A £7.5k bitter pill to swallow

The fobt and especially roulette gives us a buzz and escape from the real world , maybe it took your mind off other problems which might have and your family illness.

I know for me I say ill just have a quick £10.00 when thats gone I chase and chase and chase and then all of a sudden bang bang bang your number drops in , you have it surrounded , winnings reach the thousands and then the buzz takes over , before you know it your deeper and deeper into this machine pressing pressing banging banging until you realise it is all gone.

You go cold , it then hits you what a foll you have been you feel sick , cold and annoyed , the worst feeling in the world , or one of them at least.

Truth is you cannot win because you cannot walk away , £7500.00 is a huge chunk of money , I lost £4250.00 over Christmas and now 11 days into recovery , it is a huge amount of money but life is worth more than that , ring gamcare get some couselling , let them get you through the early days until the fog clears

Thanks johnb 1380. You are so right. The rush the highs & lows give you is like a drug. Stay strong Mate

Hi. The choice is simple really, you can come to terms with your losses or you can keep going as you are now and end up even worse off. The help is there if you want it.

Good luck nottolate!!! Agonising isn't it, horrible feeling losing money etc.. But if I'm honest I think you might feel better telling your gf.. Since I told mine she's been helpful and supportive and has been great!! I know it'll be quite hard but I'd say do it then forget about the cash and be glad it did not escalate further?! My money loss has been about ten grand and I've let down some friends and family who I borrowed money from!! Time to take it on the chin.. Tell myself off for not realising I was getting into a hole and time to change before.. Your right it's 'not to late'

Thanks for the feedback Guys. No urges whatsoever to throw any more of my money away. Just gonna knuckle down, get some overtime in at work and put my savings back in order. Signed up for a few big runs in the area to give my a focus on training which should help. Stay strong All 🙂 there's only ever one winner in all of this and it ain't us !!! Remember that

Brillant Nottolate

Seems you're well on the way to keeping away from gambling

Pleaee be aware that the addiction being a progressive one may come back. Might not but just be aware.

Positive intentions enjoy your life

Hi, 7.5k is a lot of money but it's NOTHING compared to what you'll lose if you carry on the chase. You'll lose everything you have, money, your partner, your family, friends, and your mind. Right now your brain will tell you lies as it withdraws from gambling, it will say you can win your money back, you can win it back plus thousand more, it's a lie. Quit now and you've won the jackpot, to be 7.5k down is better than most on here believe me. Try to get to a GA meeting if you can, you'll be able to talk to people who understand. Keep busy, make achievable goals and that will be a great start. You're not alone.

This is my first post on this forum. I read your thread and it is a very similar story to my one.

I was winning most of my bets, every time I had a loss I would find a way to break even. I had won about £800 over the course of the World Cup so always knew I could dig that deep without feeling too badly about it. I've lost £3,000 in the last week which is just so much more than I could stomach losing.

Now I know if I try and claw it back, that I have a good chance of doing that. Deposit another £6,000 of my own savings, put £3,000 on two of the dozens on roulette, I've more than 60% chance of getting it back and getting rid of this sickening feeling. But the risk of losing another £6,000 - I just can't take that so I've taken advice from GamCare today...

My point is this though, the idea of telling my girlfriend how much I had lost, scared the life out of me. She works long hard nightshifts to make rubbish money and I've frittered away £3,000! I had to tell her though, and I did. She was supportive and made me feel much better about it.

My advice would be to tell your other half, that way you don't have to live with a secret... I think keeping it secret is a very large part of the problem. It's easier to keep going back to it when you don't have the consequence of coming clean over you...

Sound advice goodbyechips. Maybe then this sick feeling will go away. Part of me says, say nothing and just put the money back in the account as I'm the only person who has access to it or knows what's in it. The other part tells me that she deserves to know and after the initial upset may be able to support me through this.

At the end of the day, it's your own money to spend how you want, even if it's in a bad way!! If you keep it secret and don't take the hit with her it might be easier to relapse.. Tough call! Total nightmare, I feel for you mate.

In my experience keeping a secret is a disaster when it comes to gambling better to bring it out in the open and face it together as gambling has a habit of thriving on secrets and lies. When I first came on here I scoffed at this notion but addictive gambling is a sneaky so and so. So making your better half aware of your problem means two can fight it rather than down the road you do more money.

Many thanks. I was 'clean' for 9 years before this relapse. Hurts like hell that I ever went back and I feel such a fool. Will she be so understanding this time? (it's the same girl, now Wife) I may just have to find out. Just goes to show though that you think you have this sucker beat and it bites you right in the backside years later 🙁 Staying strong

I appreciate you're no stranger to recovery but it may be a helpful reminder to have a quick look @ Mr Brightside's exit post in the 2014 challenge!

Only you can decide what is right for you in telling her or not but we all know that staying stopped is your main priority! This is a slip, a hell of a slip admittedly but it's done & it can't be undone - I'm pretty sure you were in a very different position 9 years ago! I'm very sorry to hear about your Dad & your Aunty 🙁 Don't punish yourself anymore than you have been, put this behind you & get back on with your recovery - ODAAT

Thanks ODAAT. Big part of me wants to say something and should of done earlier but we lost her mum after my dad and she worries about the effect that had on her elderly dad. I maybe looking for excuses here not to tell her but do I really want to heap this on her as well ? She's such a loving, kind person who thinks I left that life behind long ago. My train of thought at the moment tells me to replace the money and sit down with her once it's behind me to explain the last 12 months. She may understand or she may wish I'd told her at the time. We shall see.

Thanks again for the advice. staying strong, no urges to gamble and focused on the recovery of myself and my savings 🙂 hope your doing good also.

Have just read MrBrightsid's closing comments on the 2014 challenge. Reason number one was not lost on me either. Thanks for the prompt. I will tell her, I've promised myself. Just not ready at the mo. Thanks again