I have gambled on and off on sports betting, I am not in debt but quite skint. At the start of the month I had £2,800 in my account, now I only have £454 in my account, in effect losing £2,000.
It was only 4 weeks ago, I was up 1,000 pounds from betting on sports. Most of my winnings were on the NBA basketball, but I had won money on other sports. I have lost all of my winnings plus my own money.
Just one week ago, I entered a never ending losing streak; being 1k up, I thought that this was going to be temporary. I always had bad runs, but they never reached the level where I could not even win one bet for a prolonged period of time. The pattern generally was where I would have 2 to 3 losses, followed by 4-5 wins, ultimately I would be up. Only this time, I must have lost 20 bets in the row, bets that I would not think would lose at all such as Sareena Williams losing the French open final, to Roger Federer getting beaten at the ATP Stuttgurt which is on his favourite surface - grass. On both bets I lost £400 and £60 repectively.
Everything that could possibly go wrong, went wrong. The bookies heavy favourites would lose, tipsters that I follow who have a high win percentage, would lose when I decided to follow their picks.
I am sitting here depressed, wondering why I didn't quit when ahead. I had budgeted my whole month around my winnings, that has gone out of the window. I was chasing my losses - doubling my bets. There is still that temptation to try and win small amounts back, especially now that the euros are on, to prevent this I have put a cooling period on my account. I am also trying to figure out why my luck dramatically turned around...Another time, Federer would have won, so would have Sareena and I would be 600 up.
What is the best way to move forward? I have read some of the stories here, it is horrifying to see the level of debt people get themselves into. Is it possible to win at sports betting?
Hi Darkhorse - thanks for sharing your story. All I can say is based on my experiences of sports betting... anything can happen... and it does! I have lost HUGE sums over the past years. It's not worth the stress. Get out while you can. Good luck sir.
Change wrote:
Hi Darkhorse - thanks for sharing your story. All I can say is based on my experiences of sports betting... anything can happen... and it does! I have lost HUGE sums over the past years. It's not worth the stress. Get out while you can. Good luck sir.
Before coming here, I did a quick google search to see if money can be made sports betting, and found that most people that get into debt are those who play roulette (or the casino). I found very little google about people getting in debt by sports betting, but more on the latter. So I thought that it is a safer form of gambling. When I was on a good run, I started to think that I could use it to make additional income.
How much money have you lost sports betting?
darkhorse2016 wrote:
[quote=Change]
Hi Darkhorse - thanks for sharing your story. All I can say is based on my experiences of sports betting... anything can happen... and it does! I have lost HUGE sums over the past years. It's not worth the stress. Get out while you can. Good luck sir.
Before coming here, I did a quick google search to see if money can be made sports betting, and found that most people that get into debt are those who play roulette (or the casino). I found very little google about people getting in debt by sports betting, but more on the latter. So I thought that it is a safer form of gambling. When I was on a good run, I started to think that I could use it to make additional income.
How much money have you lost sports betting?
Suffered relapse, the euros made me tempted to bet on England, so I did for them to win - they drew. I have since lost £90 🙁
Absolutely broke now for the rest of the month. Self excluded my accounts online.
Update:
I have replapsed twice, first Euros then the Olympics. I decided to bet on the Olympics to make it more entertaining,and because I have a trip abroad next month with my GF and wanted to make some extra money. It backfired.
Since I last posted, I am now -800 in my overdraft where my big losses came from heavy favourites having upsets. Yesterday I lost £100 from USA volleyball team losing to Serbia (underdogs) and the day before that I lost £150 from Nick Krigous losing to a lowly ranked player in Tennis. Both were well on their way to winning, but then lost the lead right at the end.
The general pattern would be where I would win for a while, then I would go on a losing streak where everything I betted on would lose resulting in me losing more money than I have won. Or I would win a bunch of small bets, then lose a big bet on a heavy favourite.
I have since realised that I can't win at this and have decided to quit. I feel ashamed of myself that I got carried away. I have told my GF that I am in debt (although not exactly why), she has been understanding. In total I have lost over the years over 3,000 at the bookies. I do not gamble frequently, but infrequently where I go on a binge.
It's the first day since I have stopped gambling, I will keep posted of my progress here. Yesterday was the first night where I did not place a bet since the Olympics started and I woke up for working feeling very refreshed. Previously, my sleep wouldn't be great from worrying about the bet during my sleep.
