Hi, my name is Sarah and I am 30 years of age. I was going to start of with I think I have a gambling problem, but if I'm here for support I have to be honest with myself. I have a gambling problem. My problem consists of bingo sites where I play slots. I used to play here and there but over the past year or so it has gotten to become an every day occurrence. I have tried to stop, I have put limits on my bingo accounts but then I always end up signing up to others. I feel ashamed when I look back how much I have spent and it's so easy to lose track. I haven't told anyone, my husband doesn't know. I find myself hiding my money worries and my yes I'm going to say addiction from him due to his judgmental nature. I feel ashamed as it is.i use a payment method where is takes 2/3 days to come out of my bank, a weekend longer and it's hard to keep on top of what I am spending. This week I have more going out leaving me with very little but I do it in a way so all bills are paid, shopping is in the cupboard yet in the meantime I am in debt. Money means nothing whilst playing only when it's all gone and you are kicking yourself. "I should have withdrawn" and then I'm depositing again. It's turned into a compulsion. Is it mad that I don't watch the reels to see if I win but instead count the games. I count each pop, each spin. Then when funds have gone I top up and continue to count. Yep it's sounds mad to me to. I am stuck in a rut and I don't know how to get out of it. When I don't play I'm anxious and want to play it's reminds me of withdrawal, in a way I suppose it is but then when I play I'm happy. It's my go to place when I am stressed in my everyday life. Then I come off and I'm cursing myself, telling myself no more only to be back on an hour later. I'm sorry it's long winded.
Hi Sarah. sorry to hear you are struggling, your story is very familiar to mine and like myself it seems your habit is almost entirely online based and based on boredom/stress etc.. and i was in that same daily rut for the first few months of this year. My main piece of advice would be sign up to Gamstop immediately as it completely takes away the tools to gamble online, Im 42 days gamble free now almost entirely thanks to Gamstop. I know exactly what you mean when you talk about not even watching the reels, its like you get so far down the line it becomes almost like a self destruct mechanism and you stop caring. Thanks to Gamstop and the grace of god i have managed to come out of this financially just about ok and i never told anyone except a close friend, my partner would also be judgemental and i have just about managed to keep it from her by switching money around a bit over the last 8 months. people on here would immediately say you need to tell your husband but its not always that simple and if you can get on gamstop , have a quiet couple of months financially you may not have to. I suppose it works differently for everyone.
Gamstop - DO IT NOW., and good luck.
Hi,
yes I totally understand your addiction I was in a similar situation. It takes over your life.
Please use gamstop it has help me greatly, I don't think I would be 43 days gamble free if it wasn't for gamstop. Just take each hour at a time at first , keep yourself busy go for a walk , read a book , do some house work., have a bath anything to get your mind of gambling.
You will get there .
Good luck x
Thank you so much, it's overwhelming that I'm not alone and other understand. I have just registered with gamstop, I cannot believe how hard it was to do. I must have spent the last 10 minutes finding reasons not to do it, I even left the page and headed to my email to see if I had any bonuses, at that moment I knew I had to do it. I've done it.
thats brilliant , massive big step , you need a bit of will power as well but gamstop will take you 75% of the way, its been a game changer for me, well done
Thank you 🙂 I don't think I have done to bad today, I can't remember when the last time I didn't play for a day was. I do think gamstop does take off the added pressure as I have not even checked my sites to see if it has worked. I have noticed how different my thinking was to playing these games and the warped way of thinking. Eg this morning I checked my bank, I have payments coming out that I played 2/3 days ago, I also noticed it will leave me with very little and thought I should have a game and see if I can win some money, but then remembered gamstop which led me to realising that I was willing to spend the last bit of my money to try and win but that win would never come anyhow as I would just keep playing. Another thing also is I do actually have an open account (my hubby's details) but I stopped playing on his due to he would look back over the history and tell me the total I had spent which made me embarrassed yet it was no where near what I had spent on mine. So I won't play on it, I'm to stubborn lol but I like the idea that the option is there but I won't play... Does that make sense? I have the willpower to get through this
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