fresh start

No I’m not gambling online. 

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Keep fighting this man. Please don't give up and give in to the gambling. Stay strong for your daughter and those around you who love you and want you to come through this. And also for yourself of course. You're better than gambling mate ?

Feel a bit better after excluding from all betting shops within a 15 miles radius. Even the small outlets. I had been excluded from all the near by ones but the exclusion had ran out. It will be nice to drive past the one round the corner and not get an urge to go in. Out tonight with a few lads from work one a spurs fan the other a Liverpool fan. Can’t stand Liverpool ever since they pinched a few players off us years ago. So come on the spurs 

Definitely mate wasn’t only that took all the comments on board. I didn’t think it would be so easy to exclude using the multi exclusion thought I’d be on phone ages. Only on for about 10 mins sent a photo and a picture of my driving licence in an email within 2 hours got a confirmation saying it’s gone threw. But you can’t believe the weight lifted off me mined knowing I can’t just pop to William hills or pop in when driving past. It’s not fool proof but feel goods

Hey man

I think you should be mega proud of the steps youve taken today. That's the start of a proper recovery. Every time you add to your recovery whether it be through exclusion or face-to-face support or seeing money in your wallet that you had from last week or even taking up new hobbies to fill the gambling time, whatever... That weight lifted feeling comes each time you add to your recovery and gives you a sign youre making the right moves.

Was thinking about the £2 FOBT on the way home from work... 

If I throw a ball into a bucket from distance due to the level of skill and accuracy employed the ball may or may not go in the bucket. That seems like fair game to me.

With these machines now, if the bar is going up and down and you absolutely nail it in the green, it's not fair game - the machine will nudge up to the red more often that not because the dependants are not skill and accuracy, they are in fact the small sign in the corner of the machine that details the payout percentage of each one... In most cases it's 74%

It's not fair game at all... You may as well flush your hard earned money down the toilet.

The machine is engineered to take more than it gives out as the below 100% payout indicates. Once it has taken x + 10 it will pay out x

If you happen to catch the wave of a win on the machine due to gambling addiction we cannot stop playing, what goes up must come down of course so inevitably you will walk away at a loss. The operators know this and prey on people like us. Don't be the prey any longer.

It really is a waste of time.

Agreed?

Note: here's me going on like in some sort of FOBT guru, trust me mate I've blazed a lot of my time, effort and money on them

Here's the thing though, with a load of clean time behind me I CAN SEE CLEARLY now. Only with a load of clean time have I now been able to wake up and see them for what they really are.

If I wasn't a sick person like all of us on here I would have seen all this from the start.

It’s not all about what signalman says but I always appreciate he comments always will. I appreciate everybody comments. It’s about time I put total blocks in place I hadn’t before. I left options open where as this multi self exclusion is really good

So mate

At the beginning it's going to be mega tough not to play those machines, your body and mind will be yearning to play them, you will try and trick yourself with things like "just a nibble on them"

Luckily with the blanket exclusion in place you have a measure to prevent you from succumbing. Please just ride it out if you can, find things to do that take your mind away from the machines when they come looking for you.

Remember they are just thoughts. You DONT have to act on them.

If you can ride out the initial period for sure the urges will become easier and easier to deal with and as you taste more and more freedom you will slowly leave the machine in the dust.

More money in your pocket, more time to spend with family, more self-esteem and pride. More to live for.

You can do this. Don't give in early on. Be strong.

To be honest no urge at all to play them signalman at the minute but I’m sure they be days when I do.Just recovering from the drink off last night but what a rubbish game it was. The thing with me is I worry about everything even the small things and gambling has caused great stress to my mental state. With not playing them machines hopefully my mind will be clear 

Just enjoying the cricket today. No gambling thoughts whatsoever 

Been at work all day and my daughter rings while I’m at work. Can I come over I started work at 7 and didn’t finish till 4. But I couldn’t say no so I picked her up after work with her brother. Been a long day but she my life my everything 

Day off chilled out day watching South Africa v India. I do encourage everybody to use multi self exclusion it just make sure you exclude from all the local betting shops and it save you going round everyone. The last time I self excluded I just went round the shops with a photo but I only did the main ones and left the small ones like Chisholm. So I always had a way to gamble but this time I have to travel over 15 miles.

Keep going! I hope you're going strong!!! Don't even consider testing the blanket exclusion, just assume it is working and in force!

Speaking from experience there after I self-exluded! Ha ha #delusionalthinking

Very strong mate. That’s all there is to say

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That's so brilliant to hear. Fair play

You will get your rewards soon if you hang in there. For sure ?

Thankyou for posting on my diary Boro.

I sincerely hope you can leave the gambling in the past and move on. It won't be easy by any means but it can be done.

I wish you and your loved ones happy days as you continue on your quest to be free from gambling.