Mentally cant get over my huge gambling losses

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Thanks allainepo, your comments have been very helpful. Its so true, we are not missing out on anything and it is just a "house of fools." I must remember that gambling doesn't bring me any pleasure or fun...just stress and misery. So why do it!

I haven't even wanted to gamble for 2 weeks, partly from reading your comments...sometimes you just need someone to tell you straight and reinforce. Thanks again and to anyone else who posts as I am sure you are helping many others.

Is this a spam attempt above from the account stacymorgan? The reply has gone out to multiple threads and it looks like spam advertising

Nobody waves a magic wand for debt and the link looks more than iffy....Im bringing it to the attention of the moderators

I have this on my feed . Zoho.com doesn't look like a debt consolidation place to me ? What is going on ?

Thank you all who reported the user stacymorgan. The account and all its posts have been deleted.

Forum Admin

Pwm101 wrote:

I have this on my feed . Zoho.com doesn't look like a debt consolidation place to me ? What is going on ?

Yes the account denied it but was multiple posting with a link that I didnt like the look of. I had a look and it all looked very iffy including the name.

We dont need that on the forum and Im glad the moderators deal with these matters effectively.

We all live by the rules on here and this results in an excellent forum which helps people

Well if there's an upside it got me reading your posts ! Can see a lot of similarities. I too get these self destruct tendencies. But not this time I'm 11 days gamble free and going to keep it that way. I have huge debts (almost 50k) and my sole focus is paying them off the legitimate way. My punishment is it will take me 5 to 6 years . That's the burden I deserve for being an idiot and I can live with it. Wishing you all the best . I reckon you can do it

Hi Pwm101, congrats on 11 days gf. I had debts of £55k from gambling and came very close to financial ruin. Mentally getting over how much money I has wasted was hard but I can only control my future so thats what I did. After 3 years I now have them down to £18k and hope to be debt free by summer 2018. It has been a hard slog but I can see light at the end of the tunnell and I am looking forward to having those monthly cc payments all to myself!

I am sure I can do it and if I can do it you can to. Good luck and keep in touch with your progress.

Wow Chaser, how far have you come in your journey ! 55k to 18 K in 3 years... testiment to your resolve to straighten your life out and away from addiction.

You must feel so much inner peace and respect and that was so inspiring to read, thank you for posting your progress

Hi,

I'm hoping people can help me feel a bit better. I never really had a big gambling problem, except when I have been on holiday in the past I tended to get carried away with roullette. However, after suffering a recent loss in the family I tried online roulette after being lured in with one of the rip off offers, and after losing £20 I went mad and managed to continue winning a bit and then eventually losing £7k of my own money. I spent the whole next day on my phone again and won it back to the penny and vowed to never do again and I felt so much better.

A few days later I stupidly tried to have a go to try and win some money again on roulette on my phone. I decided I woudl only bet

£50 but that turned into about £2k deposited. After playing for several hours I managed to win £40K. I couldnt believe it, I thought finally some good luck and was thinking about all the ways I could improve my life. But I just couldn't stop I was placing bigger and bigger bets as I was up so much, and again bigger bets when I tried to recover when I was losing money. Even at £30k, £20k £10K or even anything over £2000 I would have been up but I continued until I lost it all. From the euphoria of £40k I had lost it all!

I thought I had a strategy where I could win big again and took money out of savings for a house. Over the next week managed to lose now a grand total of £15K. Its been over a week and I have no desire to gamble, but the fact that I was £38K up and could have withdrawn and now am £15K down, which will take me over a year to save is something I just can't get over and is depressing me to the core. As mentioned previously I initially won back £7K in losses at the start of this gambling and thought if I was patient and calm I could win back everything again, but I gambled and lost £6K in a matter of minutes. I still think if I am patient and have small bets and be patient I can get it back like before. The feeling of now being £15K down is horrendous.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Hello Wasteofmoney

I don't think there is a recipe for feeling better about a loss off the back of a win. Trying to win back the money by gambling isn't the answer you will most likely dig yourself a deeper hole, I've been there on so many occasions.

Chaser1508 well done on making a huge dent on your debt. This is inspiration to me as I'm about 1 year into a DMP which at the current rate will take 6 years to pay off. You're proof that it is doable for anybody but I you've got to want to quit, as much as i loved gambling I had loads of complications in my life debt, lies, sleepless nights and i wasn't doing my job properly I wanted to tackle these problems more than I want to gamble.

Hey guys - just reading through these posts. I'm £15k in debt and have lost much more throughout my 8 years of gambling addiction. The only advice I will ever give is no matter how bad it is now - if you go back - it will get worse. I'm testiment to that. Just used I gamble my salary - nothing else - stopped. Went back after a relapse and now £15k in debt. Do not carry on. You will NOT win anything back. We all remember the good days when we win big but what did we actually spend it on? Naff all. All went back in. The money is just a byproduct of this awful addiction.

Hi wasteofmoney. Totally agree with random and daz1085...hence my (terrible) user name. Chasing losses is how I and probably most of us have got deeper into debt. You remember those rare times when you beat the odds and won big. You think you can do it again but it is these rare wins that keep the addict hooked and ultimately lose even more money. Even if you had withdrawn that big win and brought something, you would think you could do it again and probably spend even more trying. The house always wins, nobody can beat the odds, you are £15k down but you will be even worse off if you gamble again trust me as I have sadly done it myself many times.

I lost £20k of savings and ended £55k in debt 3 years ago, with the odd relapse on the way I am now 72 days gambling free and £18k in debt. At the time I use to wake up and think of all the money I had wasted, cry and feel stupid. Then with help and support from here I decide to not focus on the lost money but how I could turn things around and even help others. You cant control your past but you can control your decisions and your future. Also focus on the things that you have and are grateful for...in my case health, family, sunshine, food, roof over my head etc. Dont focus on what you dont have. Dont let roulette/betting shops rob you of your happiness and self worth. Dont give them that power, concentrate on your future and the happiness you deserve.

I understand exactly what it's like.. I feel you and we can get over it together somehow, I lost a bet much lower than you, but when I did, my face went so red and so hot I literally wanted to scream. I'm really sorry for you 🙁

Hi Morgy, no need to feel sorry for me. I did feel terrible and really mentally struggled to not dwell on my losses. You cant change the past but you can change the future with better decisions. In this time I have had one or two relapses and I think its really important not to let a relapse derail any progress. I saw a relapse as a reminder of how gambling only brings misery and pain and used it a drive myself forward. Dont see relapse as a failure or defeat, just see it as a very small bump on a long but positive journey. Update re my debt...I am now down to £12.5k (from £55K). Be great to hear how the others on this thread are doing.