9 days or 900 days; it makes no odds.

Nine days without gambling, without looking at a result, without watching a race, without looking at odds on a betting site. I can't recall when that last happened but I know I won't look today, and that's all I'll endeavour to do day by day. I'm not avoiding these 'triggers' because I fear I'll be drawn into a bet; it's not a battle of wills, I'm simply bored/tired of gambling and no longer care who wins what race, which football match or even which fly reaches the ceiling first. I never thought I'd ever feel this way, as I've gambled for nigh on forty five years, attending hundreds of race meetings and held accounts with most, if not all, of the bookies at some point. I've self excluded from all of them - the online ones at least, I've never been in a shop for many a year. On the point of self exclusion, I found many betting sites extremely amiable to my requests, whilst others - one in particular (rhymes with Coral), continue to send offers, both by email and post, in spite of me closing my account and unsubscribing. It tickles me to see the signs in the windows saying "When it stops being fun, Stop". As we're all well aware, they're merely fulfilling an obligation, and the staff in some (rhymes with Coral) actively encourage 'targets' to spend time on the machines. We call them puggies in Scotland but, when they were introduced into bookies in the 90's, the staff (of which I was one) were told to call them AWP's - amusement with prizes. The government make too much money from gambling to ever even consider seriously addressing the problem, so I only see the situation getting worse. I have read many of the threads on here since joining, and there is a lot of good advice being offered by good people. I wish everyone, who seriously wants to find a better life without gambling, all the very best in their endeavours. Kind regards, Fred.