Hello everyone I never thought I’d actually be a person to join a site like this but here I am.
I’m a 26 year old lad who is currently trying to save for a house, I’ve always had a little flutter here and there however things have spiralled out of control recently.
As I said before I’ve always gambled but small amounts and if I lost most of the time I would log out and take months of gambling, however December 2018 came recently split up from my girlfriend was doing very well with my savings and then 2 days changed everything.
I started the month of gambling and won about 2 grand on top of my savings, I lost pretty much everything but took a risk and got up to about 7grand then within the space of 2 days I lost 6grand to slots, the house always wins as they say, I feel very disappointed in myself and felt pretty helpless so I spoke to gam care and read a few forum posts and felt pretty inspired and stopped until this month.
I’ve banned and limited pretty much every active account I have but I feel myself slowly slipping back into it, I’ve tried to moderate myself and I’m actually not spending as much as I did but to be honest I just want to stop all together, I’ve chucked a few hundred in and I’m actually up but it’s not the point I don’t want to get bad into gambling almost everyday and just want words of advice on how to stop these urges I’m getting again.
I want this year to be my year the year I overcome my demons and be successful.
Thank you for reading this I just feel this is the only way for me now.
Hi Jay. I tried to be a moderate gambler it does not work for me. I can’t control it. I keep spending until I am broke and If I win I always give it back and so much more. The casinos take my money and my time. Time Away from my family and friends and living my life
Reading diaries has kept me out of the casinos many nights. You have a goal of getting a house. Hold onto that.
I am 17 days gf and it feels good.
Stay strong
Carol.
I think that may be a problem for me too I ‘think’ I can control it but in reality I always let it get out of hand. Thanks for you comment I will defenitly look through diary’s stay strong and goodluck
Hi Jay,
The Great news is you have recognised that gambling is causing you problems at such a young age. My Dad was a compulsive gambler and never sought help, he died at the young age of 50 of a heart attack.
I can give you an excellent piece of advice. Apply for the Monzo bank card. I've been told by a problem gambling clinic that it rejects any gambling transactions and you can put a limit on your card so that if you do gamble, you can only lose so much.
I am 43, I can tell you from my experience that gambling is a foolish hobbie, I've been homeless twice because I couldn't stop gambling and couldn't pay my rent. The thing about addiction is that it creeps up on you so slowly you can't see it happening. I never thought that the day would come when i couldn't stop, but it did.
I wish you a happy life. Please make it a life without gambling.
Stuart
Hi Stuart thank you for your post very wise words and I’m sorry about your father.
I will defenitly look into that, yesterday I downloaded a gam stop for my phone so every time I go on a gambling website it instantly blocks it and I can tell you this is a massive aid for me !
I completely agree I never saw it coming even when I was winning and had more money than I’ve ever had I still wasn’t satisfied.
I’m feeling very positive about this year and I’m going to do my very best to keep myself motivated and away from my demons.
Stay strong and thanks for the kind words !
hi jay welcome to the forum, i know gamstop is brilliant and will stop online however try to limit the amount of cash and cards u carry so ur not tempted to gamble in bookies or casinos when ur out and about. Apart from that nothing more to add. well done ull have a house in no time.
Hi Jay,
That's excellent news, very encouraging! For me, even though I knew gambling was causing me massive problems, I was conflicted. I couldn't give up the only thing that I enjoyed in life. I felt that I deserved to have a bet every now and again but being a problem gambler, I had no discipline. The key to a happy future for you is to accept totally that there is no place for gambling in your life in any form. I bought Gamblock for my laptop and that helped me immensly. Set yourself goals such as saving for a holiday. I used to buy travel agent gift vouchers every month and saved up to go to Cuba. There's a wonderful life out there. I wasted 40 years foolishly thinking i could hit the big one, but I'm certain that even if I won the lottery, I would have ended up broke because I'm a degenerate gambler. Look at 'biggest lottery winners in history who ended up broke' online. Apparently 70% of lottery winners end up with nothing.
Good luck Jay.
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