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Right seems to be sorted. Dave thanks for posting. Feel more positive today infact my only negative thoughts are to get my debt repaid asap. Have thrown myself into training again as I've 9 weeks to my holidays and want to get a bit of weight off. I have a half marathon tomorrow so I might as well replace one negative addiction with another more positive one. It's payday midnight Monday and I'm looking forward to having money again. I have a tight budget this month so it'll take a lot of focus to get through the month on what I will have. I am determined to do it though and adamant that betting will not take place. It's DAY 5 and I will not bet today.
Nipped thanks for posting and read your points with interest. Glad u could reduce your debt and get it to a more manageable sum. For me the only option is to repay in full what I owe. Only then will I appreciate that gambling can't play any part I my life and whilst I have that debt I can remain focused on achieving my objective. I can understand the rationale behind replacing the Fobts with football bets as I honestly believe it is not as addictive or destructive but for me it was difficult not to do one without the other therefore the only option was complete abstinence!
Joydivider sorry you have came off the wagon. I understand the gauntlet of emotion that creates as I've been in that position. Try to recognise what lead you to succumb and see in future if you can avoid the same mistakes. Rome wasn't built in a day but as long as your on the right path then the setbacks are just minor bumps in the road and not a brick wall. Keep the faith and get back on the wagon. I am only DAY 5 so you are not far behind me if you start again now! Do it and see if we can all beat this addiction together. It's DAY 5 for me and I will not bet today!
Day 5 has been a productive gamble free day. Dinner at Frankie and B's with my soon to be 9 year old and a trip to see the 3D Jurassic World. A more worthwhile way to spend my hard earned money. There's a whole lot more to life than spending it chasing losses!
Nice one Husky - what often amazes me is how much you can do with a tiny fraction of what was fed into the machines or staked on the spin of a wheel online. You mention chasing losses which is all people are doing - the moment you stake an amount of money on the wheel you are down financially so need a win to sometimes just put you equal again. It's ridiculous really and little wonder people lose!
Anyway you haven't gambled today and when you get to tomorrow can say 'I will not gamble today' again.
Get back on the wagon joy divider......I know £150 hurts, a lot, and to be honest whether it had been £1.50 you would still of kicked yourself, if you had won you would of been back in there when you wanted more treats etc etc.....you just cannot win long term, so why gamble bud?? Best of luck, fresh start!!
top stuff huskydawg.....best of luck with the half marathon mate!!! I also have replaced gambling with exercise, in my 4 months I have found it helps immensely, and totally understand what you are saying on the meal and cinema and as Daveuk said it's amazing how far your money can go, the 20s fall into the FOBT machines but travel further.....I find I am finally starting to realise the value of money, and how a days work pay means more really than 2 minutes (I'm being too generous with 2 minutes tbh) on a machine.
it seems like you are beating yourself up on your debts a bit, don't let that weigh in your mind too much, to be honest I think you may find the first month the hard bit, but once you get to the next payday you will see the real benefit of a gamble free month and hopefully a bit more spare cash to throw at your debt.......the simple fact is it will be going down at whatever rate, better than it going up up up!!!
if you don't sleep well after a half marathon tomorrow mate then you are in trouble!!!!! Best of luck and let us know how ya get on!!!
Hi all
Just read this thread (my first on the site). This all hits home as what I was like 12 months ago. Losing all money I had and missing out on so much in my life.
I actually lost all the friends I grew up with because of gambling, I borrowed a friends card on day to get twenty quid out of the bank while we were out drinking. The urges of the cash machine being next to a l*******s kicked in and I used the card to gamble over £500. Although I paid it back the nexday day my friends (ex) could not see why I would do that and majority fell out with me. I can fully appreciate why.
Fast forward 3 years and I was stillgambling. At this point I was living in a lovely new village with new friends a partner I loved and a 1 year old daughter. I was gambling the odd hundred here and there. One night a trigger of my gambling kicked in, my dad had a heart attack. I was at my partners dads birthday at the time, I made my excuses and went home alone. Armed with our joint account details straight after payday I joined a bookies online and proceeded to lose 2k. The ironic thing is on my last £100 spin I won 3k, but lost it all again.
The above was the final nail in my gambling coffin. I was distraught. Not at what I had done, the fact I had nothing left to gamble. I had to tell the misses the next day and also told her mum, dad, sister and my mum. This was the best thing I ever did.
I looked around the internet and found councilling. As sceptical as I was at the start, this is the best thing you can do. I have changed from a trembling mess who would use any excuse to gamble to somebody with control.
I am a gambling addiction, always will be. Just one difference now - I don't want to gamble so don't. I don't know the pin to our cashcard I don't wanna know. I don't buythings online as don't want temptation. There's so many silly things I don't do.
Don't get me wrong I have had the odd slip up in the year but probably only to the tune of £150 in twelve months. Used to lose that in a spin.
It's not easy but I strongly recommend getting councilling or merely picking up the phone and speaking to gamcare. The first step is the hardest but slowly but surely you will regain self pride.
Sorry for the lengthy post, its only a small portion of what I could tell. Gambled for 16 years, God know how much lost. The highs felt good, the lows felt worse. The best - feeling 'normal'(there is no such thing)
Folks as always thanks for the posts of support and advice. It's good to know that there are others in the same boat. Day 6 and I will not gamble today!
Huskydawg placed 315 in 01:52:12 Halfway 00:53:53
I might have more will power resolve and character than I thought. Day 6 no gambling and half marathon completed. #nevergiveup
Wow, that's a cracking time huskydawg......would of got some decent odds on that haha well done mate!!!! Top effort!! You have got to sleep like a baby tonight!!!! Week tomorrow of no gambling, keep it up!!! Keep marching on to two now, another week and I'm almost 5 months in, in a much better place this Friday than I was last Friday!!
hello Waxy, completely agree with everything you said in your post mate, I think we have all done desperate things in our addicted state, a lot of things that mates, understandably, don't tolerate or understand.
i agree counselling helped me to a degree, getting worries off your chest and to help break things down so they don't get too much, and more to give me the balls to self exclude etc. I am also learning myself to have a healthy fear of gambling which is quite nice.....prefer that to that "kid at Christmas" feeling before you walk in the bookies most days.....and the guaranteed "if I borrow this from this account, pay this to them and pay them when this comes in blah blah blah" feeling in my mind for the rest of the week.
Good points Pompey and if I don't sleep tonight there is something amiss. I am spent! When I gambled I spent days rejiggering my finances to cover what I lost. You could laugh if it wasn't so farcical. It was like I was robbing Peter to feed Paul. Taking a bit out of here and reducing a payment there.....only todo the exact same thing again the following week rendering my reshaping of finances worthless. It's amazing the endorphin rush you get when you start feeding a few notes into an FOBT or when you get confirmation that your debit card deposit online has been approved. After that though it's all downhill. Even if you win you are going to spin again and again because you need to fed the beast. I watched a fella playing them last week and other customers were laughing at his antics. The continually swearing and hitting of the machine, not being able to look as the wheel spins then cursing your luck again. Becoming more and more agitated and increasingly reckless. Lifting out more cash to chase losses then driving home screaming at yourself for losing it all AGAIN. I felt sorry for the fella but then thought he's me every other week. I'm sure the staff must have looked at me as if I was mental such was my mannerisms when under pressure.
Day 7
This time last week I was in the process of blowing £500 playing roulette. That's not me or what I'm about anymore. I will not bet today!
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