As someone commented earlier do you want to stop gambling or just stop losing? From the outside looking in if you continue its only going to get worse. You had won before and gave them it all back plus more this is classic compulsive gambler behaviour! Chasing your losses betting on things link volleyball?!??! I think your still in the infancy of stopping and your still having thoughts of backing odds on favourites as its "easy money" or that you've won loads before and can do it again, all I can say is stop! Stop before it gets worse,stop before you get into serious debt,stop before the lying and deceit begins,stop before the mood swings start. Sorry for rambling on a bit but if your serious then self exclude from bookies and all online options etc Remember we can't win because we can't stop! I wish you well in your recovery, good luck
New beginning wrote:
As someone commented earlier do you want to stop gambling or just stop losing? From the outside looking in if you continue its only going to get worse. You had won before and gave them it all back plus more this is classic compulsive gambler behaviour! Chasing your losses betting on things link volleyball?!??! I think your still in the infancy of stopping and your still having thoughts of backing odds on favourites as its "easy money" or that you've won loads before and can do it again, all I can say is stop! Stop before it gets worse,stop before you get into serious debt,stop before the lying and deceit begins,stop before the mood swings start. Sorry for rambling on a bit but if your serious then self exclude from bookies and all online options etc Remember we can't win because we can't stop! I wish you well in your recovery, good luck
I have decided to completely stop, previously I had the idea that 'I could stop losing as much' and still be ahead whilst having fun watching sports. It just didn't work.
Indeed the temptation is still there, which is why I am posting my day to day progress on here to help me get through it.
I have started my abstainence from today onwards.
P.S.
It wasn't only volleyball, even in sports I knew about tennis, basketball I lost money. For example, in the tennis Venus and Sareena Williams got knocked out of the doubles to unknowns...they were defending olympic champions previously.
i too gambled on volleyball, i had a spreadsheet and database on it along with several other sports. I tried to limit my spending for a while before taking it seriously and stopping all forms of gambling. I have more blocks in place than a lego factory and keep adding to them, kim SE from 98 bookies soon be 100 lol, have clocking software, handed over my finances and provide recipts for what i do spend, attend GA at least once a week, read on here and post regulary and attend chat.
What im trying to say is put the effort in and you can get through it, forget about the money and time lost, its gone you cant get either back.
Keep reading and posting it helps.
KTF
​Hello
​I just read your post and may be able to offer you some useful advice.
​I've been betting on sports events for many years now. Mainly football and tennis but at times just about anything. I study carefully until I've convinced myself of both the outcome and the fact I have an edge. I've had many good days along the way. In fact at times I thought it the perfect way of life. Easy money. However, this I always short lived. Eventually I got so badly in debt that the only bets that interested me were events I considered almost certain. In other words instead of looking for value I bet on very short prices. For example, here is my last disaster. I decided Brazil were a very good thing in the men's Olympic football. I studied all the factors carefully. The location, players available, interviews- in general just about everything there was to learn. Now in the past, before I racked up huge debts, I would simply back Brazil to win the gold medal. Now however I cant di that because there is a chance in my mind they won't win. Instead I decided to bet on individual matches. In the first game I backed them at odds of 1/6 (0-0) and then after convincing myself they couldn't possibly fail to beat Iraq lumped in ay 1/10. Again to my horror it finished 0-0. I didn't back them again after that. They beat Denmark, in my opinion a better team by far, 4-0 in the next game with 2 of the first team suspended. So I've lost a significant amount of money and they will probably still win the tournament. Can you think of anything more stupid than what I decided to do? Because I was frightened to lose...
​I could give you many examples but that was the last. I'm betting scared because of debt.
​Can you win at sports betting? Well probably if you know the right people and you are very strict with how you bet. However, in general you will just go on runs of winning and losing. The trouble is that when you lose, you really lose.
​My advice from the heart would be STOP!
​It doesn't sound like you have bad debts yet and it certainly doesn't sound like your life is destroyed.
​Try to get back to just watching sport, instead of thinking of a sports event in terms of odds and gambling. I'm guessing that's where you are right now. I did the same. A cup final or tennis match became a betting opportunity, not a sporting event.
​Please, don't follow my path. There is more to life.
​Best of luck!
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That is a point very well made there messed up.
I went down a similar route myself once over.... Heavy betting on certs, I would utilise the cash out option as much as I could, but you eventually end up staking large sums of money for little return.... Big risk!!
You can win time and time again, but 1 loss is effectively worth 5-10 bets! With me I discovered I wasn't betting to win money, it was more to add interest... Waiting for a goal notification on my phone or watching some foreign rubbish on tv knowing every match has an outcome and many betting opportunities!
The reality is yes.... You can make money, BUT..... Are you strong enough to keep hold of it? I think not judging by the fact you (and all the rest of us) are here!!
If you win you simply win the chance of making another bet, and with that probably an even bigger one!!
