Hi, decided to sign up to this forum to help me through quitting gambling.
I'm 25 years old, and I've been gambling now since I was 16. There's no better feeling than the buzz of a big win, however you soon realise that you don't actually receive the benefits of a big win. My stakes just continue to increase. Fortunately so far my gambling hasn't got me into too much trouble.
I am now starting to settle down, I have a little girl and more responsibilities now. That's my main reason for wanting to quit, I want to be able to give my daughter the best I possibly can, and I can't do that when I'm losing money. My main problem, is the machines in bookmakers I just can't stay away from them. I have banned myself from my local bookmakers so that's helped me, but as a football supporter travelling up and down the country I can't ban myself from every bookmakers. All of my friends gamble and this also doesn't help, deep down we all know we have a problem but no-one has had the bottle to admit it.
I've also had a few online problems, but tonight I closed my last remaining account after winning 390 on football, and then blowing it all on the online roulette. I think I'm now self excluded from every single online bookmaker, well, reputable one anyway.
Fortunately I'm not in any debt at the moment but I really want to stop before I get into a mess. I've had close shaves before but I've always managed to get out of trouble, however I know plenty who have.
Gambling needs to be taken a lot more seriously by the Government, they need to realise the machines in the bookies are causing real damage to peoples lives.
Starting as of tonight, I'm going to do my best to completely stop all gambling. I have tried before to stop, but I've only ever lasted a maximum of 3 weeks. My desire to want things there and then makes me gamble, to attempt to get more money to buy things quicker, or instantly.
Thanks for reading,
TheDog
Hi The Dog,
Welcome to the Forum!
Thank you for your heartfelt first post. You sound very determined to stop and that is a great first step.
Maybe you would like to think about putting some other strategies into place to help you manage well beyond the first three weeks.
You could think about cutting yourself off access to money to gamble with. Or start talking with your friends about your problem, however difficult this may seem right now.
And you can start a recovery diary here in the "recovery diary" section of this forum to track your progress.
Maybe keep our HelpLine number with you, too 0808 8020 133.
All the best to you.
Kind wishes
Gabriele
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