Day One

Hi there

The best of luck with your recovery.

Your amongst friends here who know what your going through.

Post everything every day. Every hour if you have to.

It is very very hard at times but there are hundreds of people here who have kicked this madness.

Kevin

hi does your girlfriend know about your gambling its best to come clean, I been gambling for 12 years gambling on roulette machines in bookies.

I no longer want to gamble any more my uncle mick died a week ago and he used to be a gambler ex gambler he stopped in his 40s I think, if he can do it so can I give up. my parents know that I gambled and my sister and my brother.

I did tell her about it 18 months ago. She was supportive but I relapsed 8/9 months ago and she was not happy at all. I feel like I should just not tell her at the minute. Ok I lost 900 but we still have enough for the house and as long as I stop now things will improve.

I have just opened a savings account with her. I am going to move the money I have left to that so she can keep an eye on it and that way I wont be tempted to use it for gambling. I have also asked for my credit limit to be halved so that If I do lapse the damage will not be so bad.

Just been looking at flights to spend a small bit of money rather than it sitting there to gamble. Wonder if this is a good idea?

Hi there,

Welcome to recovery!

It's so good that you have come here and recognised that you've made a mistake - which can be turned round - before it's too late.

If you need to book a flight then do it, but part of the reward during recovery is being able to learn to appreciate money again and it can be enjoyable watching your money get saved because it's yours and they can't get their greedy hands on it!

Please allow yourself some time to recover, enjoy the simple things in life which will bring you the most pleasure. Try and remember what brought you pleasure before gambling took hold.

Stay well away from anything related to gambling. I'm on day four and the urges have decreased tenfold so it is possible.

Focus on your future and your girlfriend.

Laura.

Told my girlfriend last night. Luckily she was massively supportive but still cant help feeling terrible for letting her down.

I have asked her to inspect my accounts every couple of days to check that I am not straying.

We have a mortgage appointment later and I am bricking it that we will be rejected. I have had a mortgage for 7 years and never missed a payment. I have also paid my credit card balance in full each month for at least last 3 years but I am worried that these large credit card transactions for gambling will go against me and prevent us from getting a mortgage together.

Morning.

Well done on taking that step, it's easier to journey with the support of somebody else.

Regarding the mortgage, it shouldn't affect it in my experience - I had a mortgage just over a year ago and everything went through fine but I had gambling transactions taking place on my account daily.

So long as you are up to date with payments, I believe that is the most important thing.

Why don't you check your credit rating to see what the banks might be able to see about you, for peace of mind?

Equifax do a statutory report for £2 which you can pay for online and should be able to see instantly.

Might help to spur you on a bit.

Good luck.

Laura

Thanks. Was that your bank account or credit card if you don't mind me asking?

I'd gambled on both. But when I had a big loss on my credit card and managed to win it back and break even I vowed to never gamble on there again.

The credit card companies see it as a cash advance I believe, so wouldn't necessarily go against you; I guess they are more interested in knowing whether you are making payments on time.

From then on I gambled with my debit card and savings, always online, which is why I believe I had so many problems as you can't see the money.

So from my experience you should be fine if you don't have any blemishes on your record.

Well good news is that got agreed in principle. Such a relief just need to keep on the right path now and stay there.

That's great news!

The motivation is definitely there to stay on the straight and narrow path.....

Now your girlfriend knows, you need to be strong for her and your future.

Don't let them win and keep your guard up, these first few days are the hardest.

Back again. Move went through and we have a lovely house now. Have been good for almost a year but last week slipped and played a machine. Won 15 quid which isn't much but told me I can play them safely. Big mistake as I went to play again and lost 200 quid. Really thought this was behind me?

Definitely I want to keep it.

I maybe should have come back sooner but I think it may have saved me more money today. I deposited money on a site as well and luckily I saw the bookmak for this page when reloading a web page. That made me stop and post here. After the [post I went back to the gambling site and withdrew the deposit and asked customer services for self exclusion.

Great choice today 🙂

This is a minor blip, don't ruin what you have 'earned' in the last year by throwing more money @ your losses! You know how to do recovery, you have too much to lose now to mindlessly throw it away! Maybe download a blocker just to be on the safe side!

You've proved you can do this...There is no such thing as playing safely but you can choose to win each day by not placing a bet!

Time to start choosing 'No' again - ODAAT

Thanks ODAAT. Emotions a bit all over the place at the moment. Still lurching from thinking about going out and chasing to accepting its gone and to not make it worse.