Want people to talk to

Hi Gohan17

Firstly, congratulations on being gamble free since 22nd February. That is an achievement in itself.

This gambling bug is tough to beat, so you are going to need help along the way. Have you thought about attending GA meetings at all? Are you seeing a counsellor? Does your wife know, and if she does, have you told her about all your debts? Has someone taken control of your finances for you?

There are a lot of questions,advice and support that your local GA group can help you with. If you are unable to attend a meeting tho, this forum will certainly be ably to offer you support.

Welcome and best wishes

My wife knows everything I have considered GA meetings my local one falls on a day where I work which sucks it's not like I can get it off there set shifts to my contract .... Luckily there are no debts so that's something good I guess ..... And I haven't thought about a counsellor to be honest but yea advice and help on here would be brilliant

Hi Gohan17,

You could block all gambling sites on your devices with K9 (ask your wife to set the P/word and keep it from you).

Self exclusion from High St outlets may be beneficial.

You need to put as many barriers in place to prevent future gambling bouts.

You have done brilliantly already to abstain since Feb 22nd.

Cheers Now.

Already done the k9 thing with my wife knowing the password 🙂

Hi Gohan17

Has your wife taken control of the finances? Installing K9 is a good step. Do you gamble elsewhere apart from online?

You are one of the very few who understand that they have a problem and attempt to sort it before they find themselves in huge debt. The stories you hear about, or read here on this forum aren't fiction. People do lose houses, get kicked out of home and go to gaol as a result of their gambling.

I would suggest you treat this as though you were in the situation many others find themselves in. In other words, attack the problem as tho your life depended on it. If you don't treat this addiction with respect, it will surely bite you in the backside, maybe not now or in 1 years time, but it wil eventually.

re your GA meeting. I live in Brisbane, Australia. So I am lucky in that there is a meeting every day/night of the week within about 1 hours drive. Considering I was happy enough to drive over 2 hours to have a bet when I was gambling, a 1 hour drive to attend GA is not too far.

Keep posting, I am sure there are many other wiser people than myself with plenty of advcie for you.

Going to my first meeting in ten mins so nervous.

Don't worry I am taking it very seriously and giving this addiction respect thank you for your advice keep it coming ? I come on here every day now it's helping.. My wife has the finances so that's good right ? Good luck Sarah lets us know on here how it went please

Hi Gohan17

Handing over control of your finances is one of the first steps recommended by GA. Take away your easy access to money, and the less chance you have of having a punt. So yeah, that is a good thing.

One of the reasons I favour GA meetings is that every now and then, not often, we ahve a new member come in that has this horrific tale of woe. Believe me, they can be heartbreaking. Their misery actually helps me. It reminds me of where I was, and where I could be again if I gamble.

Perhaps if you haven't already done so, you could read a couple of their stories on this forum, just so you know exactly what this addiction can do. It can break up marriages, tear families apart, bankrupt the gambler AND the family member who attempts the bailout, and it can lead to time in prison.

In GA literature, we are told that this addiction can lead to prison, insanity or death. If I had been prosecuted for what I did, I could most certainly be behind bars. Insanity? Well, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result! So, I think all gamblers are at least muddled up in the thinking department. I did attempt suicide, as I could see no way out. When we are desperate enough, we will do anything to escape.

I am 57 years young, hopefully all my debts will be paid off by the time I get to around 70. If I could turn back the clock tho,????

One of the best things I ever did after stopping gambling was come to terms with the fact that I was never going to get back the money I had gambled. I accepted this fact and moved on. I cannot change the past, so I started to prepare for the future.

You have a long future ahead of you, It is your choice whether you gamble, and potentially end up on a path similar to mine, or not to gamble and have a pretty decent, happy life.

Just one more thing before I finish this ramble. You can do absolutely everything that other people do, except for one thing. Don't gamble!

Best wishes

Wow erm don't really no how to reply to your story hit me though I can tell you that thank you for sharing I will look at other peoples stories just to I don't know I guess to scare my self even more and drum it into my head not to gamble again

I'm still going strong which is good needed the wake up call not been tempted at all the bet again

Hi Gohan17

Keep it up. We all do this one day at a time. Just for this day I will not bet. Over time the urges will decrease.

My abbreviated story is not unique, and it certainly is not the worst I've heard. I just wanted to give you an idea of what this addiction can do to you. I didn't have my fingers broken by debt collectors, but I know of people who have. Illegal or not, it happens.

One of the members in my GA group has a favourite saying, ....."you haven't done this YET! Whilst you might think that you would never sink to the depths of what another gambler has done whilst gambling, remember that he could have been in a similar position you find yourself today. And YET he has done what you, or I might think as a most dispicable thing to enable his gambling.

After hearing other members stories, and visiting various blogs, I know that even though I thought I had hit rock bottom, there are plenty more rock bottoms waiting for me if I gamble again. Those rock bottoms are much worse than what I thought my rock bottom was.

You come across as a young fellow who loves his wife and daughter. That is what you risk losing if you continue to gamble. As I said in my previous post, the only thing that you can NOT do is gamble. You can do everything else that a normal person would be able to do.

Keep up the good work

Really appreciate your comments gets me through the days coming on here.... I'm keeping strong no urges at all ... I know they might come back I'll be ready to fight them .... How are other people doing ? How long have you not been gambling for would love to here more of other peoples struggles

Hey everyone, I joined back in October, then went back on a binge until thursday. Long story short, after breaking even on Thursday w a book, after lies about "closing" my account when i was down a few thousand, he basically threatened me if I didn't work with him. This life is just disgusting and I want no part of it for the rest of my life. Not on any level. Thanks for listening. Any advice about keeping clean would be greatly appreciated.

I'm finding new stuff to do running and any type of sport still not wanted to gamble which is good and in spending more time at home taking my wife and child out