Hi
I am addicted to scratchcards, there I have said it, my life is a car crash at the moment. I have been doing this for years and let it take over, I feel good when I buy them and then terrible when I lose. I used to spend about 100.00 at a time and took it from my money and joint money. Now I take it from my money and the joint credit card. My hubby doesnt know and I cannot tell him. I owe money on credit cards and overdrawn in the bank but not the joint account. My thought process is that I will win the big one and then stop, reality is that is never going to happen, rational me says stop, the other me says one more. I managed 2 days this week then lapsed but not to the extent I have been playing. I work and my husband works very hard, to tell him would without doubt be the end of my marriage,which would be the end of me. My brother talked with me last week and advised getting help, he went through AA and so understood. I know what I need to do but lack the strength to do it, I have joined this forum because I need help and support without judgement. Thank you for listening.
Hi landylass, welcome to the forum 🙂
This is a new one on me but I'm wondering if you get them from the same place? I understand the online Lottery has daily limits so would have thought the shops would be expected to be responsible too! If I were you I would 'self exclude' to start with by making up a poster saying 'Please don't serve this customer Lottery tickets!' & attach a photo to it. You need to break your Time-Money-Location triangle somehow so if you're not feeling this is a good option, the only other thing I can think of is letting someone else take control of your finances (maybe your brother since he knows now) so that you only have the money you need & nothing spare? You will still need to make the right choices & choose food over the cards when you get to the shop but if you don't you go hungry!
Gamcare can offer counselling & many supporters of GA on here so this may be something to look @! You may feel like you lack the strength but you came here & admitted to us you have a problem so maybe you are stronger than you know! We all fear leaving gambling behind because it has pretended to be our friend for so long with its false promises of making us rich! It is a liar, I know, I believed for 3 decades gambling would make me rich...Only now that I am in recovery do I have money that I can call my own & I have had loads of chances throughout the years to remain debts free!
You can do this by taking things One Day At A Time! Be strong - ODAAT
You'll get no judgement here gambling is a terrible addiction whether it's horses, football, roulette, slots, bingo or scratch cards.
A shop can refuse to sell anything to anyone, so definitely telling them not to sell you them would be a start.
But I can understand a reluctant to do that as you may feel extremely nervous and highly embarrassed.
So you also need to look at other ways. One way is to make sure you don't have the money or cards with you to buy them.
If your brother is close to you living wise, you could give over some cards and money to him.
You've made the first step to recovery by seeking advice and support here, so do stick with us and feel free to post as much as you want.
would be a good question to know if shops and supermarkets had to self exclude same as bookmakers for their gambling products?
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