Good evening all,
I've joined here to seek help and advice from the people who also have this hidden secret which is eating them alive. Here it goes I'm 27 with a job in the city, have beautiful kids and a beautiful beautiful wife to be( getting married next year). My gambling started when I was 18 finished school and was working as a labourer for a family friend, all money I earned was either spent in the pub or on gambling on fruit machines and roulette machines, horse racing and football bets.I managed to get away from Fruit machines and roulette as I thought what is the point putting £70 in a machine when the jackpot is £70. Little did I know playing these was what started my problem the buzz of winning. I went away to study for my career I have now and never gambled much as I couldn't afford to. Once I got my career and the big income started rolling in so did the size of my bets, managed to put £9,000 on a credit card and roughly £25,000 in loans all in 6 years? Why? How? I have the mentality of always winning more and more and I need to get it out my system. Thanks for reading and I look forward to this road of recovery
Hi Myselfandralph
Thanks for your post and welcome to the forum. Please keep reading the forum and posting this is a very supportive place and you will get advice and support from people who understand your struggle with gambling.
You talk about how your gambling has escalated and how even though you have a good income from your job you are now getting into debt.
You don't mention where you are gambling at the moment but if it is online have you thought about downloading blocking software. Progams like Gamblock or Betfilter would block any gambling sites on your computer and a lot of gamblers use them with good success. If you've got a smartphone that you gamble with, you might have to install parental controls and ask someone else put in a password for you so you can not change it.
Have you considered one to one counselling. Gamblers find this very helpful in their recovery and it can help you to sort out any underlying reasons for your gambling, as well as help you work on ways to manage your urges more effectively. We have partner agencies in many parts of the UK that provide counselling at no cost, and we'd be happy to tell you more about it if you wanted to get in touch.
If you would like to chat with an adviser feel free to call our Helpline (0808 8020 133) or connect via the Netline from 8am to midnight everyday.
Best wishes
Alex.
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