NO MORE ROULETTE.

Hi No Problem, welcome to the Forum,

I gambled for twenty years before stopping over five years ago. I only experience FOBT Roulette within the last four years of that, and I lost around £250,000.

This really compells the compuslive gambler like nothing else because of the sheer scale of winning and losing within a short space of time.

I learned two things 1) I had an element of control before I started, but absolutely none once I did and 2) Even if I was gambling on something else, it would always drive me to these machines.

That is why it has to be zero tolerance without exception from now on my friend. Even pennies in a penny arcade are too much; not for what they are, but for what emotions they will bring out of you.

You had a positive start before my friend, well done for that. You need to look very closely at when you felt what you did - what made you fall off the wagon? What could you have done to prevent it?

It is ok to slip if you learn something from it and re-double your efforts next time. At 31, you have a lot of living to do my friend, and could only well be a third of the way through your life; how would you feel at 41, and 51? Still posting here and saying virtually the same things? You deserve better than that my friend - don't let this turn into something that blights your entire life.

Think about GA - gambling, especially on FOBT's, isolates you; you think it is you and you alone but when you see others, talking about what they have been through, it makes you feel relatively normal, and that is hugely reassuring. Plus, if you speak about what you are experiencing yourself (which is entirely voluntary), you may find it extremely liberating.

Urges are only temporary my friend, they soon pass. Use whatever helped you before to get through them, as well as trying other methods and techniques. Accept what has happened - draw a line under it and think of it as a painful, but ultimately valuable life lesson.

I look forward to reading your diary my friend. Be strong, be positive - you are better than this as I said.

JamesP

Thank you jamesP.

I am more determined than ever not to use these machines again. I dont think i can even have football bets anymore as i will be in the vicinity of these machines and the temptation will be too strong. I think you get to a point when you know you are going to quit and will quit. This is that moment for me on those machines. Thanks for your reply. Take care.

Morning folks. Today is the start of my gamble free life. no more roulette, no more footy bets, no more horses, dogs etc. I'ts not easy and their will be times i am tempted to have a quick cheeky £10 in the machines, and even if i was to win i would be hooked again, and that would start it all off again. So From this day forward, Day 1, i am done with gambling. As i say i only ever gambled within my means, but the frequency to which i was playing on them for upto 3 hours a day and getting red faced and sweating was becoming pathetic. I'll be posting on here when tempted and when i hit landmarks until i feel i am over it. Have a great day people.

Hi NP. The advice James gives is excellent. You sound as if you are where I was in that it never got me into trouble and although it made me sad when I lost I kept going back.

I did beat it thou and self-exclusion from all close by bookies played a massive part in helping me. Maybe consider doing this. I should have done it long before I did but couldn't admit I had a problem. Playing the roulette machines was a secret I had and my family and friends would have never thought I would have been stupid enough to play them in a million years. In about 8 or so years I lost £5k max so no disaster but boy did it cause some internal misery.

I am not saying I have all the answers but have posted a fair bit on FOBTs. If you search my posts by author you may find some of them helpful.

You need to stop before they ruin you buddy! I tried everything and method possible and in the long term just lost lost lost!

All the best with whatever you decide.

Dave

Thanks dave, yes, i have excluded myself from a number of bookies, i have'nt played one since monday, but today the urge is strong, that quick 20 quid in the machine feeling, i will ride it out though, i am not going on them again. This is only day 4 so i know their will be tests along the way, but you have to be strong and not give in to the urge to gamble.

ONE WEEK. been a week since i last played those evil scumbag machines.

Well done buddy. It's great how the time builds up and if you can do one week you can do two!

Just one day at a time and the weeks, months and years take care of themselves.

Every time you don't play you win and they lose and after a while you won't give them a thought.

I can guarantee you will be tempted time and time again but I am afraid you can't even have a small go as it will just all start up again chasing losses, putting winnings back (plus more) and overall misery.

Dave

Well i fell off the wagon. 3 times this week i have had a betting frenzy. did i win. er, no, of course i did'nt, but i have taken a very good step in giving most of money i have to partner, so now i cannot do it even if i want to, ok, i know i have wages but tommorow is day one again and i am in good sted, so no need to have a bet. i know many of you will have had relapses and understand where i am coming from. I dont know what to put up on these posts as a way of marking my progress as i dont want to bore anyone. so will just keep it simple with a note stating my progress. I had 8 days off from it until i played again earlier this week, so i know i can do it, just got to increase the gap to forever. I WILL OVERCOME THE GAMBLING.

Hi NP I always tend to tell people how it is and although I agree people have relapses it does not sound as if the 3 you have had particularly hurt.

