Hello all,
I'm completely new to this but feel like I am at a stage where I need help with my gambling poblem. I would like to share my story and hopefully I can get the advice and help needed.
I started gambling about two years ago. I am a big football fan and one of my mates got me into putting accumulators on. It started out very harmless, I would gamble a small amount, say £10 on a saturday and that would be it. This went onfor around a year without me really winning anything major.
Then in December 2014, from 4 winning accumulators costing me just £50 altogether, I was lucky enough to win just short of £6,000. When I won this money, I was very sensible. I put it away in a savings account and in February this year, used the money, along with a loan from my parents, to buy the car I had always wanted. In the months that followed up until the end of the football season, I again had several very lucky wins which got my bank account up to a very healthy £2,000.
Once the football season had finished I planned to pack gambling in until the new season started. However I became hooked on in play betting on tennis. Gone were the days of £10 a week, I found myself lumping sums up to £250 on guys to break serve in games, very risky business. I lost a lot of money at times but fortunately I was very lucky in that every time I lost a few bets I would win one that would put me back even or sometimes even slightly up, but still, risky business.
Once the football season started again this August I returned to football betting, only it was now starting to amount to £50/£60 a week. My bank account was still healthy and I had become used to not having any money worries. I enjoyed a great summer, going on holiday and never really worrying about not having money.
However in the last month things have taken a turn. I paid my car insurance at the start of the month which cost nearly £800. I went away on holiday again which totalled more money, and I came back a week ago with just £450 in the bank, the lowest amount I have had for nearly a year. I still have my wages from my job coming in every friday, but I also repay my loan to my parents every month. That left me with just £300 in the bank, and over the past 4/5 days I have managed to gamble it all, leaving me with nothing.
I feel that my problem is I have experienced such a high from gambling, that I am addicted to chasing that again. I put bet after bet after bet on, knowing that every time is a risk, and every time I lose on im straight back on researching where to put the next one on, but unfortunately this time I have gone to far and it has left me completely penniless, and feeling very very helpless and depressed.
I am very lucky that my wages come in every friday so I will be okay again come the end of the week, but I am scared I will only gamble that money again and end up in the same situation this time next week.
I apologize for the long winded post, I just needed to get this off my chest and hopefully someone can help me and get my life pointing in the right direction, as I strongly beleive that I cannot continue this lifestyle.
HI Irobins92. For a lot of compulsive gamblers like myself , things seemed to take a turn for the worse after a big win . I'd been betting for years without it being a big problem , never lost more than I could afford to lose and I knew when enough was enough !. That changed for me after winning aprox 8k playing roulette just after xmas . Started playing machines in the bookies and lost the lot, plus quite a few grand more . The problem is once you win like that, small wins and small stakes dont give you the same rush or buzz and so you bet more and more !! You then chase what youv'e lost in order to get the money back and experience that rush that you so crave !!. It's good that you recognise you have a problem and well done for that !!. Like everyone on this site you are a compulsive gambler and you cannot win because you cannot stop . Look for what you need on this site , the good news is that there's plenty of help and advice available . You need to break the cycle of betting if you bet in bookies then exclude yourself from them , if you bet online then self exclude from them and put blocking software in place so you can no longer access these sites . The key to stopping is the time .money ,location triangle . remove one and you can no longer bet ! You have to stop because it will get a lot , lot worse if you carry on . Foget what youv'e lost and move on , it's gone and it ain't coming back . so get youre life back and move forward to a better future ! All the best for now , keep posting and take one day at a time . Alan who will not gamble today
Just to add , you might want to consider coming clean with your parents, partner ? . It may be difficult for you to do but once its out in the open you will feel much better !! Alan
It obviously didn't seem like it at the time, but winning that £6000.00 was the worst thing that could have happened. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad it helped you towards your dream car, but that 6k has sown the gambling seed in you and you need to stop watering it!.....I won slightly more than you on online roulette over a couple of months, £64,000.00 or thereabouts....All gone now of course and am in debt for about the next two and a half years or so. Please stop now if possible, if you don't you will be left with less than nothing!......Good luck to you.
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