I came clean

Welcome Andy and you are in the right place.

I'm also glad that you have gone to a GA meeting.

Yes the reality of family reactions is hard but that's only because your addiction kept you in a deluded bubble away from reality. REALITY is what you need and more of it as you face life and who you really are

You will now be starting to realise that you are saving your life. The addiction will fight you with its urges just like a drug addiction but with family strength and proper blocks you will beat this into distant history

In time you will gain a serenity and contentment as you heal. You recover dignity and self respect in stages upwards.

Forget the fuĺl trust as you don't need that at the moment. Ideally you should be living on an allowance and providing receipts. What you need is love and understanding that its a powerful addiction.

Life throws curveball at all of us but you don't need gambling in your life.You can also use the opportunity to look at other things like drinking smoking and sugary/ salty foods.

For the rest of your life you can never be complacent again butyou turn that into a positive statement to lead a healthy and productive life

Best wishes from everyone on the forum

Well done Andy,

it takes guts to come clean about your problems so hopefully you can see that it is worth it. No more having to lie, no more waiting to be found out, it just means that you can now get on with your recovery. Attend GA regularly and you’ll certainly feel the benefit. GA asks that you give it 90 days and then make the choice, I suggest that you try to stick to that even when it’s cold or wet in the evening or there’s something else up going on try and put the meeting first. That will then set you up for the rest of the week.

I look forward to hearing more of your story as time goes on.

Chris.

Brilliant post, welcome to the site, its great you have their support as you say, i came here in 2015 and have been on most nights since giving and taking advice.

The best way forward i have found from experience is:

1) sign up to gamstop (online block), sense (casino block uk) and moses (bookie block) these are all a must as down the line different avenues of gambling open up to temptation.....

2) When u get paid set up direct debits for as close to pay day (maybe day after) pay them all out and then once thats sorted each month and you dont need any cash in the account transfer the rest to ur mum or dad...... This has worked for me for soo many reasons over the years ive saved a lot of money doing it this way.

3) When you go out to town on ur own, or to pub, club etc, or anywhere really that could bring temptation or fruit machines, bookies, casinos, anything like that leave ur cards as you say with the missus and just ask for some cash for what you need...... this is tough at first but does really work..... you can work out the logistics but essentially IF U DON@T HAVE IT U CANT GAMBLE IT...... 

4) You will see a huge change in what you do and what u enjoy and u will respect money a lot more and appreciate life more...... i now changed my life soo much that  i no longer use any vice, no drugs, no ciggerettes, no alcohol, no gambling........ and i feel soo much better.

All the best Adam

PS it took me three years on here to get it right and stop but if you take these measures i now have i hope you can be gamble free straight away and forever.