Boxing Day 1

Hi Boxingdayfresh,

It doesn’t matter that you’ve had a blip. At least you are being honest with yourself and that’s all we can be.

You can kick it.

CJ.

Clare I am so sorry to read of your gambling episode. You seem to have the same problem as me, in that we both go for periods without gambling and than throw away all our good work! The main thing is that you don't give up trying and while you still have hope than you are not beaten. Take heart from the fact that you gave up smoking and that really takes some doing.

I assume you either found a site that was not covered by Gamstop or you ventured off to the bingo hall. Whatever it was, I hope you can take steps to stop it happening again.

When all is said and done it is now a part of your past so let it go and move on. Take good care of yourself and enjoy the weekend. It's going to be nice and warm so get out and about and put gambling out of your mind.

Maybe in your imagination you can visit the little girl who many years was upset at losing her money in the amusement arcade. You can tell her that one day everything will be fine and the gambling will stop ...Stephen x

Thanks for the posts on my diary - it’s heartwarming to know there’s people who care as in life I don’t always discuss these things - I prefer to keep it to myself. I did go to the bingo hall Stephen - you’re right. However I do have Gamstop in place to prevent any online gambling for five years. I know that without that I would’ve gone straight online and wasted more to Chase the losses. I’ve had a gamble free weekend and have no intentions of chasing my losses at the bingo. It’s a tough thing to crack this gambling problem. I’m getting there and I don’t see it as undoing all my hard work as the days counter is important but I’m still a long way down the path to a gamble free future. Best wishes to anyone here reading and thanks again for the posts it is always welcome and appreciated.

Back on two days gamble free. Tough times recently - found myself back in the bingo. Had enough and won’t be going back there again now.

Day four

Day ten

Checking in day 15

Day one again - enough is enough I’m ready to give it up and never go back to gambling. Going to stay off the 2019 challenge for now due to too much turbulence at the moment. But this has got to be the straw that broke the camels back as my life is going nowhere and I’m getting deeply unhappy with my current situation and future. I can see beyond the mounting debt but ONLY if I never gamble again. Four years of debt repayments ahead of me but after that I can see a brighter future . This HAS to be a fresh start .

Hi BoxingDay,

Sorry you have gambled again.

What do you think made you break your streak? You got to about day 17/18.

CJ.

Hi CJ

I think I just couldn’t control the urge to go along to the bingo and play on the slots. I wanted to gamble. I didn’t have the strength to say no and ride out the urges. It’s a long long journey this and I am in a situation where I stay strong for varying amounts of time but ultimately I keep going back to waste more money that I haven’t got. This ends up in me getting further into debt. It’s a vicious cycle and one that I can never seem to break out of fully. Next payday I’m going to give up my debit card and pass to a friend who knows about my problem for safe keeping.

I’ve only found myself with problems where I have taken my card with me to the bingo and then I’ve just kept making withdrawals from the cash machine in there. I’m going to withdraw enough cash to last me the month when I get paid and put the money into weekly envelopes that I open to spend each Friday. I think this could be something different for me to try. Nothing changes if nothing changes as the saying goes.

If ur going to do that give the envelopes to that friend to give to u each week no earlier.

​

Hi,

Thanks for answering my question. I don’t think the envelopes will work as I feel you will go back to the betting we the money will be with you.

Does your mobile device have Apple Pay or google pay?

If so you could potentially get around the betting by carrying only a small amount of cash from on you at all times. I limited myself to £10.

The bingo halls are very clever in the way they operate. They make you walk through the fruit machines as you walk into the halls.

If i was you and you are serious about kicking this addiction I’d see about excluding yourself from the bingo halls. That way you know you will be thrown out which for me would be mortifying.

CJ.

Hi Adam and cj. Thanks for posting and your advice too it’s always welcome. I hadn’t thought of using Apple Pay. I don’t know much about how it works and whether it’s accepted everywhere but I’m going to look into it. I have a credit card that can’t be used to withdraw cash but only use it for food and petrol. Alternatively I could give the cash to a friend. I really can’t face the embarrassment of self exclusion in the bingo. It’s about time they made the whole banning procedure easier for all gambling establishments. If it could be done by uploading a photo online and filling in the details I’d do it in a flash. My biggest issue is really when I go to the bingo with my bank card. This is going to be avoided completely - I’ll look into different solutions to make it impossible and make my decision over what will be best ...

Checking in on day 8 gamble free

Hi again,

How much does it cost to go to the bingo these days? £20?

How often did you win? Probably rarely.

How long did the bingo last? 2 hours?

I guess what I am saying is we all need an escapism, it’s finding what we can do to fill the gaps.

Me I’ve found films and tv shows are helping along with music. I’ve bought a cinema pass which is £17.99 to see anything I fancy. I think I’m up to 5 films so far doe for month. What’s bizarre is I ummmed and ahhhhhed over it for about a week yet never thought about ploughing £200 or £500 in a FOBT. Strange eh?

Are there any sports you could play or go to the gym?

I think if we can remove the urge by fulfilling our time with other things we enjoy then we move away from the gambling and enjoy the moments away from the screen rolling and making the special singing notes of a feature.

CJ.

PS well done on day 8