I need to stop, please can someone help me!

@topdawg very common illness this is what gambling can do to person, gambling doesnt care about a person circumstances, online gambling is the worst thing that could happen as u can easily get carried their are many stories of people lossing their homes jobs destroying families even people ending up in prison even the smartest people can get sucked into, its not like any other addiction where people can see you are physically sick, if person id determined to quit need to put all the stops in place you have to invest into it and try other things, find other interests hobbies sorround yourself with people as your only going to hurt yourself am learning new things on here it shocking how some people are living even people who are unemployed are living a far better life, do not give these a******e another penny its like any time of addiction the more you fight it the stronger you become, life is tough things happen tempations will always be their however you can make it easier for yourself start today 1 day at time 

@tazman 

I just feel like my hole life is being ruined its like spinning top in mud but am trying my best to get out of it and I just want to find the right support group I here is the right place for me I need to talk about things that on my mind I am messed up mentally and physically.

@mp 

Yes, I have now got the blocks in place. I won't be gambling on the casinos again. It feels good knowing I have them blocked everywhere. I will keep you updated on my journey!

You gave me the courage to get it sorted out. Thank you.

@tazman 

I totally agree, money doesn't matter when you're addicted. I've had £5000+ in the bank and still gambled it all away. I've had £20 in the bank and still gambled it. It's the urges, it's the thoughts of winning gets me. I always tell myself I'll just try and get this £100 to £250 and even if I do get to that goal I carry on thinking I can win more, telling myself "what if it's my lucky day and I can win big to pay off a large amount of bills" I then always lose it all the same day, every single time.

You're right too, I've lived through this for numerous years, cried many times and it's not easy. I feel lost all the time, I go a week without gambling and I feel motivated again, until the pay check comes, but now I know it's impossible to beat the casino, the real winner is the person who doesn't gamble in the casinos at all.

I'm definitely finding other stuff to do, play games I like, go to the gym 5 times a week and start business plans for a future business I want to start. I'm going to make sure I pay these debts and get back on track with my life.

I appreciate your message, I will make sure to come clean and never gamble again!

@xbluebearx

I know, it's so hard to stop. But now it's time we stop, it's evil. I call it the devils curse, it's so hard to beat, but we must fight it with everything we have and kill the urges on the spot. Remind ourselves of how gambling has affected our lives and how negative it is!

Thanks for the advice too, I will be putting it to use. I will be logging in every single day to talk.

@topdawg 

Hey mate, I see you're going through the problems I am, I know exactly how you feel, I swear I've had days I've felt absolutely worthless, I've felt as if I'm cursed, but we must beat this curse by starving it from what it wants. It wants you to gamble and lose your money, it craves off you losing, we can kill it by saying "NO!" the moment we feel the urge to gamble.

Cut your losses, I've lost over £100,000 too, I've ruined business opportunities from being addicted to gambling and not having the funds to up keep it or grow it. But that's in the past, we must start fresh, forget the money and push forward from now. We are still young and have time to grow, we can't let it take anymore of our precious time and money, we must use our money wisely.

Look, I know I'm in the same boat, but reality has hit, I've realised seriously how much this horrible addiction has ruined my life up until now and I know that the casinos are rigged in their favour, they're smart and know how to prey upon people who can become addicted. It's all a setup for people like us. It's very very toxic, don't ever forget how gambling has treated your life up until now.

Let's get clean brother, we can do this, I'm the most serious and motivated I've ever been to quit this addiction, we mustn't give a penny to them heartless casinos.

@manonamission 

Hey mate nice to here your story and words of incourage we are all in this together, but I just need to vent because it had really messed up my relationship with past friends I feel worthless so many debts took loans to buy vehicle gamble it refinance gamble it. When am on work it's like I feel worthless feeling lost low self esteem. And I no my capabilities are way more than that I just want to get clean and figure my life out all I did is gamble my time I started working never really achieved anything lost my head so many times from gambling. But I will not give up I have embarrassed my self so many times and I always kept it secret I did the worst and the worst time in my entire life swear.

Hi

I learned that by going to meetings I had a chance of a healthy recovery.

The addictions and obsessions were just the symptoms that I was emotionally vulnerable.

I did not think or feel that the recovery program would work for me.

Then I got tunderstand that the recovery program was going to help me help my self become healthier and healthier.

The the recovery program helped me get honest with my self.

I simply could not be trusted with money. 

I handed over all of my finances to some one I trusted.

I went from one meeting per week to some times four meetings.

I went to meetings because I needed it, not always waned to go.

By being honest my fears reduced.

The open honest therapies helped me see and feel myself in other people.

The open honest therapies helped me understand that I needed to exchange unhealthy habits in to healthy habits.

The the recovery program helped me understand sitting on my hands not doing any thing was hard time.

The the recovery program helped me help myself get more motivated.

The the recovery program helped me write down my needs my wants and eventually my goals.

Finding a healthy sponsor would help me open up more.

A healthy sponsor would demonstrate nurturing and encouraging ways to get montivated towaards healthy goals.

