Where to start

Well done, it seems as if you are doing your best to enjoy your life without gambling.

If I could make one suggestion it would be to watch for the 'SID' moments (seemingly irrelevant decisions) these are decisions that we make that appear harmless but are infact pivotal; they are usually linked to a slip; different to becoming complacent.

For example your decision to go into the bookies with your friend; that can be seen as 'setting yourself up to fail' not immediately, but perhaps eventually as you give yourself "reasons" to be in there, when in fact there are only excuses to enter a bookie if you are trying to recover from gambling.

Just more food for thought; self-reflection without over thinking is not a bad thing; it can help us decipher our distorted thoughts and behaviour and give us better self-awareness.

Wishing you well,

Forum Admin.

Thanks admin but it was only because our bar wasn’t open and it will not be a regular thing. Starting not to even think about gambling. Just back from holiday and want to do so many more things instead. I think it will take me at least 12 months to pay cc off but then I will start to see a real difference. 36 days gf.

feel back to square one today one minute I seem in control of my gambling next it all goes wrong and I lose everything. going to self exclude today something I should have done a long time ago but hoped things would get better and I would have a change of luck. I hope I can find the strength and willpower as others have as I cannot go on like this. my main problem recently as been roulette in the bookmakers I go from being up to down 100s of pounds in minutes I used to enjoy a bet but now its simply soul destroying and trying to cope with it feels overwhelming at times. If anybody has positive suggestions I would greatly appreciate it.

I’m in a similar situation to you. I have a problem with online slots but I also play online poker. It’s my only safe form of “gambling” I treat it as my second job. I would love to be able to sign up to gamstop etc but I can’t ever imagine not being able to play poker. I am self excluded for 5 years from the casino side of things on the site I play, but I feel like I’ll never be able to fully get over my gambling addiction if I’m still playing poker but I’m also not willing to give it up. I would say I’m defiantly addicted to poker and I spend the majority of my spare time playing which isn’t healthy but I do profit in the game. I’ve had to self exclude from many poker sites already as their self exclusion on the casino only has a 24hr cool of period. I just feel as though there will always be that temptation to play slots because I’m still “gambling” with poker and sat for hours on end in front of a computer screen. I’ve never really Experienced life without poker but maybe it is something I need to try even if it’s for a 6 month period. It’s just a tough one for me because casino gambling has pretty much ruined my life for the past 10 years.