This time round…

Dam, I’m sorry to hear what you are going through. It must also be difficult for your partner and everyone else who is/may be affected by your addiction. I’m new here and decided today to call up and get help as i too have done similar things to what you have described above ?.  The fact that you have demonstrated that you’re able to stop is very good. Whatever you have been doing to keep away you should repeat that process and & tell your partner not to budge on accepting or condone any form of gaming where your concern.

Me myself I have hopes for myself in stopping gambling, the same way I kicked smoking habit back in 2001. It’s psychological for the most part, because times are hard for most of us and we need extra funds to get by, and some see gambling as a payday. But you can also look at it as Greed, arguably.  Best to just stay away and just STAY CLEAR ALL TOGETHER. £100 in your pocket is better than £100 out your pocket, and these self aware Machines are RIGGED( should be dubbed as SkyNet) 1000% sure of this!!!

BE STRONG!

Hi everyone,

Today I have reached an absolute low with my gambling. Prior to the pandemic I was just enjoying catching up with my friends once a month at land casinos, never spending more than £100 a night and getting a good 6hours of entertainment and drinks for that. Fast forward June 2020 and lockdown and loneliness made me reach an absolute low and I decided to join online casino sites to pass the endless hours and days when I was not working. I thought I could control it by setting deposit limits but once I realised you could adjust these after 24hrs I would count the hours down to either remove the limit or change it to a higher one. There was only one online site that would make me wait a month for the new limit to take hold so that was enough to stop me going to the effort. Three years later I have now lost my £40,000 house deposit savings and am struggling with depression. Nobody knows about my gambling addiction as I hide it from family and friends and from 3am this morning I have put a 6 week ban on all four online gambling sites I was using. 

Try Gamstop and ring Gamcare for support asap. Take your losses as that a loss. You will never win it back.
Taking a self exclusion break for a while will not work.
Speaking from experience as soon they reopen you’ll be back trying to win it back and you’ll end up feeling worse.
Day 3 bet free and I’m feeling confident that I will succeed in beating this miserable addiction.

Thank you Meg for you advice and support it really has helped. Right now I wish I was an alcoholic or drug addict instead of having a gambling problem.

Posted by: @vs0dag76ly

I officially stopped gambling back in 2018 and put Gamstop in place for 5 years. I felt so relieved when I did that, a big weight lifted and went about my life feeling better. Paid debts off then one night I was feeling the urge and knowing I couldn’t do nothing about it in my name. I asked my husband could I open an account in his name and set a limit. He surprisingly said yes. 
That was it limit set and swept back into old territory and before long that limit had been reset and I spent many hours when my husband was on night shifts pouring money into this site until one day my husband noticed on his bank statement how much I was spending and asked about that set limit? I cringed knowing I’d over stepped the mark. So closed the account till a few months later I asked could I open another as was bored. Then it spiralled out of control again. Closed all accounts.

I asked a friend could I open account in there name and well that spiralled out of control too especially when they told me I had transferred just under £1000 in 4 days and that they had put a gambling restriction on their bank account and that was the end of that. 
I then got married in 2021 and November 2022 I was curious to see if my name change bypassed Gamstop and I was surprised that it did.

Fast forward a good few months and my addiction is out of control and I need help.

I never have no money always borrowing till next pay day. 
Sank low today as got debts piling up and tried to get a pay day loan was asked for wage slips and I just sat and thought, what has my life come too! 
I want to get clean of my addiction and I’m dreading telling my husband today but I know I must.

I hate being deceitful and lying about why I need money etc.

Today marks the beginning of change.

This addiction started back in 2006 when I used to go to land bingo and had a panic attack in the bingo hall so never went back.

I swapped a innocent once in a blue moon enjoyment for a life changing addiction that has caused me nothing but stress and depression and severe anxiety.

I only stopped 58 days ago with the help of Gamcare. Like you I used to go to bingo once a month and limited myself to £100 and had great fun that made it very hard to accept that I could no longer gamble as it was harming my whole life and the people around me. I was grieving two deaths and a betrayal from a friend of six years. Perhaps like me you are running from something in my case dealing with unresolved trauma it was easier to gamble and pretend I was fine than to face up to the truth and to start looking inwards for happiness. Money lost any value to me and before the gambling I was so good with money. I am starting to appreciate what I have now not what I thought I needed . Stopping have given me some peace and a chance to heal. I hope that in five years time I wont destroy all that I have achieved by starting again. I hope by that time I will be able to help other people who are addicted to gambling. If at first you don't succeed then try again and never give up hope ? Mary