locked myself out of gambling sites

Hi Rachelliz

What makes you only want to close the accounts for just a week? This was enough of an issue for you to come on here, so guessing you feel the gambling has been a problem? Can you ensure that you won't go chasing losses again?

Why don't you close the accounts for good and save your money? Just a thought.

I wish you all the best.

RA

Hi ra, i have closed some of them for 6 weeks but its a good question and i honestly dont know the answer, i know i need to stop and i'm here getting advice and reading up on it all, i think cos im a fairly new gambler and the dumb part of my brain thinks ah this wont happen to me, i guess i want to see what its like not gambling .

I said before on a post i feel like a fraud on here cos i dont have debts or anything i just think gambling is stealing my time and my savings, i think if i closed the accounts i'd just open another so i guess im not there yet

Hi I have to agree with previous post, I'm 29 days in after a gambling life of 5 years, I wish I had had the sense to admit I had a problem sooner then I wouldn't have lost so much time and money and ended up in debt. Don't keep feeding the addiction it will just keep sucking the life out of you and leave you poor x

Thanks Anon and Half, i do appreciate the advice, i can feel myself getting sucked in and a chunk of my savings are gone, i dont want to keep feeding the addiction and i know i have a problem , im going to lock myself out for longer when the week is up, i know i should close completely so i will think about this and keep reading stories on here to make me see sense

Hi keeping reading, most people on here thought they could control it, me included x

Rach...This is what will happen: You will ban yourelf for a week and think yes I have this gambling under control, Im not like everyone on here I can control it. Then when you can acess your accounts again you will tell yourself you now have it under control because you havnt played for a week so you can have just a £20.00 to try to win £5 and then you will stop...win or lose. After you have lost that £20 you will have another £100 and then another and another. You will think this bad luck cant continue and you are due a win so will have just one more go. It will continue and trust me 100% you will be back on here next year with all your savings gone, credit card debts and saying ' I wish I listened to you all last year '. At the moment you are thinking no it wont happen to me I have it under control. NO YOU DONT TRUST ME XXX

Hi Rachel and welcome. I too tried to 'make a tenner a day' also (used to be a fiver before that then eventually went to 20). I even got as far as a month with consecutive winning days but as always it doesn't last. I thought I was different, special in a way and that somehow I could beat the system and make money from gambling. The cold hard truth is I'm not special or different and neither are you. I am a compulsive gambler - this is something I used to be ashamed of but nowadays I have no problem telling anyone if they ask.

Gambling takes so much more than just money from us - time, family & friends, health, hope, jobs (the list is a very long one). What does it give us in return? A buzz, a dreamworld full of big houses and cars, an escape from our everyday lives but also heartache and despair along with an empty bank account and £££££ in debt.

Gambling addiction is progressive and you may not think you are too bad at the minute as you haven't did this or that BUT as a poster above has already mentioned you haven't done these things 'yet'. It sounds from the tone of your posts you aren't ready to admit your problem just yet and you may think your only problem is that you lost. We've all been there but deep down somewhere only you know the truth. One thing is for sure - your life, as well as mine and many others will be 100% better without gambling in it. I wish you well.

All the best

Thanks so much for the advice, they all really made me think for different reasons, I think i have been thinking I can control it but it looks like everyone thinks that, luckily only one of the sites was locked for a week, the rest is for longer so i will get on there and lock it again to keep me out, i havent gambled for two days and i havent really missed it and its nice seeing my bank account static. Thanks for helping me keep off the slippery slope i will keep reading and posting as while im on here its a reality check. wish you all well too x

Hi Rachelliz.

I can assure you that it doesnt work like that but you already know that really. I was essentially a clinically depressed miser that never had gambling under control until 308 days ago.

I used to think I could win back my chip meal or days expenses....Oh I will just win a little bit every day because its under the gambling dens radar and Im clever. Believe me they would be out of business within weeks if that was a way of getting a steady income.

I was not clever in any way...I was seriously lost and addicted. Several thousands of pounds lost pretending I was winning a chip meal. That is a heavy addiction and indeed a form of mental illness. I almost have to laugh like a loon now thinking I chucked over £2000 thinking I was going to win a fiver per day. I was a compulsive gambler who had no control when faced with slot machines

We ignored the odds completely especially on machines. I will be blunt that getting a random number generator to bring five reels is odds of hundreds or thousands to one and we are merrily (or depressingly) putting pound coins in and betting every few seconds...its madness and I know all about the ratio of what goes in an out. Its a losers game and a mugs game for addicts

Please please put the proper blocks on and self exclude. Save your life now...its that serious

Best wishes from everyone on the forum

Joydivider thats exactly what i think - I'll put on a tenner to win a fiver, that fails so another tenner, then a twenty , sometimes i win and im a fiver up and i think i may as well go for a bit more , so if i win twenty i think hey i'm on a roll i'll win £50, and then i have nothing .

I'm having a real struggle with myself as i keep thinking i can win, thats why i keep reading here daily to make me see reason and give me a reality check , im glad i found the site.

Yes Rachelliz and I was addicted to them on and off for 40 years.

I was always vunerable to them because I was psychologically damaged and prone to it.

These machines are deviously designed and programmed for maximum addiction. They know its never enough for a problem gambler and gambling leads to problem gambling in many cases. Its absolutely crazy that I thought I would " just go in and have a little win" If that was regularly possible there would be a queue of people down the street waiting to go in.

It also plays on our false lucky clover psychology that Ive put ten/ twenty/ fifty/hundred in so it must be kinder to me soon. The false minor amounts were never enough. I wont really use the term wins because the result for me was thousands lost and near homelessness.. I dont know if it was ever what I would call fun. I used to walk to the service till in a trance and it scares me now to think about that again....keeps me strong now.

Money was never enough because my mind was raked with hopelessness and clinical depression I didnt really know I had. I wanted emotions and that included the lows. My counsellor tells me that I even wanted the desperate lows as it was a change from my normal zombienumbness. Thats why the psychology of machines is programmed for the near miss or bonus that was nearly there. When those bonus reel machines came in my losses went stratospheric because I was so vunerable to them. It brings on a red mist of I must get the feature next time and its so incredibly dangerous. It actually induces a trance. I still dont fully understand as I can be careful with money for periods of time. They say inside every problem gambler is a miser that wont accept the losses

In reality I was lonely and seeking a fix. I used to stand in pubs on a wet tuesday evening trying to see if I could be less lonely. I would drift over to the machines for some sort of desperate hit.

I dont go to these rubbish pubs now and the best thing I ever did was self exclude from arcades and bookies. I tell any diner or place that Im not to be seen near them. Personally I think the machines should be heavily regulated or banned altogether. The misery they create is enormous. The flashing lights of temptation and its no wonder people develop a problem.

My life would have been a whole lot better if they didnt exist.

Best wishes