Hi this is my first post and believe it is the first time i have really accepted i have an online gambling addiction.
around two years ago i used to place multiple bets, but i never felt that was really a big issue until one day i used a credit card to make multiple deposits in minutes to find myself sat there not being able to deposit anymore and wondering how the hell am i going to get myself out of this mess. From there even though i didn't think i had a problem, because i opened up to people around me i went to counselling which didnt really make a great deal of difference as i act on impulse, and after 2 sessions the lady thought i had over come any problem i had with gambling because i was aware of everything i had done.
From there i never touched a bet until about 2 months ago.
Recently i have had alot going on an buried my head in the sand until one day at work i couldnt put my phone down and couldnt keep myself off roulette which is where the majoiry of my money is always wasted and thrown away without any thought. when i got in from work all i could think about was how i could re-coup some of the money i had lost throughout the day... and that is where it pretty much started i began depsoiting silly amounts between my credit cards i depotisted around 6300 on one credit card in the space of an hour or so and another 3000 between other cards i had avaibale to me. If one of my other cards was not blocked i still had another 2000 available to try and depsoit but luckily i couldnt gain any access to it. While i was in my gambling binge and without any other thought process my bets increased from spins from around 30-40 pound with around 15 numbers on to spins of around £600 on around 5 numbers at times i would just click the screen to get as much as i could on before each closing bet not even thinking about the consequences or and thought into what i was putting on, i couldnt be more ashmed of myself for falling back into this trap of the online gaming industry that seems to be advertised everywere we look and happy to make millions from many of us with this addiction.
Yesterday, It took alot of courage to reach out to my dad and tell him the situation i had landed myself in AGAIN but worse this time alot worse. I dreaded his repsonse and i didnt know how he would react, but luckily for me he was very understanding and we have already met up to try and put somthing in place to pay everything back asap with minimum interest charges. (non of the debt i have will he or anybody else pay back as this was all down to myself and i have to take full repsonibilty)
I guess i am mainly writing this as of course we all know how low this feeling inside makes us all feel when reality sets in to how much money has been spent while being totally unaware of any of the consequences. i wanted to try and find out where i might stand in a position with the online casino with how quick deposits where made out of charachter bets and in general for me my account was flagging up a vulnerable gambler who was chasing losses and making crazy deposits and bets? the same goes for the credit card company as to why i would have been alowed to make all of these deposits in a small period of time? if i was to apply for any other credit there is no way i would be able to have acess to it withing minutes to find myself in a positon that will affect me for some time until i manage to get my finances back under control.
Thank you for taking the time to read and reply to this if you do, and remeber we can all break the mould but it takes time to change.
Theres only one winner.
Unfortunately you are not the first and you will not be the last to fall victim to the online casinos and depositing phenomenon
A cash machine will only allow you to withdraw a certain amount of a cash out per day before you have to go to the bank to ask for more
Not sure how you are allowed to deposit unlimited amounts via debit card to online casinos
When you are in a physical casino you have to wait up to 4 mins for a spin on a busy table and once you are out of cash you must go and physically withdraw more this allows for vital “breathing space” I know it has saved me 100’s if not thousands in the past
To be honest the whole online process scares me and throughout my gambling career I’ve only ever sporadically bet tiny amounts on it because of that reason
I don’t think you will get much luck with the vulnerable gambler card, unless you have a documented mental disability or the bookmaker is genuinely at fault I suspect they will run you off with various spiels of terms and conditions and send you on your way
However If you are seriously considering going down that route I would advise you seek professional legal advice
I suspect the bank will have even less to say as they are just a middle man transaction facilitator and explaining the situation to a telephone advisor / bank manager would be a task in itself
Overall I think the best course of action would be to just draw a line under the whole thing and try as best you can to repair your life
Roulette is my addiction I lost total of 30 k in the last 5 years , family know wife knows, 14 k in 6 hours online roulette darkest moment of my life, had block put away, then last yr went bookies lost 4k on the roulette in 3 hours , heart was pacing, had to tell my brother and he was getting married in two weeks and he was in his own problems sorting things out he gave me a final warning,and I promised not to do it again for the sake of 18month old son and now my wife is expecting again and just went and lost £500 in one hour at the bookies, for me to stop gambling we can't carry any source of money around ,also don't believe in that garbage counselling they don't know what goes through our mind they know f**k all, sorry to say it but it true it's all about out own selfs, the Times I stopped I payed debts of was happy, but the urges when they come they come in moments and that is where we have to be strong , as this is gonna be a never ending cycle
hi thank you for getting back to me,
Nipped... yeah as i said in my first post i just feel it is ridiculous to allow any one person to be able to get themselves in the financial position when it is clearly money they have not got readily available i.e credit cards, and really feel more needs to be done to protect people from this happening more and more to people who may not be as lucky as me. I say that as i am lucky i still have a decent credit score and my parents have managed to help me out just to stop any interest inccuring. I have to pay every single peeny back myself which is only fair as will any of us any learn if we were to just get bailed out... i think not.