My advice would be stop before it gets harder, because believe me, when the lies start and the borrowing your personal life will suffer greatly!
I wish everyone well on their journeys.... I'm on day 47 today, and I take more pride in the fact I'm here to boast a gamble free run, as opposed to celebrating a big win that will soon be gone!
Keep up the good work guys
I've seen rooms of people who thought they had systems to win. Can people win at gambing? Sure. The internet is filled with people proclaiming that gambling has made them rich. My question to myself is can I control my gambling. My answer is I'm powerless over it. That's my answer. If someone else reading this comes up with a different answer, i'd say good luck to you but know that if and when you want to stop, the help's there for you.
Thank you everyone for your posts.
N22cks - it seems like you and I both had the same tactic. An overview of what happened to me:
If a bet was going bad, I would cash out, only for the bet to go on and win. The bookies end up winning since I end up cashing a % of my stake. When I didn't cash out, the bet of course will then go onto lose.
For tennis, I would look at the percentage of service points won on these gambling sites and bet on games, up until I put the bet on the player to win their service game they were winning and then once I put the bet on got broken.
Lost my biggest money as mentioned before on favourites, where they would be upsetted.
Anyway, my personal life has been affected, I am counting down the days till my next pay check, and I am surviving on my CC right now after going 1k into my overdraft. I am glad the Olympics are over, the temptation has gone down, but I feel absolutely depressed at what I have done. My friends from abroad came to town and wanted to meet up, but I kept on making excuses not to see them so that I would not spend money since I spent that money at the bookies before I stopped!
Gambling is garbage , if I hadn't of done this I would have 4k+ worth of savings right now. Rather, I am in debt by -1k in my Overdraft, surviving on my CC where i am £37 into it.
n22cks wrote:
That is a point very well made there messed up.
I went down a similar route myself once over.... Heavy betting on certs, I would utilise the cash out option as much as I could, but you eventually end up staking large sums of money for little return.... Big risk!!
You can win time and time again, but 1 loss is effectively worth 5-10 bets! With me I discovered I wasn't betting to win money, it was more to add interest... Waiting for a goal notification on my phone or watching some foreign rubbish on tv knowing every match has an outcome and many betting opportunities!
The reality is yes.... You can make money, BUT..... Are you strong enough to keep hold of it? I think not judging by the fact you (and all the rest of us) are here!!
If you win you simply win the chance of making another bet, and with that probably an even bigger one!!
My advice would be stop before it gets harder, because believe me, when the lies start and the borrowing your personal life will suffer greatly!
I wish everyone well on their journeys.... I'm on day 47 today, and I take more pride in the fact I'm here to boast a gamble free run, as opposed to celebrating a big win that will soon be gone!
Keep up the good work guys
Day 4:
Still waiting for all of the money in my bank account to clear following my gambling exploits. As a measure to relieve financial stress, I spoke to an old friend of mine, told him the situation (that I gambled) and asked him if he could lend me some money to ease the pressure. He agreed to lend me £200 to help me get through the month. I have not gambled since, but the damage has been done and now the reality is setting in that I screwed up badly. Feeling extremely down and depressed - my other friend who I didn't meet up with has not responded to my message after I informed her I couldn't see her on the weekend. I guess I have lost a friend. The temptation to gamble is no longer as strong as it was, and has been replaced with depression and feeling unworthy.
Hang in there,nobody said the recovery was going to be easy. It's a process and takes time but ultimately worth it. Luckily I have still have a great group around but that's mainly cos most of them weren't aware of how bad I was. I borrowed money from just about everyone but managed to pay it back and now it's just a vast bank debt I owe through loans credit cards and overdrafts. The truth is your doing the right thing and if there a true friend then they'll come around. After deciding to quit I think a lot of us go through the regret and what if stage thinking about the money we've lost the time we've wasted and how we may have hurt people etc but you've got to start somewhere. You sound like a decent guy who just got caught up in things like most of us. Sneaks up on you sadly. Hang in there better days are coming 🙂
Hi,
I too have a sports betting addiction similar to yours.
Betting on favourites, going on winning and losing streaks.
In the end the losing streaks always outweigh the winnings because you are unable to control the urge to stop.
I haven't deposited or bet online for 2 weeks now and it gets easier. I am starting to enjoy watching football without the need to bet on it. I've deleted all betting apps on my phone and self excluded from every site I know of, this has helped massively. Even when I have the inevitable urge to bet it means I can't.
The depression should clear when your finances are eased a little. If you can hold on until payday then you may feel much better. I had mine recently (and although it is tough as you now have the money to gamble with), you are able to pay off some debts, go socialise with friends and ultimately keep your mind off gambling.
Good luck with your recovery mate.
Perry
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