A healthy sponsor would demonstrate a two way interaction.

A healthy sponsor would wrie down needs wants and also finacial sheets laying out my financial month bills.

Often in recovery text and meetings would cause more questions than answers.

So after meetinsg there would be after meetings which would help clarify things for us andw e would ahve a better understanding..

Keep being dedicated to your well being adn meetings.

Regards Dave L

@manonamission hi, I am going through the same thing!

your story matches mine and I have to battle this every day.

fancy having a chat? Happy to share advise and receive it myself

kind regards lewis

@manonamission a massive well-done on how far you have come mate.

I am 40 and it took me many more years of pain to come to the same realisation.

I am also in debt due to gambling.  Every penny would go on online slots and I would somehow scrape together money for everything else.... I read a decent quote 'quit gambling and the debts will look after themselves'.  

Be kind to yourself and keep us updated with your journey ?

Hey, I've been there and lost money too

I've lost too much, what I did was select time out, deposit limits 

Get yourself help, phone the helplines, seek assistance 

@topdawg 

You just need to stop and cut your losses mate. I know it isn't easy, but find other things to do, look at online businesses or hobbies. I was £7000 in debt a month and a half ago, I've now cleared the debt to £5400. It's still quite a way to go, but I've estimated I'll have it cleared by August and that's a small price to pay in reality with the s**t I got myself into over the past 2 years.

I've got plans to start my driving very soon and I've sorted out my rent situation with the landlord on top of setting up repayment plans with all my loans/credit cards.

Yes it's hard for me, because I'm barely scraping by for food still, I leave myself around £25 a week for food, which is another price to pay for being silly with my money, but before I know it I'll start saving thousands again, I've estimated to save around £5000 by the end of the year as I'm currently doing the 1p Challenge and weekly saving challenge. You should look them up too, both combined will save you £2000 in a year and after August I'm going to be saving around £100 a week. It's crazy how much you can change in a year, I'm not there yet, but I will be before I know it, especially knowing how fast last year flew by.

Hope this helps mate.

@thebean 

Yes, I'm so proud of myself right now, it's been nearly 2 months gamble free and the time has flew by, I never thought I'd see the day. I literally have no urges to gamble now. 

Due to me having low funds still and scraping by due to debts I'll have the odd voice every couple weeks trying to convince me to try and win some money by gambling to make it easier for myself, but I just tell the voice "shutup, this is the reason I'm in this situation" and the voice will be gone. It's like you have to react instantly by telling it NO! Firmly.

But yes I've cleared around 20% of the debts and hopefully the debts will be cleared by September/October. It's still a way to go, but the time flies and before I know it I'll be able to start saving some real money to start driving and then look for a new job which pays more and start a business by the end of the year. My life is finally fitting together, I've been meditating too and hitting gym hard.

I've also started the 1p Challenge and the weekly saving challenge where you save £1 on week 1, £2 on week 2 and £3 on week 3 and so on. Both combined save £2000 in a year, which is very nice way to get some savings put to the side while also paying a large amount of debts as it starts of small and the savings payments get bigger as you start the clear the debts which means you have more money to put to the side.

I hope for you to get your debts cleared mate. We are in this together and this is literally the longest I haven't gambled for in 7 years. Anything is possible!

Good luck with clearing them debts and sorting yourself out.

@lewisboe 

Hey mate, I hope you are well, check out my two previous replies to the other guys, I think this information will help you.

It's good to relate to others and just know I've come completely clean on gambling, I still haven't told anyone about my problems in my personal life, but that's cool, maybe I might tell them when I get out of this s**t completely, I just feel embarrassed about what I got myself into, because everyone knows what I'm capable of and you should think the same, look how embarrassed you can be to tell someone in your personal life and that just shows that you need to quit ASAP, you shouldn't have anything to be embarrassed about in your life. Stop today, and take it day by day, look at the havoc this horrible addiction has reaped on your life.

It's actually very easy once you find other stuff to do and resent gambling altogether. I actually resent gambling to another level now, the hurt it has put me through and the problems it has got me into, but anything can be fixed, but you have to remember the sooner you stop and try and fix the problem the sooner you'll be out of it.

Good luck mate. I hope for you to come clean NOW!

@gadaveuk 

Very inspiring and interesting post you made there mate, I myself didn't attend meetings or tell anyone in my personal life, but I've just come to resent gambling that much that I just separated myself from it, I started meditating, gym and become inspired to start a business I have been wanting to start for the last year, but I've been unable due to my gambling addiction, I've noticed my serious potential I have on this world, I even started praying a little and demanding what I want of life, the route I deserve and want to go down and it's been working a treat.

I believe you have to wake up and have a reality check of very very bad stuff happening to you, eviction notices, emails and messages on your phone every day about debts you owe and are in arrears with and then you'll wake up, you need to create a plan of action and write down all your debts and create a debt repayment sheet in excel. 

Anything is possible, you just have to be willing to make it happen!

I appreciate your reply mate!