I think anyone that has a problem gambling over years can understand the ways in which we convince ourselves we will stay in control vs the reality.
Deposit Limits - A somewhat useful tool, I would convince myself that reducing my limit to £10 a month or a week would make my losses far less and I wouldn't be risking losing as much. Progess right. Wrong! Reality being - there were always other sites I could sign up to and well initially no deposit limit would be made until I blew a few hundred quid :-/
Cooling off periods- Which was me basically just resisting the need to self exclude while I convinced myself that it will in fact keep me from actually gambling. Wrong so many more sites whils you wait :-O
Self-Exclusion- oh the sheer number of these I went through as the years of problem gambling caught up with me. They work, no doubt about it I couldn't enter into numerous sites or was unable to sign up to sister sites with some companies. Allas though I always found a way. Convincing myself I could get it under control keeping the odd one open as I had small deposit limits for example. The main problem is that there are always more.
Until GAMSTOP, you sign up once give them as much information as possible and now a lot of sites are unaccesible to me. In fact I haven't found any so far I can play on. Being a problem gambler the impulse hasn't quite gone away so yes I have in no uncertain terms 'chanced my luck' on the odd occasion seeing if I can find a site I can use. To no avail. ( in fact I am fed up even trying) It feels so bloody good to come out of each day losing absolutely nothing to the perils of online gambling. I feel good I feel like I am on my way to banishing this online gambling addiction for good. That is the goal afterall 🙂
Embarrassment!!! Tried to get yet another loan but this time to consolidate. I had to send the lender recent bank statements. They questioned with shock in their voices regarding recent gambling transactions and losing about 4k in one day with around 50 transactions in total. Very embarrassing and humiliation. A lender who offers credit to those with v poor credit rating but the APR is incredibly high. I'm trying to get my debt under control. I have help from Step change but recent stupidity has forced me to borrow yet again. This was due to chasing my losses
Hi LoveBug,
Great to see that people are making use of Gamstop and that it is helping you to get where you want to be. I went through all the same cycles as you. I tried deposit limits, cooling off periods and self exclusions all to no avail. If you are an online gambler than there can’t be any blocker that is better than this.
Everyone has the right to attempt recovery in their own way but I cant really get my head around people who are desperate to stop gambling but don’t want to do the things that will probably help them the most. I say that but coming to think of it....I used to be one of those people.
It has been quite a while since my last bet but I still got myself registered in case something goes wrong in the future. No harm in planning for worst case.
All the best
Damo
So true Damo its easy to convince yourself not to go through with such a full self exclusion when you tell yourself your under control. Kudos to them that can do it alone but GAMSTOP is a great tool when your not capable of fully commiting and resisting the temptation. I just urge anyone that feels so low from this problem to take this major step. It won't be easy but you will thank yourself in the long run. Debt goes away quicker when you take steps to pay it off. Not from gambling money you can't afford to lose in the hope of accumalating. 3yrs paying a debt consolodition loan maybe less and al be debt free, it spurs me on.
Steph92
I feel your pain I would be filled with embarassment if I ever had to send a bank statement to anyone over the last 4yrs or so. I don't even like going into my bank.
thabks for the tip,
took me a while to fill the form in a reg with gamstop as i kept thinking i might want to play on a site at some point,
thats the terrible thing about this addiction your mind does not work properly,how can i think like that when i have lost so much money over the years of gambling.
a site like this should have been set up years ago.
anyway all set up and i took the drastic mesure of cutting up all my debit cards
mark
Well done Mark.
The thing about online gambling is its so private and easily hidden. Theres a detachment from your money as well as its not physically in your hand slipping from your fingers. I know gamstop will work for me as I wouldn't dream of being seen in some arcade squandering 100's of ВЈ's at a time.
I came across one this week thats not on list but they advertise gamstop so i put compleant
I have also tested it enough to find one I could sign up to but the temptation was not strong enough to deposit. Not saying I didn't consider it though but helped knowing that I have gave my Mum access to my bank account. Didn't fancy the humiliation of being caught out and the guilt it brings on. I couldn't just give up until I found one, so my work is complete hopefully :-/. Instead I chose to self exclude and it informed me I wouldnt be able to join other companies affliliated with it of which there was around 10. It is early days for GAMSTOP and it does state that it will become law that all online casinos in the uk will eventually have to sign up to it. So its still a gd step to take I would say.
May the willpower continue for me and all the others trying to kick this demon.
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