The lowest weekend of my life, need support

The problem is the fobt is the devil , takes hold of you and wouldn't matter if we won £100k would still find a way to lose it , I always found once I was on the roulette until I had lost all my money I would not leave the table.

I had always been a loser on the roulette , they are designed with the near misses 25 or 34 instead of 17 , 26 instead of zero makes life hell.

That kind of money takes some recovering from , first of all mate close and self exclude all you betting accounts and then consider starting a recovery diary and getting some support to help you through this.

Thanks John, your right they are. And the comment about us winning and still finding a way to lose this is very true, no matter what the win is. Compulsive gambling is such a horrible illness and I really wish everyone on here the best of luck in fighting this.

Hi joeltg. Ur exactly right that people can relate. And we all do understand.

U have to forget about the money u had won. Concentrate instead On paying the debt it caused. If it's too much to handle contact your creditors and offer a payment plan. Yes, it will destroy your credit file but for us gamblers that's a good thing. We don't need access to more credit!!

On a positive note, u recognised u had sunk back into the addiction. All be it a little later than u wud have liked but it's not to late to put it right now Before it gets even worse.

Uv knocked it on the head once, u can do it again. ItS sad to think that this addiction will always be with us but u need to dust urself down and get back on with it.

Hand over control of your finances until the urge to chase it back has Gone. Believe me u will make it 100 times worse if u do x

If I could give you any words of encouragement I have been a compulsive gambler all my life , now 35.

With this website , self exclusion and determination it can be beaten so far ive managed over 100 days and still going strong.

This website will help you massively , have you started a recovery diary ?

Morning new start, I think the hardest part is the want to chase the money back. We always think what if I can get this back and then stop for good.

It's all I can think about but I am trying hard to block this out. Just a really bad feeling of numbness like nothing really matters at the moment. I am angry at myself, and ashamed. I don't want to feel self pity cause I guess I see this as a weakness.

John, I am going to install is it k9? today and start a recovery diary. I need to rebuild what I had worked for.

Has anyone else realised that these online sites make it very long winded when it comes to withdrawals? 7-10 days with the option to reverse the money all the time. Makes me angry.

Thanks for the support both of you and John, congratulations on passing 100 days.

4yrs is amazing so you know how it feels to be free of the chains of gambling.

Fobt are the devils making and will destroy you.

If you chase this money it will merely prolong your misery and i guarantee months down the road you will be further into the abyss.

Take time out. A few days and the world will seem a better place as you start to heal.

You cannot win against a computer program designed to take your money.

Stay strong

I totally agree that the withdrawal times and the fact we can cancel the withdrawals just preys on problem gamblers. Infact most gamblers in general. The practise should be outlawed and I'm going to campaign for it to be made law when I'm confident in my own recovery. Please get that k9 installed and don't chase it back. U know in your heart u will only make it worse x

Hi all,

I read and post stuff on the Forum just about everyday and find it helps me. Chasing as we all know is an absolute swine. It's like a powerful drug that gets in the bloodstream. I put the blockers online and have now reached over a 100 Days "clean". I can't emphasise enough about getting the strongest possible measures in place to prevent further gambling. I've found this site a real help and the 2015 Challenge is keeping me on the right track. I've even got a bit of money to call my own now. I can never go back to my old ways. I won't pretend it's been easy but with the right help and determination you can reclaim your life back. Half the battle I believe is to stop being haunted by the thoughts of money lost during your time as a gambler. What has worked for me has been throwing myself into hobbies and strenuous exercise. This has helped me tremendously when dealing with urges. I had a bad period recently with illness and that made things difficult and it would have been easy to give in. I resisted because the consequences would have been horrible. I firmly believe it is possible to create a new life without the need to gamble.

Best Wishes.

Thanks for all the support everyone, finding alot of good advice on this site. Mrstop, your achieving alot in your recovery and well done for not slipping back to it during times of trouble.

New name, I will happily help you in campaigning against certain ways these sites operate.

I think gambling recovery has to be taken day by day....isn't a quick fix.

There has to be a way of having it stopped. There is absolutely no benefit to being able to cancel a withdrawal other than them knowing that most of their customers will play it back. It encourages problem gambling and if the government are gonna take steps to curb the gambling epidemic it's the first place they need to start x

Someone was telling me that this long withdrawal process never used to be the case, and was almost instant withdrawals.

I firmly believe that this would help alot of people, as seeing this money in there account is different from in a betting account.

I read Justyn Larcombe's book "Tails I lose" and was an interesting read. Anyone read this too?

Think we are all missing the point tho we are all on here to stop gambling or help someone stop. I am addicted to gambling and today is my 1st steps to stop. We all lose in the end if there be a long withdrawal or instant. I think doesnt how much we win we want to win more sure the feeling is great when u win and u splash out on urself and wife or partner. But in the end we are the losers in every sense money, way of living and realtionships. I wish everyone the best of luck to beat this awful addiction that ppl dont really reconize

MrHearn, your quite right it probably doesnt matter how much we win because let's face it, we will end up losing that too. The point I was trying to make was that if there are people out there who really do struggle to stop (most of us here) then being able to withdraw that money straight away from these online sites will at least slow the amount we are losing down a bit, and that could only be a good thing. A 7-10 day internal review is completely unnecessary.

I agree also that this addiction is nowhere near as recognised as drug and alcohol abuse, yet just as damaging if not more but in a different way.

I too wish every single person on this site the best of luck with there own recovery's, for me disregarding the money as lost is the biggest challenge and I need to face that this is gone and not to chase it.

I have spent thousands and thousands over the years i cant even start to imagine how my life would be if i hadnt become a gambler. But will say i have found my lovely wife cause of those failed realtionships, but also very aware that im pushing her to her limit with gambling and it isnt fair to wreck her life as i have a chose to put my money on the roulette or a horse and if im online what ever else i can bet on at 03:00 in the morning. But yet she shares the burden with me and for that is what im so sorry about. Getting back to your lost money all gamblers do the same are brains are all wired the same. When deciding to call it a day all the previous loss need to have a line drawn through them. i say call it a day with losses cause im pretty sure none of us quit on a win as you dont care about your problem then.