My first post

Hi,

This is the first time I have posted on the gamcare forum. I have used gamcare live chat and had some great advice and now I think it's time for me to tell my story.

I started gambling when I was 18. My then boyfriend took me into the bookies and we played roulette. It was fun to start with but I quickly got far too involved in it. My gambling 'spree' at that time lasted roughly 6 months and I lost a lot of money on a weekly basis but I also won a lot. I then became bored with it and stopped.

It reared it's head again about 2 years later, this is when I discovered online roulette.... We all know how this ends. My spree lasted about 4 months that time. I ended up in debt for the first time with a £1300 overdraft and I swore off gambling forever, until...

3 years a go. My gambling problem crept up on me again like nothing on earth. I met my now husband 4 years a go (great guy, very happy), but about a year into our relationship, I started gambling again. I hadn't gambled for 4 years at this point so all the horrible memories and overdraft were long gone. I started small. ВЈ50 deposit, putting a ВЈ1 on a few numbers and coming away happy with ВЈ100, doubling my money. It escalated very quickly. To the point where I once deposited ВЈ5,000 in one go. To the point where I won ВЈ15,000 and gambled the whole lot away and another ВЈ5,000 on top of that. To the point where myself and my husband, both working full time, thought about selling our house. That's how bad it was/is. Then, we came into some money left by a relative of my husband. Enough to clear most of our debt, get a holiday, get a new car and put some away for a rainy day. Since we got it, I have gambled away £7,800 (2 weeks a go). I did not use my husbands relatives money directly, I retook out my overdraft and got a payday loan, which we have paid off with the money left behind. We are still in a good position, we have 1/3 of our wages left after paying all the bills, we have some money put away and we've booked our holiday. It should be happy days right?....

NO. I have been a terrible wife to my lovely husband. He (we) work very hard and this money should be used wisely. I can't turn back time but I can stop right now and not let all the money go down the drain. It's also a huge strain emotionally. I desperately want to quit gambling forever. It has almost ruined my life. I have asked my bank to decline any overdraft applications I make, I've had an adult filter put on my phone (it's my phone I used to gamble), my husband keeps my bank card and he's also changed the passwords to the payday loan companies that I used to fund my outrageous gambling binges.

I last gambled today at 6pm. I then decided to take the above actions in order to overcome my problem. I need to be strong