I got addicted to online slots at the age of 49 - just last October
Before that I'd placed a yearly bet on the Grand National and maybe backed the odd horse race on Boxing day. No more than a tenner each time.
I work from home and last October an offer came through from my one single betting account offering free spins on an online slot.
So I thought it would be 'fun' and pass an hour or so.
Worst decision of my life
The freebies came and went in a matter of minutes but I enjoyed the experience so followed up by depositing twenty quid.
The first bonus feature I got won me £180 and I was £160 up!
That money lasted about 20 minutes and I started doing what I now know is 'chasing my losses' although at the time it seemed logical to 'just' win it all back
Fast forward to today and I have put £54k on credit cards and could regularly lose £1000 in a day
There have been wins too - I got my account up to over £10,000 from a £90 stake and then lost the lot except for £2k which I withdrew
In fact as I write I'm waiting for £1200 to go back onto my credit card from winnings although this won't dent the overall amount.
I can service the debts - I earn quite well and I've decided (rightly or wrongly) not to tell my wife about this until I settle the debts.
I have two kids under 15 and decided to take action last week
I managed to cut down and 'only' lost £200 which is maybe ten percent of what I'd normally have lost.
I've cut my deposit down to £10 a day deposit limit in my online account and that seems to be working. For the past three days I've just gambled that (lost it obviously) but not wanted to do more or chase the losses.
My question here is (and thank you for your support) is it possible to 'cut down'?
I have decided to stop playing the slots (other forms of gambling don't interest me) but to the experienced gamblers here - have you ever know anyone just 'cut down' successfully or should I go all out and exclude, install software etc?
This is the first time I've ever decided to stop.
Thanks for your help!
Welcome to this Forum.
I think its quite a resounding NO, its futile to think that you can just cut it down. If you rewind to the start of last October, you will see that you possibly had similar thought process, yet now you have some knowledge that there's an ingrained trigger that will want you to 'chase the loss's aka dragon '.
I think if yiu read around you will see some similarities, myself included with the deluded thoughts of controlled cutting down gambling.
I wish you well
Thanks Volcano
Time to start getting real.
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