I'm 20, years old, ran into a few 'pro ' gamblers a few years ago, making mega bucks daily, as the fruit machines all changed, reading boxes made so much harder, cheats ,hacks, empties all gone , a few of them left got business, own houses, as for me I don't even own a car, working full time now but still feeding my addiction even though I know I can't win. If I do its rare and not skill, it's luck, use to have days leaving the house travelling miles and miles to different cities making an few 100 a day , each sometimes into the 1000's, having this money at my age was insane, then I spent it all on drugs, got over this addiction in 2014 but gambling is so much harder to beet. I even use to pay people to go fruit machine hunting for me , a little 10 or 20 here and there knowing if they found a decent one, I'm sorted few 100 a month profit just from one fruit. I need help now to stop, I'm not playing smart now I'm playing stupid, putting excess of 300 into one fruit. Please someone , if ur out there reading this give me some advice to quit, any advice will be appreciated
Joe - it's a grubby addiction. If you've got the skill to read when fruities are paying out, and the charisma to have people running around to tell you when, then you can turn that power into a safer way to make money.
Change your focus.
Replace fruit machines with somethingmore profitable that gives you a buzz and build a business with it.
The only reason people with something to live for gamble is because they crave the adrenaline buzz and the dopamine reward. It's a crack short lived hit with gambling, but if you can find a more subtle and healthy slow burn high for your brain then it'll last a lifetime and you'll get that rare thing - self-respect and self-satisfaction.
Forget about fruities, don't be that man in the pub in ten years time that everyone pity.
Changing my focus is hard as I also work in a pub, have control of what fruit machine comes into the pub and able to pretty much get one I know I can make money on, but then it's only a short walk to the next pub, atm I'm trying to move place, I went out my way to make my other job over 20 miles away from where I live, knowing I can't drive, this means a long a*s bus ride, less time to gamble, having to plan my days out to travel. But then on my days off and I'm back at the pub, either working or just upstairs (where I live ) I often get calls/ messages from people down stairs asking for help on the fruit, people who just see me win big, all the time. Recently I asked for some s**t f*****g machine to come in, called maximum, this is the worst machine out there in my view, thought I'd never play it as I've lost big on this before. Then tonight I put 260 in it , nothing back left it just on the edge. The thing I stuggle with most is that ever fruit machine I have played in my life, I play till I jackpot, this one f****d me over but instead of taking a sub from the till or going to the bank, I came here and just turned the fruit machine off. Even just turning it off was hard for me but probably the best thing I did all night, even if I got the single jack I would of still wanted a 2nd, just to find out how far after one jackpot the next one comes.
Smallest violin is right. You need to find something else. Even as daft as it sounds, a hobby of some sort. You can get a 'buzz' for example from (sorry I am a geek at heart) but raiding in an mmorpg which has helped me in the past. It may not be your cup of tea as such, but I am sure with thought you will find something that makes you feel better than you currently do.
And just have to say welcome. I'm New here but have found people are so helpful and supportive. You have taken the first and often hardest step by seeking help.
Regardless, good luck and know people are there for you. You aren't alone in what you are going through.
-Kibble
Joe,
I'll try offer my advise, although slots are not my thing, I live in a seaside resort and have seen bandits change so much in the last 30 years. I believe in the development of these machines there have been fiddles for people in the know but the manufacturers and arcade owners get wise to this and can now merely re-program the processors inside them. The rise of video slots and the deadly, life-wrecking FOBTs are all run by the means of a random number generator processors. So there's no skill, it's all luck! All the extras of spinning reels, flashing lights, near misses are just added to make people play more. The win or lose result could be delivered as soon as you press start. They're all machines made and programmed to make their owners money.
Average payouts! What a joke! Say 90%, does this mean if you put £100 in you'd get £90 back. BIG NO. Doesn't even mean if you put £10000 in you'd win £9000. I don't know how long this average period is calculated by, but what I do know is the house won't lose.
MACHINES PROGRAMMED TO MAKE MONEY.