I really believe that something has to be brought in to stop these crazy multiple depsoits though i mean 6000 in less than an hour or so why would anyone who clearly doesnt have a problem need to deposit that ammount of money, i guess you are righ though it is not in the best interest for the bank or the casino after all both parties are still clearly benefitting from us in a vulnerable position. i understand they cannot babysit us and that is not what i expect but id like to see someone walk into a clothes store and make multiple purchases and something not be done to stop them. Its quite infuriating 2 years of having it back undercontrol then boom in the space of no time at all i have to look at sorting out my finances that will have a long lasting affect on me for a good few year.
Hi ash i am really sorry to hear the struggles you have been going through with fighting your addiction. i wasnt trying to say that i dont think counselling works i just think the private session i went to i can come across quite confident as if i have everything under control when i really think i did but that urge that just came back over me i really didnt see this comming and dont know how anyone could spot it.
I think i am going to have to go back to see someone to explain everything that is going on with me right now, and hopefully they will be able to guide me in the right direction with how to deal with the impulse that comes over me. At the minute the thought of putting a bet on is still right there with me to an extent but i never usually gamble big until that huge first deposit is made then its like someone else takes over and its tunnel vision from there. That is the only way i know i wont put a bet on from now as i cant bare the thought of getting into more financial difficulty the best thing for me is to get my head down and get everything paid off asap.
I dont really know what to say as i dont have kids but maybe you could turn the impulse of looking around at what you have and imagine if every bet you placed on roulette that was replaced with the biggest unconditional smile from your son, and knowing for every bet thats not placed it allows you to think of things you and your family could be doing. its all about changing the way we think and it wont happen overnight but if you want it you will beat it.
i wish you the best of look and hope to hear from you. you say this is a never ending cycle but its day 6 for me today to make sure the cycle changes and to focus my thoughts on other things as theres only one winner when it comes to putting your money on roulette its fact the house have the edge good luck.
The thing is you have to be extra careful it's never gonna go away unless you can erase it from your mindset which is difficult on its own, I lost money today but I can live with that it just the fact I gambled P****d me of started with £20 then out came everything, I was out of city so I wasn't blocked in this bookie,made the mistake of carry to much cash around me, after I lost the money I went to the mcdonalds toilet and locked myself In, thinking w*f have I done,obviously had to now make a cover story should my wife find out about missing money which know results to me lieing to her, which I didn't want to do, she trusted me again ets, if she finds out now that is the end of our relationship, I know how you feel and I know the exact feels you get when you press the spin button hoping it's goes on those numbers with the money on,keep In touch been gamble free 8 months then mess up today,
You cant erase gambling from your mindset once it is there, it is there for life you can only choose to block it or limit yourself from doing serious damage
Anyway yes unfortunately it is in neither the banks interest or bookies interest to protect the compulsive gambler and because society still doesn’t really understand gambling addiction it leaves us open to constant financial abuse
I would be keen to see how often online casinos are regulated or audited and by whom , its well known the gambling commission is funded by bookmaking / casino money it wouldn’t surprise me if there are some fiddles going on
I had £9 in one of my football accounts last night and went onto the casino section to fiddle around with blackjack and roulette betting pounds and pence I noticed all the games seemed to play like fruit machines where pay out percentages need to be met before a win is awarded
even the roulette feature would try to tease by landing close to a covered number but ultimately rolling past and when it did land in the correct area It would somehow magically find the least covered number it could, these are all physiologically designed factors to keep the punter believing they are getting close to a big win
After a couple of spins I wound up back with my original £9 and decided to call it a night before the software decided I was getting too greedy
There are far too many coincidences and strange occurrences on these online games for me to believe they are 100% fair and random to the consumer , I firmly belive they implement some kind of further edge into the RNG software that the consumer is totally unware of
It’s the slots that really concern me as I suspect consumers could really get sucked in by the features and lights ……believing the next spin will make them thousands increasing the spin stake each time
Every morning, log on here and read these stories in the NEW MEMNERS forum and the DIARY forum. It'll help fortify your mind not to gamble. One day at a time..
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