Hi I'm a forty something happily married mum of two, I work part-time and for the last five years have developed a bingo and slot habit that is getting increasingly worse. I have been in debt but due to a gift am now more or less debt free and need to stop before I start hurting my family. No one knows, I'm hoping they never have to.
Today is day one, if it wasn't for the fact I've reached my weekly limits on all my favourite I'd of been on already. Trouble is I enjoy it. I'm a member of many sites too many to remember, some I've self excluded but then I just sign on another one and so the cycle continues. In an ideal world I'd gamble for fun occasionally but unfortunately I have no self control.
Anyway will log my progress and support those I meet along the way xxx
Hi Braingriffin,
Welcome. You've done the right thing by coming here.
You recognise the damage that can be done by gambling. We not only gamble with money. We gamble with both our present and future happiness. If we continue to gamble our futures are as good as ruined. For every punter that gets really lucky there are thousands of others worrying where there next penny is coming from because of the habit.
I'm in my fifties and gambled on horses, football and some roulette, mostly online towards the end.
In order to stop gambling I put the strongest measures in place to prevent me from continuing. I blocked all online sites with K9. I make sure that I carry the bare minimum of cash with me when I'm out and about so I'm not tempted by betting shops).
I do the 2015 Challenge on here and I'm on 182 days "clean". It's not a boast, more to encourage people starting out that you can stay clear of gambling as well. The more days you can stay "clean" the more you can begin to live again and hold your family life together. I know if I lapsed and my wife found out that would be the end of our marriage. High stakes.
Others may post excellent advice as well. If you are really desperate you could do worse than contact Gamcare for their advice.
Best Wishes.
Hi Braingriffin,
Welcome to our Forum.
You have come to the right place if you want to stop. People on here are very supportive, and some have been where you are before and on their journey to recovery,so you will not be alone in this journey.
Self exclusion from the sites you gamble is very good, however like you have mentioned there are more sites that you can go on to gamble if you want to, and as you have mentioned about yourself control, the best way to stop you from opening new sites could be blocking all access to online gambling sites from the device you gamble from so that you will not open new sites.
There are blocking softwares that people have found helpful and have given possitive feedbacks to, and we recommend them. You can also speak to an advisor on our Free Telephone Helpline on 0808 8020133 or chat with us on our Netline as directed on this site. We will look at stratergies that will help you, and also provide you with counselling to look at the underlying reasons why you gamble if you want counselling. These are links to the softwares that we recommend. http://betfilter.com/, http://www.gamblock.com/index.html, http://www.netnanny.com/ these softwares and many other advice can be given if you will like to talk to an advisor.
Meanwhile, reading the post, and learning from what others have found helpful can also be very good.
keep posting, and get in touch with an advisor if you want.
Regards
Florence (Forum Admin)
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