Hello all, I'm new here and thought I would get my story out there. Hopefully have some advice given to me to kick start my journey.Â
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I've been gambling on and off for years but this year seems to have gone ten fold and now I'm in the need of help. Paypal is awful to gamble with and I'm at a stage where I'm having to put money on sites just to ensure I don't go over my overdraft limit. For a while the worry has been what exactly happens if I go over the limit and PayPal can't take the money? I've read it will go into negative and I would have to work on repaying it which I would do 100%. I've read posts on here and although I'm not in as much debt as some I believe we all have our stories and are similar.Â
Overall I believe that when I do stop the PayPal payments then I will end up in a negative of around £1600, and that would take me a few months to pay it off if I stop gambling completely. I am extremely lucky to have a semi full time job and a regular income and not many bills to pay. The catalyst to all this was the start of online banking, when I first had a bank card I had no reason to look at it and I want to be able to do that again!
I have debts elsewhere which I don't want anyone to know about, but my family were thinking they could take over my finances but I know full well if I quick gambling completely I can save the money as I've managed to save in the past.
I have a penny pot on my bank account that is deposited into daily and I don't want to dip into it and I am extremely proud of myself that I haven't. Likewise I have small amounts of savings in another bank which I also don't wish to dip into.
I would like advice - do you think the best way forward would be to self excluded/limit myself completely on sites and just allow PayPal to go into negative, or should I continue to play to try either win or ensure I don't go over my overdraft?Â
My family know about my addiction and want me to ring someone to get help, but that first step is hard so I thought I would try this first.
Thank you!
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The big question here you need to ask do u want to quit gambling or stop lossing? First step is admitting u have problem in which case block are neccessary and handing over finances at my early stages i had problem with lossing the amounts i was not comfortable with however i still enjoyed gambling and believed i could still recover losses only to get myself in a worse situation in the long run at that point i was around £10k in losses now i have lost around £150k plus and i am taking my addiction more seriously im currently on 701 days without a bet and i am living a better life then i ever did when i gambled u too can have this their simply no limits u cant even place a £1 bet u have to go extreme not only i have block in place i know i can still find way to gamble so the only way forward for me is taking each day as it comes so simply by not gambling is winning as this addiction never goes away
Well said. First step is to admit you have a problem. But as everyone says never chase your losses as it will end up worse. Id say 99% of people think of winning their money back and it gets worse 10 fold. Im in 20k of debt. Ive admitted my problem and handed over my finances to my partner. Got an app where you cannot go on any betting sites, joined gamcare. I know for a fact I can find a way to gamble but im deciding not to. My advice would be clear your debts with savings and learn your lesson and get help before its too late. Hope this helps
Thank you both for the reply! I spoke to a family member the other day and it was the first time I admitted I needed help and had a problem and that was a very big thing for me. For a long time gambling was fun but then it wasn't - would you say it's best to just block and then deal with PayPal when the time comes? I think in the long run I'll be able to pay them off within the next couple of months whereas if I kept gambling then it would never end I guess. My family member suggests I ring someone to talk about it as well but it's a very scary prospect but I believe it needs to be done, is talking to someone good? Thanks again
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