Hey guys

Hi Stu

Welcome to the forum you will find a lot of support here from the members who will understand your struggle with gambling.

There is alot of help and information here please see the link for some information on what is available to you http://www.gamcare.org.uk/get-support/yourself

You may want to call and speak with a gamcare advisor on the freephone helpline on 0808 8020 133 or contact an advisor through our netline. Gamcare advisors can give you information on strategies that can help when stopping gambling such as software to block online gambling sites.

You can also read about blocking software here http://www.gamcare.org.uk/get-advice/what-can-you-do/blocking-software#.VBwD8fldXww

Free counselling is also available in some areas and advisers will be able to help you find your nearest service if you would like to explore this option or they can sign post you to other forms of support such as Gamblers Anonymous meetings

http://www.gamblersanonymous.org.uk/index.php/meetings

Keep posting we are here to support you

Take Care

Forum admin

Hi Stu

Welcome to the forum mate you are definitely in the right place if you WANT to stop gambling ! Like the rest of us gambling has made our lives unmanageable and caused so much destruction along the way. Now a days it's all to easy to get hold of money i.e. Credit cards, loans etc and even easier to be able to gamble as you can't seem to watch tv nowadays without some form of gambling being advertised. With these smartphones nowadays as well it's so easy to be able to gamble using your phone but we don't value money or should I say I never I basically saw my balance as tokens that I had to spend and when they had gone I deposited more ! If I was yourself I would be putting software on either your phone or laptop or both as this would be a start and most definitely help in these early days. It's very hard in these early days but as I said earlier if you WANT to stop you have come to the right place as there's lots of help out there and I would take what you can to help you on this long road to recovery.

"It's good to talk and take it one day at a time"

All the Best

Darren

Welcome Stu,

Financially it seems like you will be able to recover quite easily from this if I'm right? However, there obviously is an underlying problem which is going to cause ongoing relapses for life so it's great that you've joined this brilliant forum to try and get something done about it.

If I was you, I'd try by self excluding from all casinos as soon as possible. It might be an idea to temporarily cut off financial access. This doesn't even have to be a huge deal, simply take out some cash and then cut up your card. When you need it again, simply report your bank card as stolen or lost and they'll send a new one - although I'd recommend having much stricter controls in place as I don't trust myself with a debit card at all anymore. But, this just buys you a couple weeks to let the thickness of gambling to slightly clear. It's like if you were drinking or smoking, the first hours/days are the worst, then they improve.

Good luck!

Hi Darren thanks for the welcome, yes you are right I want to stop and I'm going to stop or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

Thanks for the welcome Adam, yes financially I can recover easily. I should be able to pay off the credit card over the next two wages I receive as long as I don't gamble but I've been saying this for a 3 months now. This might sound odd but my urges seem to come as soon as I get paid. I say to myself I've got some spare cash which I don't need it's fine to gamble with and then I'll end up gambling a bit more than I should have (which resulted in getting a credit card) and ultimately lose. For example I've got money in the bank right now for all my normal bills along with enough money for me to live on each week which I know I won't gamble. My problem seems to be this extra money that I've got and yes I know it sounds mad. For the past few years I've used it to overpay my mortgage but this stopped around 9 months ago when I started to gamble again. I've pretty much excluded from all the major gambling companies I know of but I'm well aware new ones pop up every month. The idea of cutting up my debit card once next months wage comes in and I withdraw the money I need could be a good idea to get me through this cycle so I'll keep it in mind, thanks for the suggestion

Stu

Have you thought about setting up the extra money in a savings account you can't touch? Or even just spending it? Why not treat yourself to stuff each month rather than blowing it all on gambling. It sounds like (and I am very familiar with it) you have developed the mindset that any spare cash can be thrown away effectively. You justify that spare cash isn't needed and thus can be gamble. This is exactly what I did and I know how crazy it is when you look back on it.

So why not create a purpose for that money? Buy an Amazon gift card, or get a new TV etc. You have a few months spending money on yourself but it creates a purpose for that money and deflects away from that money being accessible to gamble and with some luck the urges will slow down after several months.

Yep Adam you are totally right that is my mindset. It's so hard for me to go in a shop and spend £500 on something but I don't bat an eyelid for that being spent on gambling, crazy!!! Yeah once the credit card is paid off I plan on actually buying stuff for me with the spare cash I have and overpaying the mortgage again. Again thanks for your thoughts and advice Adam.

Smorgan12 wrote:

Yep Adam you are totally right that is my mindset. It's so hard for me to go in a shop and spend £500 on something but I don't bat an eyelid for that being spent on gambling, crazy!!! Yeah once the credit card is paid off I plan on actually buying stuff for me with the spare cash I have and overpaying the mortgage again. Again thanks for your thoughts and advice Adam.

It's so strange isn't it? The amount of money I could be spending on practical things rather than gambling, it's kinda crazy. Yeah I think that's perfect. My financial situation is pretty poor but I'm trying to think that it's better to spend £100 on myself per month and be poor for a few months rather than blowing £2000 in the same time frame and getting into even more debt.

Good luck with everything and keep giving us updates of how you're getting on

Get the K9 software on the PC to stop you going online to gamble. If possible; get someone you trust to put a password on the K9 admin account so you don't know it. That way you'll not try to work around it to gamble online. Block everything gambling related in the K9 options and then hit save, you'll not even be able to load up a gambling page on the computer. Best thing I've done is get my wife to put her password on the K9 software. Stops me from getting around it and playing slots.

You CAN do it!