Hope I can stop chasing losses

Hi rupidoda.

The main thing you need to do is focus on all the gambling that took you £5K down. Its got more of that in store for you and you have not had a healthy fear of gambling or a real understanding of the odds against you.

You know the misery it causes and you know that sick feeling of throwing money away like that

If you are losing those amounts it shows a compulsive nature or addiction. The problem is that any wins have reinforced feelings in you that its easy money or a get it back later scheme...It isnt.

You wont see that 5K again on the basis of probability and indeed reality. The real danger of a gambling addiction is that they tell you that its all possible

Let it go...its not for you. Some of us are hopeless gamblers with compulsive tendencies.

Learn about the addiction, watch the youtube videos and build up the strength of understanding

If you tell people close and write down exactly what you have been doing it looks crazy in the cold light of day I can assure you. Im firm in the understanding that they dont set these casinos up for the punters to live it large. The casinos would be out of business within a very short time.

You need a family support network. You cant really deal with this alone. Discussion and counselling helps you get over the loss. I dont entirely forget but that keeps me strong as a warning what gambling is all about.

At the very end you have to call it an expensive lesson to save your mental health and future which is far more important.

Being gamble free is a wonderful feeling of self respect and freedom

Best wishes from everyone on the forum

Hi Rupidoda,

Some great words of advice from Joydivider above.

Back to your post.... Yes you need to accept the losses, put these behind you. £5K is a lot of money, no matter where it came from. The gambling industry would most probably love everyone to win their first bet or go home happy after their first night in the casino, this way the seed is planted. For some foke this seed will die, for others it will root deep within and make us go back and back again until we can't stop.

I'm a strong believer that you must share your problem with a close family member. If you know you have a problem having that special someone to talk to, help overlook your financies etc is a great starting block.

I was a good secret gambler but a s***e at the gambling bit! I had to come clean, told the wife EVERYTHING and she stood by me and now nearly 1 year clean life is good, family life with 3 children is what it should be (not all fun and games). So whatever life throws at me now is a hell of a lot better than it would be if I was still gambling and try to fit family life around my addicition.

Yes I've had an expensive lesson in life. But spread this debt for the remaining years I have (40+ I hope!) I'd settle for that to remain gamble free.

All the best.

Thanks Shep and Joydivider for your comments.

Still struggling to forget the loss, but I guess it's only been a couple of days since I made the decision to write it off.

Was thinking today how great it would be to go In to the casino with £10 and winning all my money back. I read back my original post and both your comments and soon realised how dumb I was thinking.

Thanks Shep for your comments - it's a good way to think about writing off over how long I've got left in the world.

I know this goes against what you say but I'm going to kick this without telling my family - my dad had serious issues with gambling and tore the family apart ...it cost him his life so you can imagine how much worry this would cause if they thought I was going down the same route...something else that I will use to motivate myself to get through this. I'm hoping this site will give me the extra support when I need it, to make me see sense if I get the urge for a bet...even if it is just looking at posts.

Thanks again for your comments

hi rupidoda ,

you didnt lose the money in a casino.. you spent it on a luxury two week holiday.. now your back from your travels and have to start again. stop thinking of the money you lossed.. just think you spent it on something you cant see. thats it no more chasing, the money can never be recovered its gone. no you and myself included need to find the next excitement away from casinos/bookies. wether that be gym, gallerys etc find a group something to do during spare time anything that can take us away from the hell which is gambling.

How are you doing today? How do you feel about that 5k wasted in this time of day?
Cheers

Joydivider wrote:

Hi rupidoda.

The main thing you need to do is focus on all the gambling that took you £5K down. Its got more of that in store for you and you have not had a healthy fear of gambling or a real understanding of the odds against you.

You know the misery it causes and you know that sick feeling of throwing money away like that

If you are losing those amounts it shows a compulsive nature or addiction. The problem is that any wins have reinforced feelings in you that its easy money or a get it back later scheme...It isnt.

You wont see that 5K again on the basis of probability and indeed reality. The real danger of a gambling addiction is that they tell you that its all possible

Let it go...its not for you. Some of us are hopeless gamblers with compulsive tendencies.

