2015 Challenge

Sorry it posted the same thing three times, ignore this

Quick note for joewill90, cloud and jameswoods99. If you guys want to be added to the challenge and checked in for this coming week you need to make another post before midnight on Saturday. The more you can tell us about your stories the better.

Phil thanks again for another brilliant update. Good to see so many fellow soliders staying strong and those that have slipped back here which is the right place.

Completely agree on the gambling adverts and the conduct of these morally bankrupt betting companies. I'm sure one day like smoking these will all be banned once the govt realise what is happening which will be too late for many.

The advert that really irks me is that l*******s one with all the "lads" having a great time. They all have nicknames and treat their other mates to days out go karting etc. I would love to put together a parody of this advert with names like - "the devious addict" "the cunning thief" - truly show these "companies" for what they are. I sound really bitter typing this but at the same time why should we be be bombarded with this rubbish on tv. The gambling companies did nothing for so long and when the govt starts talking about taking away licenses for FOBTs suddenly they find a sense of morality. Rubbish - these people are parasites that prey on vulnerable people. Sorry rant over. Have a good week fellow soliders.

Im sure we all agree these adverts are wrong. My first betting love was football bets. I still watch football because I love the game. English premiership, fa cup champions league. Seeing these adverts at half time and before the match just remind me of the betting days but luckily in my case at the moment them days were bad ones but one day it could be different. We all know the dangers of these adverts and they shouldn't be allowed.

Anyhow thanks for keeping the challenge going phil its a great help to myself and all involved.

Mba

Just checking in day 251 , keep up the good fight guys

Great update Phil,

Adverts in all areas are growing, they are everywhere, and the TV adverts promote gambling for all-ages and they know what times to advertise for different ages,

Well,done to all that passed milestones last week, and for those that blipped well done for getting straight back and marching onwards and forwards.

Great post from Tick follows Tock last week.

Checking in on 294 days and life is pretty settled at this time, which is a nice feeling to have.

Wishing every soldier a good,positive and stressfree gamble free week,

Suzanne x

Thanks for the update and don't worry if it's ever shorter than usual it's a big task monitoring something like this. I never ran a year long thread but have done a 90 day challenge and that was hard enough to keep up with and I didnt even do the weekly updates. Anyway enough rambling on - tired this morning.

Day 47 for me and I'd kinda forgot about the impending 50 days until reading your update, I'm now excited and can't wait for Thursday. Really feeling different this time. Really want to stop this time and can honestly see myself completing the challenge in a way I never have been able to. I can see a future I think thats the difference, before when I've quit I've felt that only by gambling will I be able to get out of trouble but now I can see a way of paying my debts off and taking the grown up route and facing my problems and fixing them. I think telling my wife has a lot to do with it knowing that she is sticking by me and I don't need to worry aslong as I'm bet free and paying back what I can I'll still have my wife and my house, family etc.

Day 47, feeling tired but feeling good. Come on day 50!!

thanks phil for the update

checking in this week on day 340

tri

Ok today is day 20 and still not gambled. Going strong but still not good enough but a slow start. Not much to say but I'm checking in. Hope everyone is doing ok 🙂

Great update Phil. Hope you had a good weekend away and thank you for all your hard work in completing the updates.

Both I and my wife find the barage of adverts a depressing reminder of my habit and would love to see tighter restriction on how often and when they can advertise.

So pleased to be reaching my half century this week and making good use of my extra funds with new running shoes, weekends away and still enough to reduce the debts a little. Think it's safe to say my fun has started.

Simon

Checking in day 49. Totally agree Phil the adverts are a total pain in the a**e. They all seem to make gambling sound like so much fun and there is no warnings about how quickly it can go wrong. I was reading in newspaper the other day a couple of mps in Scotland are looking to reduce the maximum spin on a FOTB to just £2 from the current £100. I dont know if they will get anywhere but hopefully something will come out of it. As far as i am aware the scottish government can implement this in Scotland without it having to go through London and the big money men which might make it easier to get passed. Then hopefully rest of uk would bow to pressure and follow suit. Anyone any thoughts on this and if it would reduce addiction on FOTB

Checking in for the week,hope all are well,keep at it folks!xx

sonic boom wrote: http://www.speade.co.uk/news/made-in-the-navy-/

I would have had a lot more respect for the intentions behind the bad betty commercial campaigne if it had taken a similar approach to the made in the royal navy commercial.

They could have started it exactly the same and then showed the guys life go downhill after getting addicted to gambling... Wife left me, became depressed, angry, lost my job, etc etc etc. Then finish with contact details for Gamcare.

The more you think about the bad betty approach the more you think what a load of tosh

Hi All fellow marchers, checking in on what will be 262 days GF this Sat PM / Sun AM or nearly 37 weeks!! Bit of a strange number - but one I am personally very happy with as it is 262 days gamble free, by choice, taking one day at a time, marching forward with you all to a gamble free future!

Great to see such a supurb "retention rate" this week on the 50 day mark - and picking up the fallen as we go - just remember everyone that when we awake in the mornings / afternoons / nights [depending on your sleep patterns :)] that every day is simply another "Day 1" of not gambling ~ regardless of the previous total days!!

Regarding those pesky and irritating gambling adverts - they are hard to miss, even on the BEEB you see them all around stadia and on hoardings - but they just help me with my resolve to not gamble, they don't entice me in, as I know they are mainly aimed at those addicts who haven't stopped yet. The ones I most dislike to see mostly are for the on-line bingo sites, more aimed at the housewife / female population [sorry, not meant to be sexist here but they are usually the 'fun' daytime gamblers with the odd fiver here and thher for "fun" and to pass the time, as they are the large demographic the gambling sites want to entice # which we all know leads to a tenner a week, then every other day, then daily onto almost hourly etc etc etc - not just the bingo, but the dreaded 'slots' in-between games as many marchers and other son here will know from experience!

We all think we can handle it, we are after all responsible adults, BUT the lure of winning is always there to hook us!

So I agree they should be regulated and possibly shoulkd start at only being shown past the 9pm watershed - as a start!

Good marching all this week - see you on the other side of check in!

Kind regards, Cliff

P.S. would love to make the wed chat but it is my one night out to play snooker so can't make it - but i will if I remember to if I don't have a game night!

Checking in for the week on day 341 🙂 had a hard week last week with temptation creeping back into my mind but thankfully I didn't give in as new the "cheeky bet" I wanted to do would just lead to me slowly slipping back to old ways and I can't go back there. just showed me that I need to keep my guard up as even though nearly a year gamble free these temptations can strike anytime

The adverts have gotten so bad last while seems everytime a programe takes a break there's an ad for bookies/online casino or bingo site. There doesn't seem to be any regulation on them at all appear on our tv screens all time of the day. 1st step would like to see a curfew being put on them that they can't be shown till a certain time. Next would be to prevent sports sponsorship by companies like this. Was done to the tobacco company's and hopefully 1 day will be done to gambling related companies