Wow, i’ve just signed in again and was shocked to see my first and last post being so determined to change was over a year ago on 30th May 2019. In my head it was seriously the start of this year.... WHERE has time gone?
In that post I said i wanted to stop and reduce deposit limits, clearly that did not work. I did set limits and then I signed up to every site possible and eventually increased limits. Over a year later I’m still gambling, putting my addiction up to about 4/5 years now - again I cannot believe where time has gone. That’s about the entirety of my 20’s so far and for what?
On Saturday 29th Aug, I self excluded myself using GamStop. I had spent almost the entirety of my paycheck received on Friday, after paying rent and a couple of other bills, by that morning. About £600 in one day leaving me with next to nothing for the rest of this month. It’s like this every single month but this one took a severe hit on my finances, I just kept losing.
I got some winnings, not much, received on Saturday afternoon and once again I spent it gambling, hoping to make up extra money for the month...
I asked my sister and brother for money to cover direct debits due to come out automatically as i’d missed them a couple of months already. They did help me, they have no idea about my gambling problem at all, no one does. I spent more of it, allowing myself to spend more because i got some winnings that would be paid in before the direct debits were due to come out. It took ALL of me to keep the minimum amount in my bank to pay it. Now i have debt to my brother and sister next month too!
Today (Tues 1st Sept) GamStop have registered my account finally and it feels like such a relief. A weight lifted. But i’m already feeling the urges to gamble and worrying about how i’m going to “make more money” for the month. Like that happened often!
It’s been SUCH a reality check. The time between Saturday and today proved how so little control I had over my gambling, I kept trying and trying with my last pennies to “earn back what i’d lost”.
I’m worried about how i’ll cope with these feelings and the need to try and win. I’ll have so much extra free time.
I’m excited to know that I can have money in my bank account and that I won’t be able to gamble every last penny. I’m excited to have my whole paycheck to myself, hopefully pay off my credit cards and but things i ENJOY.
I’m not in masses of debt due to gambling, I have credit cards to pay off. Other than that I could only afford to gamble what I was paid each month. And i did exactly that. I’ve struggled financially every month for years and blame it on bills and other things, I will be interested to see just how much money I do manage to have without the gambling
Does anyone have advice on how to cope with the urges? What have you done with your time you would have spent gambling? I’ve thought about hobbies, or something I could do the second I think about gambling to distract myself and associate it with something new but I’m not sure of anything yet.
Thanks for reading. I’ve been keeping up with some posts on here since Saturday and it’s helpful
Welcome back d1994
It is good to hear that you have registered with Gamstop and are taking positive steps to recover.
It sounds like you are struggling with the urges. Some people find that taking part in alternative activities can help with these. This may be hobbies they enjoyed in the past but no longer or have the time to take part in due to spending their time gambling or finding new interests to try.
Many forum users find that having 1:1 support is really helpful for overcoming urges. If this is something that you would consider, one of our advisers would be able to go through the options available to you as well as other tools and strategies to help you with the urges. Please contact the HelpLine on 0808 8020 133 or visit our NetLine which is open 24/7 to discuss this in more depth.
We look forward to reading more of your posts and following your recovery.
Kind regards
Sallie
Forum Admin
Hi mate,
Get to a GA meeting and open up to people. Its good that you have come here and great that you have put up the barrier of self exclusion which will really help but to tackle recovery you need to look at your behaviour.
Your post talks a lot about money, but it sounds like you would have plenty of spare money for the nice things in life if you put a stop to your gambling. I also hear the resistance to truly giving up in the words you write. Maybe confide in someone close about your struggles also. Keep posting here.
Hi mate it did make a huge difference for me. In 2016 after all bills and mortgage I spent 8k on myself. This year soo far 2020 I've spent under 300 pounds! Instead of saving nothing I've saved loads... I mean lockdown helped along with giving up drinking, smoking and most importantly gambling.... I'm now much more healthy and live a modest life I can be proud of . I'm saving up so that I have money to pass down to my nephews and neice. All the best adam
Hi
I am 283 days gf when I first quit I had eurges to gamble so I actually watched people on you tube playing slots this guy in America and o*g the money he would loose it actually put me off, you need to realise you won’t make money from gambling because you can’t walk away “up” you will Always wanna win more and loose everything trying too, when ever u have an urge just do anything don’t see it as u might win see it as u really won’t.. u don’t gamble this month yes when u get paid you’ll be skint because your gonna have to pay off what u owe but after maybe 3 month you will start to see the financial benefits from not gambling.. it took me maybe 4 months to see a difference that I had money in my bank the day before I got paid, what no one tells u is it’s like quitting smoking which I also did 5 years ago, with gambling u have physical withdrawals, everyday when u wake up just tell your self u won’t gamble just for today
goodluck u can do it
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