Hi Everyone,
Where do I start? Well I first started gambling online when I was 18. I had my first credit card and had started working. I won £2500 and from then on I'd play until I had used up my wages and my credit card limit. Over the last 12 years I have took out loans, credit cards even borrowed money from my mum £7000 to be exact. I've now started to use those mobile casinos and it has now become worse than ever that I know I need to seek help and stop. It has ruined my life in terms of what I have wasted. It has gotten to the point where if I have money in my bank I have a compulsion to gamble. I don't recognise who I am anymore I have become a liar and secretive. Its funny for my 21st my parents took my to Las Vegas and I didn't gamble that much even though we were staying in a casino hotel. I also don't have a problem with fruit machines and haven't ever been into a betting shop. My issue as I think a lot of people find is online slots.
Take care
xx
Hi Louise
Firstly well done on coming to the site and realising you have a problem. It takes a lot of guts and the first step of admitting it is always the hardest!
I have gambled well pretty much all my life until 39 days ago when I stopped completely. I had to as it was also changing me into a person I hardly recognised.
You say your biggest problem is online slots so you must self exclude from every site you can think of and see if you can put blockers in place to stop you when the urges are there.
Is there any family member you can speak to about the problem and maybe try and hand finances over to them for a while?
You can forget the money that you have gambled- just accept that it is gone. You will not get it back but what you can get back is your life and you can win every day from today as long as you dont gamble.
Gamcare also have counselling support if you want it and keep a diary on this forum and post ho you are feeling. You will get a lot of support and remember we are all in the same boat and we will help you through this.
All the best
Linda x
Hi Louise, well done for getting on here and getting your story out. It helps beyond words to finally let people understand you and help you to stop gambling.
Vegas for your 21st hey? Lucky girl! Before i started gambling i'd always wanted to go there - No appeal other than ITS VEGAS 🙂
Anyways i think it's time you stopped. Read your post back and think. You borrowed £7,000 from a family member, maxed credit cards and emptied your HARD EARNED wages into a machine that chooses when to give you money. Personally i have a real prejudice against slots - i played online once and was just sickened to the teeth after £5 spent playing at 25p a spin. Not a single win. They are just like every other machine out there. As soon as you place a bet and spin, they have already calculated the profit they'll make, but will give you back just enough to keep you putting in more. Afterall, would these casinos have these luxurious establishments and service if they didn't make a profit? The gambling industry offers nothing to anybody - They're like Tesco - all they do is MAKE MONEY and they do that purely from profit, which comes only from losing on the machine, tables, whatever.
I wish you all the best Louise, let's see you start a diary and get on the path to the better side of life!
JimmyC - 10/01/14
Hi Louise
Your story sounds very much like mine and stood out to me as a year ago to the day of you joining this forum, I also decided to join this site, after reaching my lowest point of my life on 18th Jan 2013.
Feel free to browse through my diary. I have found this site extremely useful, as well as the chat rooms.
I wish you the very best in your recovery.
Take care.
Feb.
We are available 24 hours a day, every day of the year. You can also contact us for free on 0808 80 20 133. If you would like to find out more about the service before you start, including information on confidentiality, please click below. Call recordings and chat transcripts are saved for 28 days for quality assurance.
