Hi guys, I'm Dave and I'm new to all this.
On Tuesday, my mother uttered the words "Do you think you're getting addicted?" in relation to me talking about gambling. My answer was "No, I don't think so." It's not the first time I've thought "What if I am?", so I went online just to find out what gambling addiction is. According to the self-help test, it sounds like I have one - I'm still not convinced.
My background is probably different to 99% of the people on here - possibly even 100% - I'm not sure. You may all hate me and shun me away and I'm open to abuse if anyone wishes to give it to me.
How am I different? Firstly, I've a degree in Maths and have worked for a major high street bookmakers for over 15 years and am currentlly a betting shop manager. I love numbers and maths as well as sport, so sports betting and my job obviously appeal to me. I've been off sick from work for the last 3 months with stress, however. Personal issues - I have 2 kids - one from a previous relationship and one with my current partner who is amazing but lives over 50 miles away and neither of us are in a position to relocate. Between having my daughter two days a week, spending time with my partner & working 40 hours a week I've had no time to unwind and have had a breakdown.
3 months at home for someone who loves betting as much as I do would be a dangerous recipe for most people, however I've thrived off it. Plus I've been getting full sick pay from work the whole time too. Obviously, this lead to getting accounts closed, so I've begun getting friends and family to open betting accounts too. When I wake up, the first thing I do is get on Oddschecker and see what the odds on things are - horse racing, golf, I'd bet on two flies climbing a wall if I could. I spend all day on betting websites & am still on them when I'm ready for bed. Some days I barely leave the computer as I might miss a bit of value & a chance to make an easy tenner.
Part of me thinks I should give up my job to become a professional gambler. The rational part of me thinks this is nonsense - eventually I'll get to a point where there's no more betting accounts to be had.
I'm not sure if I have a gambling problem - can it be a problem if you don't lose? Gambling is pretty much all I think about all day long. Feel free to hate me - at the end of the day I'm part of the problem with the job I do - and the fact I don't actually lose money makes me wonder if I should even be here at all...
Hi you're right about bookies closing or severely restricting accounts if you back a steamer in the morning & it starts off at a much shorter price. I don't think you're addicted in the sense that a lot of people on here are into big risk taking & get 'pleasure' from betting big & risking losing it all if the horse / selection doesn't win. It is the tension of the big risk which provides the pleasure, a risk which you're not taking if you're arbing.
However, you'll find that even all of your friends' accounts will also soon be restricted. Betting on horses isn't how it was 15-20 years ago when bookies would stand a bet. What then ? I think you are addicted as you seem to have become obsessed by it, it's taking up all of your time & head space. Supposing you were allowed to arb for ever more, unrestricted, nicking tenners or twenties here & there & getting free bets constantly (by laying off the initial stake) ? That is all you would do with your life ! You might be making money, but you would spend your whole life on your laptop on oddschecker / exchanges etc backing / laying etc being totally obsessed with it. Even when not doing it you'd be thinking about it. Is that really a life you'd want to lead ? If you have a camcorder / camera / phone with video set it up one afternoon & record yourself doing it for a few hours, to see what you look like doing it. You've exhausted the 'honeymoon period' in terms of unrestricted accounts you will find it harder & harder to do. There's always a danger that you'll then lapse until full-blown gambling proper, if for example you lay off a few winners in a row & start thinking 'if only i hadn't laid them off' etc.
You may not be losing money at the moment but you are losing your life, your time, your headspace doing it. You may not be damaging your wallet but you're damaging your psychological make-up; there is far more to life than money. Use the money you've won to live life instead of sitting in front of a computer gibbering, calculating, trying to make more. It's no kind of life is it ?
Hi Davey (this could get confusing!) - thanks for your input. And you're completely correct. I never realised until you said, but you are so right - I'm wasting my life away for this! Another problem is that I live with my best friend (since school) - I helped him get a job at the aformentioned bookmakers and he spends a lot of time betting and we spend a lot of time watching things that we bet on. And sometimes I do take risks - I lost £200 yesterday betting on rubbish football (Champions League qualifiers) and rubbish racing. Because I think I am starting to get greedy.
Another thing is a different friend of mine who is not as financially well-off as me is getting £2800 going into her bank. I do trust her, but there's now a seed of thought popped into my head that I hadn't considered before - what if a friend opens an account and doesn't give me the money! I'm pretty sure I'd have no legal right to that money. There's plenty of people who have lost friends due to borrowing money for betting & not giving it back - it's theoretically possible I could stumble upon someone who isn't as much of a friend as I'd previously thought.
Thanks so much for your advice, Davey. Fortunately (or unfortunately?) I'm back in work this week, so at least I'll have a reason to leave the house!
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