Take strength from beating a drug addiction and apply it to your gambling. Many people fail to beat any addiction so you know you can do it.
Your only 20 mate, forget the bandits concentrate on planning a future, get your feet firmly on the ground. Like the post above says "don't be the guy in the pub playing the bandits" I know and have seen the type. Focus on recovery, plan for the future.
All the best.
Joe - yes your situation is a real tough call. What is sustaining your life is also slowly killing you.
No easy answers here.
If I was a therapist (and I'm not) I'd say you are living in a toxic environment and need to remove yourself from it. But it's easy for a stranger on the internet to tell you that, leave your career then how do you pay the bills?
However, if I had a problem with fruit machines then probably working in a pub wouldn't be the most helpful thing for me? Massive props to you for realising you have an issue and having the self-awareness to address it though.
It's probably not a helpful thing for me to say, but if you were on holiday on a desert island for a month without fruities you'd probably not miss them after the first few days, but always being surrounded by them for your job you are never giving yourself a chance are you.
Atm I've just finished work, sat in the pub fruity turned off with my wages in my hand, won't turn it on tho and as for mmorpg games I play runescape too 🙂 and have done for a very very long time, going pass 10 years, this does help in a way as I've always been a competitive person and if I loose at the game, I have to try again. This is also a massive flaw for my gambling addiction, and as for the house always wins it does, I know this from working in a pub too, but as stated above there are flaws in some machines, nearly 80% of fruits now are non 'playable ' for profit, I've just ordered a new sim card too, to stop certain people messaging me about certain fruits, as for the 'players' who still play smart, there good mates now and even they are telling me to stop.
We use to look for people like me now,who would go stupid and make a fortune off them just sipping a drink and waiting. I'm not the first person from our group to be like this, but that person cut off everybody and we have no idea to this day how he is doing now. I think I'm going to try and go a day of working in the pub with no gambling. just a day and see how I do.
About 2 years ago when I was with my ex, I stopped playing , then we split up due to gambling , I use to sneak off to gamble at night, few clubs, came home a few times with 300+ profit and hid the money from her so she didn't know, slowly leaving 10-20 around the house , and then one day she said she had never been butlins before, so that night I booked to go the next day, she was so happy and asked how I could afford it, just said I've been putting a few quid back, just lied and I hate lying so much, anyways whilst on holiday for 3 days I ran into my favourite fruit machine in a Costa inside the butlins its self, it was played non stop, during the time of being there I made 800 quid profit off this one machine, in 3 days .
After we got home, that was it I caught the bug again, was gambling non stop to the point I was getting so stressed I ended the relationship, as it happens now I know this was a good thing in a way, she wasn't right for me, didn't work, didn't pay bills , did drugs etc. ... I left her my flat with 5 months rent paid in advance, went homeless for a month and ended up sofa surfing for 8 months and now I'm back at my mums. I did get good again, limiting my self till about 8 weeks ago when I lost my baby with another ex, that I saved up so much money for and then just blew it in one night on fruits, a good thing I can say is I have never let my self step foot into a casino as I know it will liturally kill me. So yeah after rambling on, think I'm gonna go a day no gambling and try from scratch again, let's try and turn my flaw of not loosing into not loosing a battle with an addiction
Great positive last sentence Joe. Sorry to hear about the bad things in your life. "One day at a time" from now on without the gambling. Time to move forward.....
Consider a GA meeting if your work shifts allow. I attend and was quite surprised how many fellow members have slot addictions. It's a hard long slog is the road to recovery so I hope you can find the support of a loved one or very close friend, because honestly mate you'll need it.
That's it for me tonight, BED. All the best for tomorrow.
Shep.
So I've done it again , was doing so well and pay day just came, not only that a new fruity in the pub straight away today 220 down , honestly just give up now as soon as I got money I put it in, capped My bank now so can't play anymore, called a friend to finish the machine off so I can't even play tomorrow ( well I could won't be worth it tho) . Another struggle month coming ahead
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