The first week of the rest of my life...

Monday/Tuesday this week was probably the lowest point in my life. 

Late last year I knew I had a problem, so I signed up with Gamstop. I partially stopped for 6 months, the odd accumulator here and there in the shop in the village however I stayed off the slots, which is where the problem lies. 

However, about 3/4 months ago my partner let me put the odd accumulator on her betting account and I registered my card on there, and I’d keep myself logged in every time she let me put a bet on. Back came the slots, and I struggled to stop. I’d binge for maybe 3/4 days at a time, then log out when I’d either spent too much or won. This continued, until this Monday she got an email from the betting company checking if everything was ok as there was some unusual activity in her account. I’d hidden this from her, and it all came out... She’d found everything. The actual numbers that I’d deposited etc aren’t huge and it was always within my means, however I’d been lying to everyone saying I hadn’t been gambling, yet the 17,000 transactions on slots said otherwise. 

I told my partner, my parents on the Tuesday that I’ve got a problem, and it was a huge weight off my shoulders. We went through my red flags, what to avoid etc, and I’m now 7 days gambling free with no urges to gamble. The problem was I was keeping myself in the gambling loop by putting football bets on, which gave me the craving of needing to win, hence why I started on the slots again.

Ive got far too much to lose to start gambling again, and as I’ve put in the title above, this is the first week of the rest of my life. 

It’s a journey that I’m actually looking forward to, being able to save money that I have left over every month, not spending it on gambling!