Why?

Hey Hally, sorry to hear about your troubles but you need to be REALLY careful about this. Bankruptcy is something I have direct personal experience of. If you are still gambling in your initial year of being subject to the bankruptcy order then if you are discovered there's a special clause which allows the order to be extended by up to fifteen years.

It REALLY isn't worth s******g up your life like that, especially already being bankrupt at such a young age. So if you ever needed a reason not to gamble then please think on that... If you STILL can't stop then forget this forum because you need help urgently, seek professional face-to-face counselling immediately. If you need I'm happy to reply with links, but Gamcare admin is better placed to provide in first instance.

Sincerely,

Molehole

Hey Hally, i am more of a reader than a writer on this site but your situation was ME 16yrs ago when i was 26 so i have a good idea where you are right now.

At 26 i had gambling debts, mostly on cards & i too declared myself bankrupt. Did i learn from my mistakes?, hell no & 9yrs later i was in the exact same position & went bankrupt for a 2nd time. Its easy for someone to advise you what to do & what not to do but you know already?, personally, i think you can only give up when you are truly ready & how long that takes is upto you. At 26 you have a long & happier future ahead of you without gambling & most on here would agree with that. I did all my losses online (have never step foot in a bookies) & torwards the end of my gambling life when i really WANTED to give up i would place a photo of my young Son on my laptop to remind me what i was depriving him of, that was the best incentive i had. I am not proud of my past, i have lost other peoples money (banks) & a lot of my own but i'm just been honest.

Right now i am gamble free & have been for quite some time & i hope i will carry on as i am enjoying my hard earned & not giving it away to the invisible devil & long may it continue.

Finally, take heed on what Molehole says on his post. The 1st time i went Bankrupt, it was 1st time & pretty easy process but there are rules & you need to be aware of them. The 2nd time i went Bankrupt, it was quite serious & on the verge of fraud as it looked like i had obtained a bunch of cards to gamble with, that was not the case but it did look that way with all the deposits i made but that's the reality gambling does to us isnt it.

I wish you well in your recovery & feel free to keep a diary on here if it can help you in any way.

Dean.

Hi Hally,

Glad you've found our forum, and thanks for posting. Everyone on here will understand what you're going through, so hopefully you'll find it to be a supportive place.

If gambling in the bookies is your thing, one of your best options for giving it up might be getting individual counselling, as Molehole suggested. That could help you sort out better why you gamble like this, maybe helping you address some of the underlying reasons for it, and can help you work on ways to manage the urges better. We've got partner agencies in many parts of the country that provide that at no cost to you.

If that sounds like something you might like to try, just give us a call on the Helpline at 0808 8020 133 or the Netline ( http://secure.gamcare.org.uk/netline/ ), and we can point you in the direction for that.

Hang in there, and I hope this helps.

Travis