A final reprieve

Hello MNM!

Have you tried withdrawing the money and then shutting your account down? Then you wouldnt be able to get online to cancel your withdrawal. You know as well as I do that the minute those funds are in your bank account then you'll try and gamble it so please, if you feel like you can, give control of your finances to someone else. Get them to pay off your debts, you'll feel ashamed but you've been given a chance at your life back! You'll be one of the lucky ones who sunk low into spiralling debts and self loathing and got given the chance to come out the other side debt free!

Please. Don't waste this chance. So many people are putting themselves through hell RIGHT NOW trying to win that last bet to get themselves out of the mess that they got themself into. Hold your head up now, get help and walk away.

Good luck.

Thanks for the response. I know what you mean and really want to respect this chance that i have. Ive emailed support at the to see if i can close down while payment pending.. i tried another site once and they wouldnt allow it :-/

Hi MNM,

I feel the need to question why you have admitted to a gambling problem on this website but you haven't done that with your bookmaker. If you had, your account would be closed and you wouldn't have the option to cancel the withdrawal, or deposit it back for that matter.

It seems to me like you are in still in conflict with it all. You know it is "irrational" but a part of you still thinks you can make money from gambling. That thought will only be reinforced by your recent win.

It becomes an obsession with a gambling addict that once out of their financial trouble, they will simply just stop and be happy. I don't know one person who has been able to follow that through - be the exception. Don't use "I cant apply a gambling blocker" as your excuse to carry on, self exclude and use your upcoming child as motivation to end this once and for all.

I hope this helps,

Ryan

Had to just come on and vent some frustration so i dont gamble, im sat here in bits

As above i won some money which is usually bad for a gambler but manged wait for the withdrawal. Just had an email sayin it was cancelled and they returned by original stake. Thats £10,000!!.. I rang them and they told me i breached my bonus conditions as i wagered too much on a single bet 🙁 So after a week of them letting me gamble they tell me this.

I have requested to close my account but it feels like i 'lost' the money as was counting on it. I feel physically sick!

Thanks for the kind words.. 123 days is impressive, you have done once so im sure you will do again 🙂

I am still gamble free so day 3 bow, but this loss is on my mind 24/7.. It feels like this was my final lifeline for my messed up situation which has been 'took' from me. Its silly as i write as it was never truly mine but the whole process feels shady. Im sure this is how they ensure a lot of people dont get paid out.. Its shocking after reading the terms in detail how many 'outs' they have from paying. I think the thing that sickens me is the amount of hours i have spent trying for that big win, when i would never have been able to cash out.. Just shows gambling is a mugs game..

Now though i may have to face the reality of having to come clean to my girlfriend and family as i cant afford to pay my debts.. I dont know if i can though, it will break their hearts 🙁

Merlin, I'm sorry you feel you've had this "lifeline" taken away. Don't let this derail you. As you've realised, in the long term, the only way to get out of your situation is not to gamble any more, rather than pegging your hopes on a big win to solve your problems.

It's really important that you put every measure in place that you can, so you don't give in to temptation to gamble again. Blocking software and self-exclusion would put an extra barrier in place. Telling your partner and family is difficult I know. But if they do know, they can help by putting a password into the blocking software, and taking over your finances so you don't have access to money to gamble with.

And if you haven't already, it's really important to work on the addicition itself - why you gamble, what your personal triggers are, and how you're going to face them. You can do that through counselling or Gamblers Anonymous, routes which many of the forum members have found to be essential to their recovery strategy.

Finally, you say you can't afford to pay your debts. Please seek advice about your options from a reputable non-profit advice agency - one that isn't going to persuade you to take out more loans. You can find out more here: http://www.gamcare.org.uk/get-advice/what-can-you-do/finance-and-debt-management

If you want to talk through any of these options, please do contact us on the helpline 0808 8020 133, or chat to us on the Netline. We're here 8am to midnight every day,

Best wishes

Deirdre

Forum Admin.

Merlin - I wanted to reply to you. I'm a regular viewer on here for motivation etc, but infrequent poster. I had a similar situation to you, following a relapse after I'd done well to almost stop. It wasn't for as much as at my previous "peaks" but was worse for symbolically important reasons (I had to confess to another blip when I was on "last chance"). What I want to say is I was so, so annoyed with the Bookmaker in question - who I had lost a lot with in the past, and it drove me bonkers for a few days. I know where you are. It impacted me more than any wrongly disallowed last minute goal, or evidently dodgy decision that cost me money. But the reason for my post is that it took something like this to move me to being free of this addiction.

Once that horrid feeling eventually passed (and it took a week at least), it honestly helped me. It made me wake up to how murky the industry is, how unfair it all was, and how it had made me feel. This feeling is the one that has stuck with me, and has led me to the longest that I've gone w/o betting. Previously I've relapsed when I forget how bad I felt from losses. This situation I can still remember how i felt now (I get irate even thinking about it). Do something positive with it - maybe write down fully how you feel (on here, or somewhere private), and refer back to it next time you get tempted.

As I see it now, I have been able to turn the company s******g me over into a positive, because it's driven me to 6 mths clean, to a stage where 99% of the time I don't even want to gamble now etc. Please do the same. If you do then the amount would arguably be worth losing in the long run. I know that the 10k right now feels like an amount you can't do without, but honestly if you stop forever it is worth it. Make your final interaction with gambling be them s******g you over and making things tough for you. Because I feel pretty certain that if you try to make your last interaction with gambling be a 10k withdrawal that improves your life then it will not be your last....