IHi guys my name is Mark im 36 years old and the past 20 years of my life have been diseased with this horrid addiction in which I have lost thousands and thousands of my hard earned money,betting terminals,horse racing,football,cards,casinos and worst of all online slots have all contributed to my downfall. I have had 5 courses of 10 week sessions with a counsellor over the years but always seem to end up back in this situation,a common cycle which I have suffered is that I stop gambling for 6 months to a year then I will relapse once my finances are back to where they need to be and I’m happy,strange I can’t work that out,it was 3pm last Thursday and I finished work,it was payday and for some reason i got in the car to go home and decided to have a football bet which went down,it was £10 but I thought no I must get that back so I placed another which went down,before I knew it I was laid in bed with my wife next to me asleep whilst I gambled £1400 of my wages in one session of online slots,I felt sick to the stomach finally going to sleep at 3am knowing I didn’t have enough to cover my bills the day after,I felt Ill. I can’t keep doing this anymore I’m desperate to stop but can’t see any light,my wife has been supportive in the past but I fear if I explain she will walk away which will just finish me off. Please help me
Hi There,
Lots of people stop gambling, including myself, for large periods of time but unless we are involved in some kind of a recovery program to help us understand ourselves and to change we will enevitably return to our addictions as nothing has changed.
One key part to change first of all is to be completly open and honest with the people in our lives, to combat this addcition you will need support from loved ones. Get to your nearest GA meeting and make it a part of your life, you will hear very similar stories to your own and get advice on how to tackle this.
Hi Mark.
Welcome to the forum.
A key point is that the counselling sessions and the gaps in your gambling activity does not and never will mean you are cured. I was similar in that I could have gaps but its too easy to call us binge gamblers.
The addiction can rear up at any time and we just have no control over when to stop. Its linked to all sorts of things and obviously we dont like losing so the red mist soon sets in.
The online slots in particular are so dangerous because we think we can drift onto them and just have a little go. They are highly addictive and designed to be that way
The way forward is openness and honesty because you have a full on addiction. The gambling must stop and that means controlled access to cash with full exclusion blocks. You can not have a little flutter because it opens the floodgates.
The gambling will finish you off if you continue so you have to focus on that. That is the main problem and a gambling addiction doesnt care if you are married with a family.
When you sort that out your life will be so much better.
You now need to learn how powerful the addiction is and the chemical feelings rushing through your body
You need help amd your wife deserves to know.. when you chose that moment is up to you but secrets are no good. Your addiction wants secrets and you will see that its a form of mind control
Gambling is not the answer to what you seek. Its not actually an income scheme you wanted it to be but we punished ourselves time and time again
You can make this history and being gamble free is a wonderful feeling
Best wishes from everyone on the forum
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