Hi, I'm new, I came here as I feel much longer and my gambling will spiral out of control. I am a 21 year old student whose income is only 6k a year. my weakness is online blackjack. (I know its nothing compared to some sums I have seen on here but) in the last 4 weeks I have lost around 400 on online blackjack and it really has to stop. Even if I win like I did last week I still felt bad, I would really like others' opinions. I have blocked gambling on both my laptop and phone and I never go into betting shops anyway. I do enjoy the odd sporting bet too but my main problem is online blackjack. I am also trying to save up for a car, but if I keep going the way I am going that is completely out of the window.
Any advice would be brilliant, Cheers.
Hi kelvinww,
Welcome to the Forum, and well done for your post.
It’s been both brave and courageous of you to share what you’re going through with Forum members, and also to ask for their opinion and support.
You made a wise decision by blocking yourself from gambling from your laptop and phone, and I hope you blocked for a long period of time like 5 - 10years, so you’ll give yourself time to adjust to the thought of not gambling.
I’ll even encourage you to go for an indefinite ban, and also to try and fill in your spare time with activities/ hobbies that are not related to gambling. Try and distract yourself from getting bored so you’re not tempted to fall back to gambling.
Perhaps you might think of using some of that time in reading from our Chatroom/ Forum, where you’ll come to learn of others experiences, and the strategies and boundaries they put in place that helped them (or is helping them) to overcome their gambling addiction.
At 21, you hopefully have a lot of years ahead of you where you can become gamble free, and lead your normal life again. I’m advising you to let go of your losses as you’re not going to get those monies back. Rather, try and focus on your recovery process and your studies, and look to a gamble free future.
Without gambling, you can then channel some of your money into buying the car that you so much desire. With gambling, you’ve nothing to show for your hard work - the more you gamble, the more you lose, and the more you chase your losses. It’s just like a vicious cycle.
Also, you seemed to be very aware of yourself regarding your gambling problem, and also taking notice of others experiences by reading their stories from here.
In fact, that is the idea really; to realise that there is hope for you to overcome your gambling addiction. To know that you’re not alone in this, and that there’s no need for you to suffer in silence or isolation because you can find help and support from here.
You can also open a recovery dairy here and monitor your own progress if you like.
In case you feel like having a 1 to 1 chat about your gambling problem, please don’t hesitate to call our free phone Helpline on 0808 8020 133 where you can speak to one of our specially trained advisers. Our lines are open everyday from 8.00am to 12.00midnight.
Thanks once again for your post, and please do try and post as often as you can.
Kind regards,
Beatrice
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