Time to quit for good

Hey there and welcome to the forum!

Firstly well done on admitting you have a problem and coming here for support, it really is a great community full of helpful people in your position.

I came here nearly a year ago as was out of control. Same situation as you but I was single and facing larger debts. Advice given to me was to break the time, money and location triangle. Fill time with fun stuff, family time, work or leisure activities and you don't have time to gamble. Limit your access to money. I took just what I needed, stuck to a budget and I put my cards all cut up in blocks of ice to freeze. Spoke to credit card companies and asked them not to allow and gambling transactions or any sort to go out. They complied. For location, I used K9 and router filtering on all devices to block out online gambling sites and adverts. I also excluded and closed accounts first.

So that was step one. Step two involves talking about it so I phoned gamcare, kept a diary on here, and told a close friend. Step three was the horrible one, coming to terms with the losses (around £5k due to binge gambling) and learning to let it go. Then you can focus on getting off the rollercoaster that is gambling. The fog slowly lifts, you think straight, you feel better and you reach equilibrium. Eventually I started to hate the gambling industry and 316 days later haven't put a penny into any form of gambling. It's an evil thing but if you physically cannot gamble you close down EVERY gambling avenue so it doesn't have a chance! Gambling thrives on secrecy so telling your wife might be a good option. You aren't that much in debt but after another year of this you might turn that £1500 debt into £15000 or more!

Read, post, talk, get support. Nothing will change unless YOU want it to. Gambling is terrible, gambling ruins lives, make the change and live a great life!

All the best!

Thanks for your advice, really appreciate. I am 2 days gamble free, small win but it's a start. It's actually been ok so far. Tomorrow will be a test as I have always loved a small bet on the football. Unfortunately this always leads to a bigger loss than intended. I plan on not eve going near the bookies. I can already see how much better my life can be without gambling, more family time and I feel a better person. I think time is a healer so hopefully it gets easier. Few urges today and spent an hour on Utube watching videos of people playing FOBT machines in bookies in the hope it shows me how bad they are and at least 'weans' me off them, not sure if this is right or wrong thing to do. Not looked at my bank account today as I tend to obsess over money, mainly to cover my losses. Onto day 3.

Why leave one account cooling off? What is there to consider in SE'ing from the bookies?

Leave a loophole and an addict will tend to exploit it however good their intentions. if you want to stop, coming clean to your wife and anyone else who can help you and then handing over your finances is a very good starting point. Getting the secret out into the open means it's much harder for you to gamble unobserved.

First of all well done for taking the first steps trust me there will be many more to come.My problem was those nasty machines in the pubs dont want to even think how much has been wasted but 31 days gamble free 4 weeks of trying to make sense of it all ga meetings,phone calls to gamcare,putting many barriers in place,signed up for counselling spoke to doctor too is been emotional and scary but seem to be thinking more clearly about whats involved and the best way to nail this also my finances are more clear but going to be monitored every little helps the big thing I need to work on is repairing the damage done with the loved ones thats going to be tough.Keep positive and remain hopeful firstly do it for yourself and then everything can fall back in to place but it takes time believe in yourself and everyone will support you good luck.

areturntobettertommorow nearly a year gf thats briiliant surprisingly how we all begin to despise gambling and anything associated with it ads,in magazines,machines,bookies etc.. that could be a good thing and incentive never to gamble again good luck

Hey and thanks,

It proves that anything is possible if you put your mind to it. I missed out saying that you cannot leave any door open to gambling. We can never place a bet again on anything as it can quickly lead to places we don't. I personally go out of control, like many here. Close all accounts, never gamble again and soon it becomes a distant memory!

Take care all!