I am pretty sure you will continue playing for the time being and are a bit half-hearted about stopping.

Stop fooling yourself and get yourself self-excluded. I may be wrong but would imagine you made a few quid with you first couple of relapses, went back for more, had the loss, became ***** off and decided to post.

I so want you to stop but only you can decide if this will happen!

I wish you well with whatever you decide.

Dave

Hi No Problem,

Well done for coming here, that is great. And it's great you've realised you DO have a problem (You definitely do), and went a week without gambling.

But like DaveUK, I find it easy to tell from your posts that you are currently half-hearted about giving up. I've seen the same road trodden so many times and I certainly went down it myself. I've been EXACTLY where you are.

As it's Christmas, let me be the ghost of Christmas future. You've acknowledged there is a problem, but you've convinced yourself you bet within your means. That means there is a bit of leeway in terms of what you subconsciously feel you still have to feed to gambling addiction and be OK about it. So you will continue to bet until one day you wake up having barely slept because you've been awake all night gambling for the nth day / night in a row, and even when you did sleep you had anxiety-filled dreams about gambling, wondering how you're going to get through the next month before you get paid again. You don't enjoy any normal things in life anymore - relationships, work, the cinema, pub with friends, reading, holidays - all of that is gone. Sure you go through the motions with some of those things, but you are an empty shell of the person you once were - all you can think about is the debt you've racked up and how you can possibly win it back again. You sacrifice everything to feed the addiction. You dread the postman coming because it's just credit card bills and unpaid household bills. You take out your frustration on those closest to you and wreck every meaningful relationship you have. You've screwed up your opportunities at work because you just can't focus on it anymore. You wonder how it got to this - there wasn't a clear decision, and you;ve always known it's a problem, but here you are anyway. You can't imagine coming back from this. You feel like you've wasted the one life you have been given, and you hate yourself with an intensity that is overwhelming. And the only way to make yourself feel better is to gamble more, making everything worse.

But the great news is, that's the future. This is now. And you are in total control of your decisions. Even though gambling addiciton is a horrible disease which does take control of you, you still have the final say. You can beat it. I know it's possible because I have been clean from it for over 5 years. And I love life now like I never thought possible. But I see in you myself about 15 years ago - just before it got really bad.

So please, excuse if this sounds harsh or direct, but stop. Get help. Talk to people/ On here - at GA - your partner - your doctor - whoever. Talk to people. And find ways to stop doing what you are doing. There are so many good methods on this site for stopping, but you must put them in place.

Yes you have to give up the football bets - they are all linked. All forms of betting will lead to the form you find most exciting - in your case the machines. You can NEVER bet again. That is daunting. People take it one day at a time and rightly so. It is easy to say never and how many of us have said it and not lasted. You need something to switch in your head for it to actually happen. Let that switch happen now before it's too late.

Keep us posted. All the very best.

Ross

Hi No Problem.......

Not going to say much other than I wish that someone had been as honest with me a number of years ago as Rossco has been with you. I'm 14 days free now and my life is turning around - I too wondered about...."I will just put on a football coupon and nothing else", however.......I've been there and failed so many times.......picking up winnings.......goes into the FOBTs........arrive to put on my coupons and the thought is there........."if I could double my money then my betting today would cost me nothing"

On my last day gambling I stopped my car, went into the bookies with about £140 cash with the sole purpose of putting on a Sunday football coupon.......less than an hour later and I walked out with nothing but a £600 hole in my bank account having switched 6x£100 into the FOBT. As Ross and other seasoned campaigners (James P etc.) will tell you from their experience....the only control we have is going in or staying out........once we are in, all control is lost. Be honest with yourself on that.

Rossco - brilliant post mate, thanks for your wisdom and encouragement - not just for NP, but for all of us.

Mr Brightside

Hi everyone. Very interesting post, i always live life to the full, thats why im nipping it in the bud now before i start on a downward spiral of losing more than i can. I always stay, or should i say stayed within my means, but i dont want to go down a path where i lose to much, i have no debts which is great. So quitting roulette now will stand me in good stead. I Havent played the wretched machines for over a week now and not been interested in them since. Hope you all stay gamble free.

Hi No Problem. Well done on the weeks abstinence - I know exactly where you are at the moment and can guarantee unless you self-exclude from all the available bookies shops you will play them again. I don't want you to but know you will as the losses are annoying you but not hurting you !

Only you can decide but better safe than sorry.

Best wishes

Dave

Thanks Mr Brightside for your kind comments - hope all is going well with you, sounds like you're doing brilliantly so far.

NoProblem - how's it going?