Hi,
I'm in my fifties now and had given up gambling (mostlty on horses and on football) for about four years. I started again about a year ago. It was triggered by a family crisis and I've been unable to stop. I don't tend to gamble all the money I get hold of. I leave myself with just enough to scrape by so that family members don't cotton on. When I gave up for the four year period it was due to my wife finding out about the extent of my gambling and the debts I had run up. It caused major problems and I managed to get my creditors to agree to payment arrangements and I am managing to stick to that..
I gamble mostly online now (lost about £100 today, ouch) and need to stop urgently (I know, it's easier said than done) due to the dangerous money situation plus the guilt feelings etc.
Does anyone know of a free site blocker that I could use. I've used one but the truoble is you can adjust it to let you on to the very sites that need blocking !
Anyway that's my brief history.
Thanks for reading it.
Hi
k9 is free but you need somone else to put the passwords in or put a random password in copy & paste for when it asks you to confirm. Also change of email is advisable
Many thanks for your info.
Hi MrStop and welcome aboard.
Well done for taking the first steps in becoming gambling free. I don't know if you used Gamcare to help you stop last time, but you will find many, many people in the same boat as you, it seems to be the place to come to for those of us that have reached the end of the road, all needing help to find our old lives back. Everybody on here is rooting for you, and this time tomorrow you can claim your first gambling free day! Many people on here talk about the time-money-location triangle. Take just one of those three things away and you can't gamble, it makes sense when someone says it eh?!
Very best of luck my friend and glad to see you are in the 2015 challenge!
Hi somethingsgottagive,
Many Thanks
No I didn't use Gamcare last time. I only wish I'd had access to it then.
In my initial post what kicked me off again was I think a reaction to a family crisis. Which is still in part ongoing and as we know, once you get the gambling bug in the system, it's damned hard to get rid of it but I know IT IS possible.
I will be a daily visitor to the forum and will join in if I feel I've got something constructive and encouraging to say.
a lot of card providers will block gambling transactions if you ask for this on the cards........that way you can't deposit full stop even if you get on the site.
Regards
Wayne
(21 DAYS GAMBLE FREE) (21 DAYS OF WINNING)
LEST-WE-FORGET wrote:
a lot of card providers will block gambling transactions if you ask for this on the cards........that way you can't deposit full stop even if you get on the site.
Regards
Wayne
(21 DAYS GAMBLE FREE) (21 DAYS OF WINNING)
Hi Wayne,
I have been on here for a couple of weeks now and didn't realise that. Does that include debit cards? I have a new bank account and am not entirely sure how I feel about them knowing that I have a gambling problem though but it would be good to have that option.
Well done on the 21 days too.
Thanks for that info Wayne. I only have a debit card now. No credit cards. I've self excluded and got blocking software now. In theory I should be OK from the online aspect as the software is operational for me. I'm not sure anyway if debit cards can be blocked. Does anyone out there know if any banks will do it for debit cards?
if you start to get gambling urges again there's nothing to stop you ringing up your bank to report your debit card lost. then when the new one arrives cut it in two, go to the branch with ID if you need cash. or get a simple cashcard only account which works at the cashpoint but not online.
You are so right davey.
Thanks. I'll bear that info in mind.
hi im new to gamcare, been gambling half my life, 15 years. time to stop now hopefully with gamcare gonna do it this time
hi im new to gamcare, been gambling half my life, 15 years. time to stop now hopefully with gamcare gonna do it this time
Hi Again.
Firstly as comments above there is nothing stopping any gambling really if you really are going to do it no matter what....
however most of us on here are really trying to stop and by making certain things hard or close to impossible to gamble it is evidently going to help when a uncontrollable urge gets you.
I personally did not tell my bank i had a gambling issue - i simply asked if all gambling type transactions could be stopped online with my card as i have received multiple spam messages offering me deals and i don't want to be tempted as it is against my beliefs to gamble...........they did it immediately.......even via paypal i cannot use my debit or credit cards for gambling........everything else like shopping works fine.........however stocks and shares also are blocked as they class this under the gambling as it can be utilized that way.
It doesn't stop you getting cash out and going to bookies but it is another step in the way of losing money in a moment of weakness.........its a great deterent..........especially late at night when bookies closed.
Regards
Wayne
Hi CHRIS40
best of luck - take each day at a time and log in as much as possible to record your progress.......feel free to read my previous posts.....hopefully there is some good info to assist in beating this addiction........we are all in similar boats so lets beat this evil together.
Best Regards
Wayne (22 days gamble free)
santander do cash only accounts that are actually saving accounts but you can still pay your wages into them and the maximum withdrawal at atm machine is £100 per day which is a helpful tool to avoid spontaneous gambling in high money stakes.
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