Good evening, my name is Andy and I am new to this site and forum. I havent done anything like this before so unsure of what to write really. Reading a few other posts I can see that alot of people are in the same place as me currently. 3 days since I last played online slots. I have been gambling online for the past 10 years on and off (mainly on) and had some bad times. Currently feeling OK on day 3, my future wife is helping me see sense after I opened up to her that I am addicted to gambling, that was the hardest part I guess. I used the chat room earlier and found that really good speaking to like minded people and was advised that I do a diary? I think it is on here so will have a look at that too. Anyways I just wanted to say hi to other people who are in the same situation as me and hopefully this time I can combat it forever. Thanks for reading this, Andy.
Hi Andy, welcome to the forum 🙂
Good on you coming clean you your future wife & great that she has the strength to support you 🙂 If this is a recent revelation, be prepared for her feelings to start going haywire as she comes to terms with what you have told her & let her know that this site can offer her support & answers as well as counselling if she needs them!
I'm guessing you were told about the gambling (Time-Money-Location, remove one & you cannot gamble) triangle in chat along with advice to get support from GA, counselling from GamCare & anything else that you read about & find useful!
We cannot win because we cannot stop but we can fight this addiction ODAAT
Hi Andy and welciome to the forum :))
It's always a bit difficult opening up on here for the first time but there's no judgement because were all here for the same reason , what or how we gambled makes little difference were just brought together because its uncontrolable .
If you want to start a diary then just click on the recovery diarys page then scroll to the bottom and click on new topic which will allow you to set up a page with a title :))
Youv'e already done the hard bit by admiting you have a gambling problem and coming clean to your wife so those are big plus points , I don't know if anyones mentioned putting some blocks or barriers in place to make it harder for you to gamble online ? , there's various ones available , K9 is a free download , or netnanny and betfilter come at a cost , they'll help block gambling sites that you would normally throw your money at , you could also self exclude from sites by email which is another way of restricting your access to them , maybe hand over financial control to your wife for a while ? with no card or cash you cant deposit and gamble , bookies can also be self excluded from by either going in and presenting a passport photo or theres a national exclusion line which I don't have the number for at the mo but it's on the overcoming gambling page and also from gamcare .
After gambling for many , many years I came here about 13 months ago and havent had a bet since , so it works thats for sure , it's never easy giving up something thats been such a big part of our lives for so long but you can do it , you just really have to want to !.
I wish you well and I'm sure I'll catch up with you at sometime in the future , if you get the diary going you'll have many people dropping by with answers to any questions you may have , it's also a great place to get your feelings down and just have a good old rant if need be .
Take care my friend .
Alan
Hi gents, thanks for the above comments. I am already finding this site very helpful! I havent gambled for 5 days now! Everytime I feel like I need to I come on here and read peoples posts. I will start to log a diary too. Alan really appreciate your comments too, its comforting that you have not gambled for 13 months since joining this site! Kind regards, Andy.
Hi Andy,
A warm welcome to the Forum, Andy, and thanks for sharing your story with us.
I noticed some of the forum members are giving you a lot of support, and that is very encouraging indeed. I think it would be helpful to you to take this opportunity, using this platform to make changes to your life for a better and a gamble free future.
Thankfully, your future wife has been understanding and offering you her support too. I suggest that you allow her to take control of all your finances for a while, and until such time that you feel well recovered to manage your finances again.
I think the special self-exclusion number Alan was referring to can also help you to abstain from the bookies.
It is now possible to ring a single number to get details on how to self-exclude from multiple bookmakers in a local area. The number to contact is: 0800 294 2060. It’s a very busy line, so keep trying until you get through.
Maybe, you’d also like to contact our free phone Helpline on: 0808 8020 133, and speak to an adviser, and perhaps request for counselling support if you think that would benefit you.
Meanwhile, do your best to stay in touch with us, and also keep posting.
Best wishes,
Beatrice
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