Learn about the addiction, watch the youtube videos and build up the strength of understanding

If you tell people close and write down exactly what you have been doing it looks crazy in the cold light of day I can assure you. Im firm in the understanding that they dont set these casinos up for the punters to live it large. The casinos would be out of business within a very short time.

You need a family support network. You cant really deal with this alone. Discussion and counselling helps you get over the loss. I dont entirely forget but that keeps me strong as a warning what gambling is all about.

At the very end you have to call it an expensive lesson to save your mental health and future which is far more important.

Being gamble free is a wonderful feeling of self respect and freedom

Best wishes from everyone on the forum

Excellent advice

Hi all,

This was actually a post from January 2017 - I’ve posted again more recently with an update. Basically I ended up chasing my loses this year and have ended up with even bigger losses. A couple of weeks ago was the last straw and I’ve now registered with GAMSTOP. I’ve not come to terms with the losses and to be honest although I’m not in debt I’ve blown all my saving and have big bill to pay next month which I’m going to get a loan for....so essentially will be in debt because of the gambling. I think about the losses constantly and it does get me down, but since I shouldn’t be able to gamble anymore and looking forward to the next year when hopefully I can use some of the my money to do good things for the family like holidays. Thanks all for the support

Gambling is so f*****g stupid.... Even if we win we blow it on other sites right away. 1000x the bet is nothing, yet we picture it as a lot. 1000 spins on a machine goes d**n quick. The 1000x is so rare. More rare than it should be. Odds are terrible.
How arw you doing now?

Hi there,

not gambled since registering with GAMSTOP, not tried as making the assumption it won’t be possible for me to sign up with any new site. I’ve started to watch a lot of football on tv, I’ve never bet on sport before and don’t really feel the urge to, but what I have noticed now it the advertising - it’s constant, on the boards and on the players shirts. I didn’t really notice it before but I started to google some of the names and they were all betting sites. I really think something needs to be done about that. My boy loves to watch football and I worry that at some point he will try one of these sites out.

anyway, I still think about the money lost , it’s stupid when I think back that I was at the point of betting 2k on a hand of blackjack but think twice about a family holiday.

hoping this year I can start doing that.

Hi Rupidoda,

Congratulations on your 24 GF days! Keep it going it's a great start.

You're absolutely correct re the gambling ads they're everywhere and will certainly entice many others in to waste lots of money like you, me and countless others on here and of course not on here.

Back to your thoughts over losses. It is very hard to swallow big losses which is still eating away at you and we'd all turn the clock back if we could. If I allow myself to think about all my losses it's horrendous. All the things I could have done with it etc and not be in the mess financially I am today but hard though it sounds we have to accept it has gone and be grateful that at last we're trying to do something about it so we don't suffer any more huge losses.

I know that sounds easy written down but I feel we have to look forward NOT back. Yesterday has gone, today is a new day.

Have a good day.

Best wishes

Stew

Think of it as a £5k wake up slap. Others on here have 20k,30k and more, debt now because they thought they would be able to recover the initial loss. Don't fall into that trap. Self exclude from the casino, sign up to the 5 year gamstop program online and try and open a bank account with one of the providers that block gambling transactions. 5k is nothing, think yourself lucky you caught yourself on before it it 30k debt...

The gambling industry is out of control. Since the introduction of the national lottery and gambling for good causes, it has become a national norm to have a bet every week. People are bombarded by advertising day and night. It has become a national epidemic. Addicts dont stand a chance its like putting adverts for crack C*****e on tv. The social impact will only be realised in Ten Twenty years time when the number of addicts has multiplied and social services has mop it up.

Yeah your right patrogue this world gone gambling mad , my name is loz and I've been gambling all my life I'm 46 and been gambling 34 years . I've lost everything over the years houses , wife , friends , family and I was still gambling up to 4 days ago . I was chase my losses sometimes I get them back but in the end I'm always down you just can never win in the end . I think people really don't know how powerful gambling urges are and how it's so difficult to stop. For me like most compulsive gamblers there is no cure, it's for life but we can find ways to live with our disease and stay gamble free . I've read your comment and hope you can stick to your guns , stop chasing losses and start a fresh . Good luck we can do this !! . Loz