slots habit

Hi Rachelliz,

Welcome to the Forum!

You have made the decision to stop and that is a first step to getting better. It's not easy to stick with this, as you already experienced and it most often takes much more than saying to yourself that you want to stop.

As practical strategies are concerned, you can look into ways to cut yourself off money to gamble with and also cut yourself off gambling opportunities. Whether it is by excluding yourself from online sites you use, installing a blocking software on the device you use or by finding a way that ensures that you don't have access to money to gamble with for a while.

By doing so, you are starting to do things differently, you would force yourself to need to go more out of your way in order to enable yourself to gamble and buy yourself valuable time to think it through, before you take that decision, like the £25 you referred to in your post yesterday.

You can also access our other support services, face to face counselling, chatrooms or meetings offered by Gamblers Anonymous. Maybe you would like to contact us to talk through these options and to talk to someone who is happy to listen to your story. Our HelpLine is 0808 80 20 133 and our NetLine, internet based service can be accessed via this link http://www.gamcare.org.uk/forum

I hope that you will decide to keep posting here and to keep going on the road to recovery.

Kind wishes

Gabriele

This was me and how I started . I would have said a few months ago I'm not as bad as some people but bingo and especially slots are so addictive ! Before you know it £50 , £100 spent . Contact all the sites and ask them to close yr account permantely and do not accept any bonuses they will try and offer you to stay as you will just get pulled in !

thanks for the advice, im being really honest here, i know i should quit and i am disgusted in the amount ive lost, yet im not feeling ready to quit the sites totally , am i mad ??

Rachel.....please quit...you will not win - Slots are the worst, so many plays in such a short space of time.....QUIT QUIT QUIT.....you can do it !!!!

Hi Rachel

The fact you have decided to post, means that you are concened enough to be worried, and rightly so. Read some of the diaries and here the stories of long term CG.

We all started somewhere - a few quid in a fruity, or bet on a football match.

The fact that you have already gambled an amount that you are uncomfortable with and were unable to withdraw a sum that would have done some good in your life (new clothes, weekend away, etc), shows how easy it is to succumb to gambling.

The winnings will never be enough, and as you progress in life the amounts you bet will increase, bigger bet - bigger buzz - but not really.

Take a month off - see how you feel, enjoy your money. The big wins never come!

Thanks for the advice flinters and 212 - i am checking in here all the time now to read advice like this and others stories, - since i joined at the weekend i have been adjusting the way i think. Left by myself i think "the next play is the big one" but reading on here is now convincing me the big wins never come as you both said, Im sure with the sites help i will turn this around as im fairly new to gambling and im glad there are stories here to read to help me see sense

Rachel , stop before you end up at the point I was , going to court for repossession on my house . Enjoy your life without worry and anxiety about whether you are gonna win as everyone who gambles will and does win . The small amounts you bet soon creeps up especially on slots . I actually got quite upset that the site I last went on did see me as a loyalty customer despite the £1500 I had spent in a few days ! What do you need to become a loyalty customer ??? No more lining their pockets . I have to take back control of my life , please do the same before it all escalates out of control x

Lose I mean !!!!

And didn't ! Whoops too much of a hurry to get my thoughts down to check my grammar and spelling !

Its early days in my stopping, i am only just admitting i have a problem, i feel a bit of a fraud when i read the stories on here as im not in debt or gambled huge amounts but ive certainly wasted a fair bit, so im trying to get inspired to stop altogether, thanks so much for the advice , its a losers game isnt it

Rachel

Your are not a fraud - I wish that I had come on here in my early days. I would have been able to buy a house with what I have gambled. THis is a pivotal point. I have been where you are and did nothing about it. You have a choice and your whole life ahead of you.

If you wanted to join the police you would ask a copper that served 30 years for his advise, same with any career - it is only somebody living that life that can truly advise you. As a gambler having lived that life, i promise you it is not a good path. There is no fun, it is a lonely lifestyle - even when you are in a relationship.

Stop now