i am by no means a new member here but havent posted in a long time and needed to get a couple things out in the air.....
ive been gambling for around 8 years now and im a little over 22 years old , dont ask me how someone aged 14 ( when i started) could be allowed to get addicted to gambling i will never know but i guess the fruit machines are a good place to start pointing fingers
i hit the casinos& bookies when i was around 17/18 had a few horrendous experineces with FOBTs some very very dark days indeed but managed to get over them after realising it literally was impossible to beat them
the software is programmed by physcatirsts to play on the gamblers addictions allowing a few wins to induce a feeling of confidence and then an unimaginable string of losses triggering the complusion to find money from anywhere to bet more
( anyone who has played these will know what i am talking about)
anyway i took a long break from gambling after i stopped on the FOBTs , i came to the conclusion that nobody rich or sucessfull had a gambling problem or even gambled at all , i want to be rich and successfull and i want to have nice things and a gambling addiction will never allow me to have these things
unfortunatley the saying "time is a great healer" is a bit of a double ended sword because not only does it heal those losses it also forces you to forget how painfull they were at the time
the casino unfortunaltey is my achilles heel i just cannot seem to let go of it for good , ive taken breaks for 8/9 months at a time but somehow someway i end up back in there
this statisc probably sums up how pointless gambling actually is ......
in 8 years of gambling i have never won more than £500 and i am what the would call a "high stakes player" .....i will be the guy at the table playing £50 hands whilst everyone else is playing 4 or 5 quid ones
i have tried every strategy and gameplan under the sun , i know every rule on blackjack there is , ive counted cards and ive implemented stop loss systems
NONE OF IT WORKS , in the long run the casino always wins because it dosent need to
i estimate my personal losses to be well over 25K and i also have a handsome 10K's worth of debt hanging around my neck
2 maxed credit cards
2 maxed overdrafts
and im half way through paying back a personal loan .....70% of this has been spent in casinos
to say i am bitter would be an understatement but being bitter isnt going to pay my debts , recover my losses or help me to beat this thing so all i have left is the ability to pick myself up , dust myself down and get on with it
fortunatley i am aware im young enough to be able to swing this back but ive been using that excuse for the last 4 years and im not getting any younger ......i have now hit critical condtion with gambling and know full well ive got to take some serious steps to begin recovery and rehabilition now
my dream at the moment is to reach age 25 and finally be able to put all of this behind me , if i cant do it by then i never will, i figure if i reach 30 and still havent beaten this im never going to have the energy to beat it
i understand why gambling addicts commit suicide i really do, it is such a brutal unforgiving addiction no other vice leaves you as broken in so many places as gambling does
and i am lucky i dont have anyone to answer to or anyone depending on me because god help if i had a family depending on me at the moment
the one key piece of advice ive learnt over the years and i can offer to others here is that there is no happy medium with a gambling addiction , you either stop completely and remove every form of gambling from your life or you continue wasting money until you are ready to stop completely
i wish everyone the best of luck i really do because it can be such a lonley addiction to have and even having someone to talk to on here is a great help
i am off to find my old diary and bring it up to speed so if anyone wants to track my progress you can find me over in the diarys section
Like you said your still young and got your whole life ahead of you. Your 20s should be a time to enjoy yourself. So, forget the casino. Best of luck
Yes it is brutal, it grinds you down financially and emotionally. Unfortunately we only stop when we are at our lowest generally and it just makes it much harder. However, it can be beaten but its hard hard work and effort.
Your post really hit home for me. This addiction is a horrible, horrible thing. If you need someone to listen, even just to vent, I'd be happy to do so if it helps. Best of luck.
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.
