Hi, my name is Pete.
I'm a gambler of many years and I'm now accepting that this is a problem. Over the recent years I've tried to stop gambling by telling myself not to do it again. This usually lasts 20-30 days although this clearly isn't working. I feel that joining this community will be the first proactive step forward that I'll make to finally stop.
My game is roulette, and I find the problem that it's too easy to be sitting in the house and think... ah, I'll just deposit £20 for a bit of fun. £200 later, it's very much the opposite of what I intended. I'm not the type to get myself into a position where I can't pay the bills, however it's coming to a point where I'm really restricting myself of the luxuries in life by wasting money regularly.
My hope is that by posting this, I'll be more inclined to re-confirm daily the reasons why I want to quit, by reading posts from others and contributing where possible.
Thanks.
Hi Pete and welcome to the forum :))
My downfall was alway's roulette , weather it be the Casino or the Fobt's in the bookies , as OU has said there are many things you can do " Blocks " such as self excluding from sites , downloading blocking software such as netnanny or gamblock or there's a free one called K9 , you can self exclude also from bookies or casino's , think about reporting your card lost an scratch the 3 digits off when you receive the new one so you can't deposit , change your email address if necessary and putting blocks on your internet so you can't access over 18 sites and even to the point of downgrading your phone to a housebrick that just txts and calls if needed ? There all ways of stopping you and making you think before placing that next bet , that being said they can also be got around so you'll really have to want to stop and find some willpower as well ?.
I've gambled for over 35 yrs and finally stopped about 14 mnths ago when I came here in a pretty messed up state and for me it became easier to stay gamble free as soon as I opened up to my loved ones and admitted gambling had beaten me , I finally allowed all the losses to go and accepted I wasn't going to chase them anymore which can be a trigger for dragging you back , simply because you feel your owed and want revenge ? .
Lots of advice and help on here from people that have and are walking in your shoes , no judgements because were all Compulsive gamblers with the Mantra of " We cannot win because we cannot stop " :(( , there's counciulling available through Gamcare which is free or if you feel you need external help then there's alway's the option of GA ?.
It's a slippery slope which only seems to go downward , so the sooner you address it the better chance of limiting the damage we cause , money is just money and any debt's can always be repaid through hard work and determination :))>
I wish you well Pete and I'm sure we'll catch up again soon , maybe think of starting a diary on the diary's page , you tend to get a lot more response from people on that one and there's a day counter so you can track your progress as well :))
Take care fella !
Alan
We are available 24 hours a day, every day of the year. You can also contact us for free on 0808 80 20 133. If you would like to find out more about the service before you start, including information on confidentiality, please click below. Call recordings and chat transcripts are saved for 28 days for quality assurance.
