Rock bottom

Hi prosaic

i feel for you buddy , you not alone though , the gambling addiction is fierce and has many victims , you just need to try put a line under it and see it is as other illness and it is a mental illness and your wife and family would never look at you any worse for being ill , don,t woory about your debtors yh its going wipe out your credit rating for 6 years but these comapnies can,t make you pay more than you can afford and if gambling totally stop you can start alocatting money to debt and start again , don,t give up your kids still got futures , most of us don,t have vast savings and they find there own way , maybe you need to come out and be open and honest cuz im a new dad too and im 32 butthe modern world is relenless and gambling is everywhwere so i worry the next generation will be in a worse way as the goverment clearly don,t give a f*** and your bad experiences and worries laid bare could be a great deterrent for your kids

i like most in the forum striuggle with gambling so i would suggest professional help and come clean , then declare harship with your creditors and just pay a fair sum back each month and you can still live , be clean with your family your feel better and then ask others here best way to abstain as you clearly need to

all best buddy keep posting we here 4 u , don,t be too ashmaed

Unfortunately that's our selfish nature when the gambling takes over.. In Time we can only try and tackle our illness but slowly take things easy day by day.. That's all I can say because I'm in the same situation and its working slowly for me.. Good luck.

Seems like you have a couple of choices. Continue to wallow in your self pity or actually take some action in

​ claiming your life back. You already have your wife believing that it's her fault that bills are being missed, don't you think she deserves to know that you could possibly ruin both hers & your children's future. Get help man, tell her the truth,get toGA. Do something to stop,word's mean nothing without action

Hi Prosaic, I'm 54 ,not been in recovery long a couple of weeks in fact . Like you I didnt think I could face telling my partner or my grown up kids what I'd done over the last few years . Somehow I managed to grow a pair and came out with it . They might be angry and rightly so but the moneys replacable however long it takes ! . If your not honest with them and yourself you can't start to move forward on your recovery journey , can you ! . It was the best decision I made , it was a relief !! Two weeks on the brain fog has lifted and I'm sorting my life out , I couldn't be happier . Good luck Buddy , little steps and one day at a time. Alan

Dear Prosaic

You've made the right decision to come forward and seek help. You say you don't feel up to meeting anyone face to face yet - perhaps you'd find it easier to talk to us on the helpline, or chat to us on the netline? You'll find all the ways to contact us on the front of our website www.gamcare.org.uk. We're here from 8am to midnight every day.

It may also help to get some advice about your debt. You can get impartial, free advice from National Debtline or Stepchange Charity.

Best wishes for your recovery

Forum Admin.

Hi prosaic

your post sounds very similar to my husbands story. He fobbed me off with a similar story with debt 7 years ago. I swallowed it as your wife did. My husband didn't come clean to me- I discovered it. Please don't put your wife through that. I felt so stupid for believing his lies. Please tell her the truth before she finds out. It will go in your favour. Tell her you know you have a problem and have already sought support on here. Yes it won't be pretty but she'll respect you more for coming clean. And then tell her that she can come on here for support for herself because she'll probably need it. I really hope you find the courage and wish you well. I really hope she supports you on your journey to recovery.

Prosaic wrote:

Hi everyone

My story will be no different from many on here but I feel that posting it here will get it off my chest. I'm not ready to talk face to face with anyone yet but this is the first step, I hope, to recovery and redemption.

I'm 46, have a good, fairly well paid job, 4 children and a beautiful wife. I am currently £15k in debt, accrued over the last few years caused by online slots. I am at the point where I cannot afford to make the repayments on the credit cards where the debt is sitting ( even though they are all interest free at the moment). This is not the first time I have been in this situation. The last time I was able to convince my wife that my debts were due to us overspending on childcare and moving house twice and not enough money coming in to deal with it all. I am such an idiot. It will be only be a matter of time before she finds out that i am in debt again and I fear the worst.

I know I have an addiction and I know what i need to do to turn things around but I dont think i can do it especially when I know that things are going to get a lot worse before they get better. I have gambled my childrens future and that is unforgivable. I hate myself.

My mate it sounds like you have so much too lose, sadly I have lost most off my things threw gambling on line it started in th bookies 17 years ago and have loosing the love of my life 8 years ago, I nealy killed my self again another 4 years latter I have have a new family and son 8 months old he helps me threw just looking at his face, I'm still fighting this demon throw, my advice too you mate look at your family and become closer too your friends, X