Arcades in particular....

Hi S.A,

Welcome to the forum, and well done for your post.

It seems like you’ve become aware of yourself, and have realised how gambling at these arcades are impacting on your life. It’s also good to know you want to do something about your gambling; hence posting into the forum.

However, it’s important that you find some activity/ hobby to replace your spare time (gambling time) in order to prevent you from being bored, as boredom is a likely factor which causes people to relapse when they are in recovery.

Gambling problem gets worse if you don’t do anything about it, and it can easily get out of control – the more you gamble, the more you lose, and the more you chase your losses. It’s like a vicious cycle.

Most people find it difficult to stop gambling on their own accord; they need professional help to be able to overcome it.

It may help to know the type of gambling you do, so we can advice you appropriately on stopping if that is what you want.

In case you feel you need further help with your gambling problem, don’t hesitate to contact us again. Our lines are open everyday from 8.00am to midnight.

You can also contact us via our free phone Helpline on: 0808 8020 133, and speak to one of our advisers. An adviser would be able to offer you twelve sessions of free counselling, and nearest to where you live, if you think that would help you to overcome your gambling problem.

Thanks again for your post, and pls. try and post as often as you can.

Kind regards,

Beatrice

Sa

Fella that sums this forum up for me, you have been here since before 2009 and finally received a welcome.

Shows a great lack of professionalism gamcare! !

Quite ridiculous response.

Regards duncan.

*** Awkward *** :-

GGGGGrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

"Welcome to the forum" followed by the usual copy-and-paste script and a recommendation to try to post regularly. w*f.

A long-term active member and a diary of well over 4,000 regular posts spread over several years shouldn't really being going unnoticed if this forum were properly staffed and monitored.

Really the people running this place ought to be recovered/recovering gamblers who actually care about and understand the people they are supporting, not just some absent faceless officials whose salaries we have bankrolled making occasional remarks like the one above - inappropriate, irrelevant, lazy and thoughtless.

Lol priceless. Sums everything up about gamcare & its attitude to everything regarding addiction you need to know

Dear S.A

Apologies for a post that made the incorrect assumption that you are new to the forum. I'll make sure the team are made aware of it so we can try to avoid this in future. We do have a lot of posts to check and monitor and human error does sometimes occur.

Best Wishes

Rebecca (Forum Admin)

Blimey!

In all fairness to Beatrice, many of my recent posts have read as if I am trying to find recovery for the the first time and not a long time member having relapsed... so thank you for your welcome Beatrice. In all honesty it does get me thinking about the revolving door nature of addiction (of my addiction). In many ways I am in quite a unique position of having done pretty much the same job as the Gamcare staff albeit on a different site. Back then I was stable in recovery that is until the day i wasn't. Beactrice makes a good point about boredom being catalyst for relapse. My relapse started when I had plenty of free time back in the summer. I appreciate the different options of support that this site brings.

Thanks also to my gamcare buddies (above) who have shown such unwavering support, both in good times and bad. Your all genuine and lovely people.

Anyway like you say, NT, back to subject of the thread. I wrote it initially as a reminder to myself really of how much they have affected my life over the years. Thye maybe getting fewer in number but they still exist and they are still just as soul destroying as they have always been. Standing at machines gambling ones money away is not fun, its not amusing and it feels like the end of the world when i emerge back into reality once more. Am very pleased with my recent life time self-exclusions and I recommend them to everyone.

Thanks for listening... S.A