Hi Guys,
My names David and i am new to the forum so i just wanted to share with you guys my story about gambling, which is still an ongoing issue for me.
I started online gambling when i was 18 and for the first few years i was gambling a lot but i wasn't gambling big amounts. But at that time i wasn't earning great and it was more a fact of the social problems it was causing me. I would go out with friends and play sport but would only be myself, or be interested, depending on how gambling was going. Gradually i started gambling more, i inherited a fair chunk of money, enough to put a deposit on a house. I gambled all that money away. I never told my parents that, they just found me quite depressed by the computer gambling money away. I had counselling which did help at the time, it didnt stop me gambling completly although it did reduce the amounts. It helped me join clubs, start socialising more and realising there is more to life than just gambling.
Anyway i moved from the UK abroad to Germany 2 years ago for work with the hope that i could start a fresh. At first it was great i didn't gamble for about three months. The problem was eventually i began compulsive gambling again and this time i am on my own in a different country, no family, trying to make friends and this made it worse. Before i felt atleast i wasn't on my own i had family and friends around me, but suddenly i felt alone and quite isolated.
As people say the difficulty is the debt you get from gambling and how to deal with that. I carried to Germany with me some credit card debts and felt that the only way to pay the debt off was to gamble my way out of it. As we know this is not the right thing to do and never works in the long term. It's difficult because the right thing to do is work hard, save money, and then use your saved money on something good. My problem is i just think i could gamble a couple of times, win some money to deal with that, but in the end this is the ultimate downfall.
I caused my family some problems with gambling, they too have sacrificed money due to my gambling and paying off some debts, i have stolen from them in the past due to wanting to gamble, needing access to funds. I also have lost my job in the past due to stealing which was for gambling related debts.
The main issue i find with online gambling is that i work in in a skilled computer role. So i have previously installed some gambling filters but i usually find a way round it. Also i am working like a lot of people on the computer daily.
I am not at rock bottom right now, i have a very good job, a supporting family, a girlfriend. But gambling is still a big problem for me and am looking to address the problem for good now. I always saw it as a problem, but never really had the determination or desire to do anything about it until now.
it is heartbreaking reading your story which is just lke mine. i too have stolen in the past and yet still i get drawn back to it. im sitting here now feeling deperte and alone. i have gmbled every penny online, i have no access to money at all and dont even know how i am going to get to work. iv sat and applied for every possible form of credit to no avail, i am too weak for suicide yet where do i go from here?? good luck in your journey xx
Thanks for the reply. it is difficult because you feel like my only way out is just to try and gamble my way out of debt. In the short time it can have an effect, but in the long term eventually you just lose more money. Sometimes i have been in that situation where it affects work and i can't get to work, even make up that i am ill to stay at home just so i could gamble or because i was feeling low. You probably need to seek some debt advice. I am not in a good situation myself and its difficult, but speaking to someone a counseller would be a good start. good luck too xx
We all know how it works dont we and yet we STILL do it. I'm not so worried about my creditors. In the grand scheme of things it's not that bad. I owe less than 2.5k after sorting.out and paying off my.old debt last year. It's the 670 I owe family which I can't bear telling them I don't have. It's the fact I have no money at all for almost a week. With 3 kids maybe I should have thought about this First. Iv always relied on payday loans in an emergency but even they have closed their doors. Where do people turn? I feel so alone yet determined that this has got to stop x
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