Is it ok to just bet on sports????

Only you can honestly answer this question! Ask yourself how did you discover FOBTs in the first place? Was it by placing the innocent £5 bet! It is your perogative to do what you will but be very careful !

Take care

Hi Bones

I think that little gambling devil is on your shoulder right now nagging away at you saying "only a bet on the sports" "it wont do any harm". This is the addiction creeping back in. You know if you go to the bookies it will be very very hard to steer clear of the FOBTs and say for example you won some cash off that small 5 pound bet- could you walk out of the bookies without sticking a few quid into the machine?? Think about it- it will be that cycle all over again.

Sorry if I seem blunt but I think you should avoid at all costs. I have read your other posts and you mention that you lose control (as I do) when you start on those god forsaken machines so best thing would be to not ever put yourself in the near vicinity of one of them. Anyway I hope you do what is best for you and I wish you all the best x

Linda

Hey Bones,

This is EXACTLY the question I wish I'd asked of the forum at the beginning of the football season.

Like you, I am a CG, but on the road to recovery. Linda's words if wisdom apply to many of us on here. I made a "pact" with myself that I would not play the FOBT's and only put my football coupons on. First week went well, however, second week my coupon came up. I decided that because I was up I would just have a twenty quid flutter on the roulette.......you know what happened........lost the lot.

I then tried online because I couldn't go in the bookies..........put on my football bets........then lost the lot on the slots and roulette.

Approx £10k of losses since........plus the proceeds of a couple of decent wins on the football of a couple of grand.......I have now resigned myself to the fact that.......and you'll see his a lot by reading the diaries of a number of people on this site........I cannot win, because I cannot stop.

Ultimately it's your call mate.........and I can only speak from my own experience.......every recovery is different, every CG is different.

Good luck with whatever you decide........I'm 36 days free of the demon.

Mr Brightside

Hi there,

Interesting to read different opinions on this. Most people mention how they would put money in FOBTs after a win on football bet but I would suffer from doing the opposite. I couldn't handle the losing of last minute goals. That feeling of being cheated out of my winnings. After a near miss I would try and win my money back on the roulette. So chasing ten or twenty pounds could lead to losing 250 quid or more. Total Madness.

The longer you stop the crazier our old way of thinking and actions appear. You only experience this if you stop.

You are not giving anything up on the contrary you are providing yourself with the opportunity to live a happy and peaceful life without the stress of lost money and regret. Grab your chance.

Alcoholics don't enjoy the occasional drink. Drug addicts don't stop some drugs but continue taking others on their path to recovery. Total abstinence is the way forward for me.

Sadly, people like me and perhaps you only come to the above conclusion through experiencing bad times. It took a while and some heavy losses but eventually I realised that gambling brings nothing but grief.

Tomso.

Tomso.

If you want to stop you have to stop all of it. I seen so many people coming to the bookies just to place their little bet on football or horses.. but they cant just walk away past the machine without putting in the rest of the change.. which drags them in.. and all starts from £1 bet on your football accumulator.. that happened to me.. from a little football bet which led to losing way more..

because I work in the bookies I see people doing it, and as much as I try to stop them from doing it they still do it. and from customer service perspective I have to respect their decision.

if u are quiting, quit everything... thats what i'm doing now.. looking for ways to get out from this industry as it doesnt do any good to me anymore.. it is only disturbing my mind by slowing down my recovery..

good luck mate.

If you want to stop you have to stop all of it. I seen so many people coming to the bookies just to place their little bet on football or horses.. but they cant just walk away past the machine without putting in the rest of the change.. which drags them in.. and all starts from £1 bet on your football accumulator.. that happened to me.. from a little football bet which led to losing way more..

because I work in the bookies I see people doing it, and as much as I try to stop them from doing it they still do it. and from customer service perspective I have to respect their decision.

if u are quiting, quit everything... thats what i'm doing now.. looking for ways to get out from this industry as it doesnt do any good to me anymore.. it is only disturbing my mind by slowing down my recovery..

good luck mate.

Thankyou everyone for the replies and i hope ur all doing well.

I think i now know the answer to my question, went in bookies today to put a couple of quid on tonights football, i had £40 in my pocket and went on the FOBT got upto £130 left with nothing.

Feel like such an idiot i could of done so much with that money. Anyway im self excluding tomorrow so hopefully day 1 starts again tomorrow.