Hi all - new member!

Hi there everyone!

I'm Matt, I'm 49, been a compulsive gambler for 18 of the last 20 months.

In a stable long term relationship, secure job, no kids, been reading a lot of forums including this one for the past couple of months which have helped me no end.

Haven't gambled a penny in the last 6 weeks or so, and I feel pretty darn good about it. I can't begin to tell you how helpful this site has been, in particular the postings of Sha (Shaun?) ... I owe him a lot!

My other half does not know the extent to which I was "bitten by the bug", and with losses running at about £30k is probably best she doesn't. Will tell her eventually though.... my parents love her to bits (as do I!) and she deserves that much.

I gambled on online casinos, slots, roulette - the usual suspects I suppose. Why? Well, same reasons as most of you here I suppose - boredom, hoping for the "big one" to drop in but as we all know now - it never does!

My recovery has been pretty simple, I hate to say that - but I've not found it too hard. Chatted a lot to a girl on a support site who was inspirational in the first few days - which are the hardest, make no mistake.

Once you're over the first 15 days or so, it seems you're pretty much home and dry psychologically? I don't know for sure, but I feel pretty happy at the moment. I just hope I've got this licked, and I hope I can offer a few nuggets of wisdom along the way to help any fellow sufferers, and at the same time, reinforce and preserve my recovery!

Cheers guys!