Am I playing with fire??

Fair enough pal

I ( as in me "personally") have an issue with slots not football betting on one account with a deposit limit. Yeah I might not be completely gamble free but sticking to football bets and a deposit limit is a lot less damaging (again to me personally) Maybe it will lead to slots again then you can feel all nice and smug if I post in the future about how I've lost all my money again. But the whole point of me posting on gamcare is to avoid that happening again.

Reply to your thread is that yes you are playing with fire, i would say playing with time bomb. It does not matter you play sport betting, slots or roulette , there is nothing controlled gambling or limits your bets, its just a time bomb ticking. For some people its goes off soon for some it going to take bit time but it will blow for sure.

For me i was thinking the same that i limit the bets and play with controlled bets and i got a lot of chances to learn but i did not, i was thinking that all under control but u never realise that when it goes out of control. You can carry on with what u call is limited bets but i can assure you sooner or later it will destroy you guaranteed. There is only one solution to control the gambling and that is not gamble again

Back to the title of the post 'Am I playing with fire?' The answer is yes. I have a CG friend who is in the same position i.e. trying to control his gambling by just doing an accy at the weekend. Everytime I speak to him it's like he trying to convince me and himself that it's all fine. I just let him go at it, no judgement or anything coz he's on a slippery slope already without me pushing him further. He's losing his lot online casinos at the minute as well.

I can only advise you of my personal experience. I used to be addicted to slot machines as a teenager then gave it up. Started doing football bets responsibly until that spiralled out of control. Started playing poker once a week for a bit of craic then that spiralled, roulette the same. Back to sports, casinos, 2 flys going up a wall etc etc. You see where I'm going with this? One previous period of 'abstinence' I still played the lotto. I used the fact that I only did the lotto once and a while as a means to justify my ability to 'just do a fiver on the football'. It didn't work as I am a compulsive gambler.

A scenario you probably haven't looked at - say you actually get a football bet up of £500. What do you do with the money? (honestly). Those slots will look even more tempting then and what's to stop you increasing your weekly bet as you have already won? We can not win as we can not stop.

Minksy would you consider yourself a compulsive gambler? If so, you have answered your own question. If not, all the best to you. I honestly mean that.

Haha I wouldn't feel nice and smug in the slightest. We're all on here because we have issues with gambling, we're all in the same boat. Like others have said, you know the answer.

I agree with the posts about "controlled gambling". I know for a FACT I cannot and and am not willing to take any chances one day at a time. FOBTs (Evil), horses, dogs, virtual races (basically cartoons), scratch cards etc. That's reality and I am not taking - one day at a time - any chances with my recovery. Without being nasty I can't see the point in using this forum if you still gamble and think you can control it - that's self-delusion in my view.

I have many friends who gamble responsibly and are able to stop after a win or a loss. I used to think I could do the same but the difference is they are not compulsive gamblers and I am. I'm all for freedom of choice although if you consider yourself a CG or have a problem with gambling then total abstinence is the only way. It doesn't stop with abstinence, that's only the beginning, recovery is the key.

HL agree completely.

exactly this

FM79 wrote:

Reply to your thread is that yes you are playing with fire, i would say playing with time bomb. It does not matter you play sport betting, slots or roulette , there is nothing controlled gambling or limits your bets, its just a time bomb ticking. For some people its goes off soon for some it going to take bit time but it will blow for sure.

For me i was thinking the same that i limit the bets and play with controlled bets and i got a lot of chances to learn but i did not, i was thinking that all under control but u never realise that when it goes out of control. You can carry on with what u call is limited bets but i can assure you sooner or later it will destroy you guaranteed. There is only one solution to control the gambling and that is not gamble again