Hi everyone.
​lets start with my life here, started betting age 15/16, now am 30 years old. had a couple of big wins but more had more big losses.
last year lost over £12500 in a couple of hours and i said to myself then i would stop, but as you guessed it i never, last week i had to pay a bill out and i wanted the money back for it so though a little bet woulnt hurt. i won that day. won a couple more days running, got my winnings up to over £1100. then lost the lot, though well ok it was just my winnings i lost, but then i dont know what happened i ending up betting online and have now lost £7500 in a couple of hours again, in the space of 6 months i have lost all my savings and more.
​my main betting source is the fobts, and mainly roulette. i need help and fast to overcome this, because when i lose i bet bigger and bigger to chase my losess
​thanks for reading people
Hi Robert,
This sure is a progressive addiction. Over 12 or so years I've seen the progression. Your story reminds me of my own journey and how it just got worse. Even while in recovery, relapse/slip or just a pattern of binge gambling would start of slowly and then get worse then ever until the next episode after a few weeks or months break. As many have stated on this site, people who have months and years of recovery under their belts, it takes a little more than will power to stop. We need some tools, some active work on self and the things that cause us to gamble that many of us wanted to get away from, community, understanding, support etc. You can do this. tara2
hi tara2. well i though i could do this but failed again. today lost a total of £4420 money i cannot really lose but its gone now. and yet again i am back to starting again, trying to find money to feed my family etc. i dont know how my loses got so high.lost over £21000 nov last year £7500 early this year and now £4420 total of over 30k, when i think what i could of done with that money it makes me feel sick and like i dont want to be here no more, and my family would be better off without me. my family and i would be a lot better off if i didnt have this problem, so maybe its best i leave them to it i just dont know any mroe
Hello roberto87,
You mention that when you dwell on your losses you sometimes feel like you 'Don't want to be here'. If you mean that you sometimes have suicidal feelings, you could discuss that with the Samaritans on their freephone 116 123 https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help-you/contact-us You could also talk with your GP if you have been finding your mood challenging to manage. GamCare offer free counselling appointments if you'd like to use therapy to support your recovery from problem gambling. There is more information about our therapy services here: http://www.gamcare.org.uk/support-and-counselling/face-face-counselling/what-counselling
About preventing further losses, it may help to consider how to strengthen your relapse-prevention methods. For example, some of our forum members rearrange their finances to put their money out of their reach, or to make their finances more transparent to someone who can supervise their transactions. You might like to update your diary in the 'Recovery diaries' section on a regular basis in case it helps you to notice what you find helps your recovery and what tends to hinder your recovery. Here is a link to the multi-operator self-exclusion scheme for betting shops: https://self-exclusion.co.uk/ and here is a link to our webpage about blocking software: http://www.gamcare.org.uk/get-advice/what-can-you-do/blocking-software#.VCA52fldXww
You're welcome to call us on 0808 8020 133 for more information or support.
Take care,
Forum admin.
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