I have tried numerous times to stop gambling. The problem i find is that empty gutted feeling when I've had a big loss goes after a few weeks and you forget how bad you felt so gamble and lose again. Then when you lose it feels even worse than the previous time . Anyway it'll be 2 weeks on Tuesday since my last gamble of any kind . I know I've said this before but I think this could be the time I stop . I use to pop in the bookies and convince myself I'd just read the racing post and not gamble . The last time I did this I lost 600 pound . Felt gutted for a week , that gutted feeling has gone more or less now but I'm not tempted to have any kind of a bet so far . Wish me luck . I can do this . Fingers crossed. ?
I am a 32 year old male who has always had the odd flutter on the footy and on the horses and thought it was a bit of craic. I then stopped going to the bookies and started playing online and thats where things started to spiral.Â
about 7 years ago I put £20 into an old account and managed to get up to £8500. Tried going for the £10k and eventually cashed out at £6k. I bout my first car in cash and insurance up front and I felt on top of the world.Â
A few years later the now wife and I started to struggle financially a little bit and my mind automatically trigger that winning feeling I had and i thought to myself, I've done it before i can do this again. So this time I put £200 into my another account and went onto the roulette machine and I managed to get up to £15k and i was on cloud 9. Within 20 minutes of playing that £15k was gone.Â
Like yourself my gambling got worse and worse during the lockdowns and I was spending every payday spending all my wages online and these were gone before I even got out of bed.Â
Last December my wife starting asking all these questions that I just didn't have the lies for anymore and I knew this was my time to confess.Â
She was so disappointed in me and i felt awful for potentially ruining our future together however she has stood by me and supported me. I immediately went to work and got my self excluded from a site who offered me a 6 months subscription to Gamban which i have installed on all my devices. I also registered with Gamstop who self excludes from every UK site registered on their database. I self excluded for 5 years. Best to go all in.Â
Today I am 291 days gamble free and I can not my more proud of myself. Each day is a new struggle but waking up and seeing my wife still by my side gives me the strength to beat this addiction. We will always be addicts and that will never go away. I have done 6 weeks therapy/counselling and this really helped.Â
I wish you so much success and please dont be scared to be honest with your struggles. Your Mental Health Matters just as much as the next persons
Nathan
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