I used to have something of an addiction for online roulette. I blew £2k on it when I was 18, which was of course devastating. I quit at that point and stayed sober of gambling until the last 6 months or so (I'm 21 now).
Particularly in the last 3 months I have become obsessed with betting on the football. Unlike roulette which is pure luck, with the football it's always felt like to some extent you can do well with it if you have the knowledge. This is a stupid way to think of course, because sport will often look one way on paper and then turn out completely different in reality. Anyway, by and large I did well, but I fell into the silly gambler's trap of chasing a minor loss and turning it into a huge one.
On Saturday I was winning my bets all day long and was around £100 up until one game, which should have been a given, screwed me over in the 90th minute and ultimately left me £20 down. In chasing that £20 I ultimately found myself approximately £1100 down by the end of the night.
Tonight I feel I dodged a bullet. I was extremely tempted to place a large bet on a game of football this evening which had very good returns and seemed a likely outcome. I was very close to placing £1000. Had I done so, I would have lost another £1000. That scares me. But what's worse, I still feel like my mind is chasing that £1000 loss from Saturday. Fortunately I have some decent savings and can cover that loss, but I just can't seem to let it go. My mind is itching for me to get that money back even though the rational side of me knows I need to write it off and keep away from all gambling.
I would really appreciate any advice on how to put a loss behind you and accept the money has gone. I'm 21 and feel like I'm too young to already be dealing with this kind of addiction. I need to stop once and for all, but the temptation is very alluring.
Thanks for reading.
It is blooming hard do something else in your time stay away from and if you have to put blocks in place
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