Hi, I'm mark I'm 21 years old and have been gambling since the age of 18 as soon as I was old enough to go into the bookies and casinos.
At first it was an enjoyable experience which soon turned into a nightmare I'm only 21 and on the brink of totally destroying my life. I went to university to study criminology/psychology so was receiving a student loan I also worked full time as a kitchen assistant so had a lot of expandable income at the time, I was planning On saving the money as a deposit on a house, which never the less ended up getting spent in the casinos when I'm in a casino or bookies the concept of money doesn't come into consideration I could be up £2000 and just about to leave and think I'll just have another 20 pound spin and because I've lost that initial ВЈ 20 proceed to win in back and loose everything. It booked a holiday to las vegas which opened my eyes to how bad gamberling can influence people's life's their are hundreds of beggers on the streets and I listened to their stories and they originally came from a middle class background and they are caught in a trap which they can't escape from. After returning from vegas my gamberling stopped but it wasn't long before I was back in wasting my life away again.
I know that what I am doing is affecting my loved ones but gamberling is in control if I loose £1000 I would just borrow money try to win it back which I never do and will never learn.
I should be out with my friends going but all I would rather do is gamble I know I have a serious problem and I'm going to come clean to my parents and ban my self from all the bookies and casinos in my area. I have a good job which I really enjoy but recently I have been really down its affecting my work. I hope my parents will understand I mean it's hard to *** that gamberling is an addiction it's just like being hooked on drugs. Well sorry for blabbing on just need to get some things of my chest instead of living in denial today is the 5/3/15 I'm determined to never gamble again as it's destroying my life and others around me.
Hi Woody - Welcome, you have come to the right place - Im 29 and have been very similar to you, i to spent large periods of time in a bookies searching for a big win when my friends would go boozers / clubbing etc. Ive missed weddings, stag do's, nights out, days out, holidays etc due to gambling - You are still young and have the chance to live life. I think its definitely a good idea to inform your parents and hopefully they will be able to understand the situation. I was really afraid about telling anyone, but in the end was the best thing i did. You certainly look like your prepared to make the correct steps (self excluding / coming to Gamcare) so I hope it all works out for you. Just take one day at a time......
Hi Woody,
Put as many barriers up as you can to prevent yourself gambling again. If you can give a relative charge of your finances so you have only limited funds available to you.
Best Wishes.
Hi thanks for the advice to remind me of how stupid I have been and to remind me of the bad times I have a few pictures of what I could have bought with the money I wasted on a roulette wheel. I'm just surprised that it's so easy in the bookies to bet so much these new policies they have in place to prevent people gamberling don't work that's if you set a limit on your machine and if you do and reach it you only have to wait 30 seconds so could easily just go on the machine next to it. Once again thanks for your support and 3 days gamble free
You'll be brave but doing the right thing telling your parents. I'm 18 and got myself in trouble. I've been brought up with my family saying gambling was bad and a mug's game but I basically placed some football bets and played some roulette out of curiosity and lost £10. Trying to win that £10 back has caused me some big wins, but even bigger losses
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