it's depressing, but it will enable you to see how much you could be saving and what you could be doing with that money.
Online, you might want to look at programs which block gambling sites. Offline, you need to look at taking out only the money you really need.
The thing that helped me the most, was opening a savings account, which I couldn't make instant withdrawals on and didn't come with a card to gamble/make purchases either. I put as much as I could away in it, each month when I got paid. I saw how much my savings were growing and that was a great spurr on to curbing the gambling. A lot of gambling is cash on the hip, spurr of the moment stuff, so not having the cash on the hip can prevent a gambling mishap.
I would also look at limits on overdrafts/credit cards etc and ensure they are low enough, if you do have a gambling mishap.
If you have a girlfriend who has her head screwed on money wise and you can talk to, I would tell her that you're going to try to stop the gambling as you feel as though it's getting a bit too much. Say you wish to start saving up money towards whatever you fancy or need, such as a holiday/car/mortgage etc...
Hello Steve.
Yea it's online on my iPhone that's the problem. I've managed to block access to a lot of the sites on there today using a passcode that I have already forgotten, and I have self excluded from all account so I'm really hoping this is the start and I'm more determined than ever.
Good point about the overdraft. It's only set to £100 now but if all goes well I might just scrap it and get rid all together. Less available money to waste then.
Really glad I found this forum. It's a brilliant idea
Hi All
been playing blackjack everyday and struggle to not bet on the machines. I gamble on line and don't know how to stop
help
Hi Marc have you tried self excluding from any of the online sites at all? That's what I find is the best deterrent. Obviously there are a lot of other factors but that helps me out
Hi All
been playing blackjack everyday and struggle to not bet on the machines. I gamble on line and don't know how to stop
help
Yeah done self exclusion but find it hard not to bet 10 or 20 per day in the bookies
I need some advice guys I'm new to this and don't know what to do!!!!!!!!
Hi I'm Gav and I'm 24 and really new too this, I think I have been kidding myself for a while now that I don't have a problem. I first started gambling around 17 just daft £5 football bets and a little bit off online poker nothing serious, and I really enjoyed it. Until I was around 22 when I started betting on horses roulette blackjack football and just about any other thing I could bet on even big brother 🙁 lol. I have a 2 year old daughter and a partner who is my world however is very soft and always gives in, every week when I get paid we work out bills and split the rest. Every single penny without fail goes on gambling in fairness I worship football and always have and normally double or treble my money on football bets, until there isn't any football and I start on horses and online casino and without fail lose all my money. It's my birthday tomorrow and I have had £500 through my hands in the last 12 hours including some early birthday money and I have lost the lot within hours I am fed up off this addiction taking over my life. From waking up to going to bed I am glued to my phone finding something to bet on it's really not healthy I am being a terrible partner and a bad dad and it pains me to say that because I love them to bits, however if I don't stop this now I will have nothing.
Not got much experience to go on here Gav. Have you tried talking to any of the gamecare team on chat? Or phone???
First step is realising you have an issue and it's great you've done that. Chatting on here and reading people's stories is a big help too.
Best of luck mate
Hi mate, keep up the good work. There is nothing worse than to stop posting, and to start gambling again. We are all in this together, keep up the great work. Stay focused 🙂
Cheers for the comments guys 🙂 managed my first day without a bet today, teased myself by looking at the racing post and seeing a 32/1 double landed I fancied however I didn't put any bets on, granted I haven't had any money today so that could be why but I'm trying to look at the positives. Just been giving a late £20 for my bday so tomorrow is going to be a challenge but bring it on.
Well done mate, 1 day is a start. I know exactly what you mean in the terms of you haven't got to worry about it if you don't have the money.
Is there anything else you can spend that £20 on before you have the chance to gamble it? Treat yourself?
I got a takeaway with my £20 and haven't had a gamble day 2ecen though I was desperate for 10 mins to put Chelsea on at the price of them but the bookies won't beat me
We are available 24 hours a day, every day of the year. You can also contact us for free on 0808 80 20 133. If you would like to find out more about the service before you start, including information on confidentiality, please click below. Call recordings and chat transcripts are saved for 28 days for quality assurance.
