Starting again.

Hi mate,

I remember posting on your diary back a few usernames ago. God knows time flies when there is a quiet addiction taking up all our time. It may just be me, but I don't think I could open my heart to having a wife or girlfriend based on my current situation, I dislike hurting people as much as I dislike myself when I'm gambling.

Is the Chinese option still available? While the two semi-autonomous region of Macau and HK are a CG's nightmare, I believe much of China is actually quite the opposite when it comes to gambling opportunities.

All the best mate, rock bottom sucks and the climb out is often just as tough, god knows I've been there often enough.

All the best

Ryan

I actually predicted this loss, everyone did!..I even hovered over this site two days ago...I was really itching to gamble today and I did...A bad machine was just waiting for me to turn up...Guess what? I did, and it screwed me over...Something about these machines nags away at you and tells you it's possible to win...The guy next to me in the shop won?...Why can't I?....I know the answer, you can't win!!!....Even if you really win and temporarily beat the addiction ....Do you feel like a winner?...

I am dreading going to sleep and having to wake up to what I have done today....Goodnight all...

let it go.

Fella I could not think aof a more apt title.

Reading your post this morning chilled me to the bone, the fobt my nemisis, the thing that stole my excistence for too long, I had an episode in october, three hours of madness in 22 months and it gifted me something that those 22 months abstinence failed to do.

In all our lives there is a big picture and the paltry offerings you get from the fobt are in the scheme of things pretty small fry are they not??

Yes they may form a solution for a very small problem but they won't answer anything to the big one.

Could the fobt produce a win that would make you stop fella??

Or does the fobt gift your small wins to make you believe the next one will be the 'big one'

For me in reality I put more than 200k in those machines which in truth is a figure you simply could never win back, the maths does not add up, wage 200k for a maximum £500 payout.

It was the same all my gambling life, I would feed a fruit machine a weeks wages to watch the wheels go round!!

It is not the money, however much we stake and win it will never be enough.

As you rightly say on page one

I CANNOT WIN BECAUSE I CANNOT STOP

Fella make today the day you change that.

I DID WIN BECAUSE I DID STOP

Take all the help you can, me I self excluded from every bookies in pompey the day after I f****d up, it was great therapy.

I wish you well

thanks for sharing, another great lesson learnt

Duncs stepping forward never back.

Thanks Dunc....200K is certainly something for me to think about..I have to get over this and start again, completely stopping my gambling!! I guess I am lucky that I don't have these sorts of funds available to me...

Day 1.

I am going to be positive and WIN BACK MY LIFE.

I'm really angry about myself..Stuck in a rut at the moment...

I found this post...Interesting read..

.What are the chances that a gambler will win on a single day or over a longer period? Don't bother to ask the casinos. Although they gather vast quantities of data about their customers for marketing purposes, including win and loss tallies for many regulars, casinos keep such information a closely-guarded secret.

Jim Kilby, a former professor who has written three books on casino management, said the low number of winners among customers was surprising even to him, and should be educational to gamblers.

Although gamblers know the house has an edge, he said, "the average person doesn't understand the math" of the multiplier effect: "Casino games are nibbling machines, and the more nibbles you have, the bigger your losses."

The data clearly show that. The lightest gamblers—the 10% of customers who placed the fewest wagers over the two years—also had the highest winning percentage. About 17% of them ended up in the black—tough odds but still better than the dismal 5.4% winning percentage of the heaviest gamblers.

Among the whole group of 4,222 gamblers, just seven won more than $5,000 (€3,698) over the two years, while 217 lost more than $5,000. That's a 31-1 ratio of big losers to big winners.

Gambler No. 1357078, a Swiss man who was 56 years old when he opened his account, was a classic heavy gambler. He played an average of three days a week, typically placing more than 1,000 bets per day and averaging $9 per bet. He lost on 84% of the days he gambled, and over the two years gambled away more than $110,000.

Unless they cheat, about the only way gamblers can win at games of chance is to get lucky and then stop gambling.

That's how No. 1381787 emerged as the biggest overall winner. A 56-year-old Slovenian man, he typically placed only a few modest bets per day. Then he struck gold, twice winning more than $14,000 within 10 days. After suffering a partial setback, he stopped playing on the site, netting about $22,000.

A separate database covers poker play. Poker is partly a game of skill, and the outcomes reflect that. About one-third of the poker players classified as "most involved" by the Harvard researchers ended up winning money over time, while just 10% of the rest ended up in the black.

Despite the slim chance of winning shown by its own data, Bwin has been enticing gamblers on one of its sites to "play for huge rewards on classic casino games," adding "the odds are certainly in your favor!"

Joachim Haeusler, Bwin's responsible gaming manager, said the company provides entertainment and people shouldn't gamble "based on the idea to get rich, because they won't."

I would just like to say....if they are saying you wont get rich they should lower the stakes and stop letting people believe they have a good chance of winning...

Lastly, the machines recently generally have a pattern of win/lose episodes...

However, there is usually a rogue machine that will eat everything you have...That's when you and I hit rock bottom for the upteenth time...Let's hope we can get our lives back now.

Day 2.

Well I'm still in denial and blaming everyone else for my downturn. However, I know it is all my fault and repeated the trauma over and over again.

The wheel made for certain that I span and span until I was completely dizzy. I was so dazed the day I Lost. Up until that moment I felt I was in control.

I think that a part of me didn't want responsibility anymore? I never knew what to do with the money. If I spent it, it would be gone. Now it is gone.

There is no quick wins or fixes anymore, just an emptiness inside.

The thing is, now the time has come to bounce back larger than ever...

I have been inspired today by reading that; you are already the person who you always wanted to be! It is so true! I am hugely successful and so are you!

I also read that; it is better to be hated for the person you are, than be loved for the person you aren't ...This caption has got me thinking about 2 people in this very forum who are gridlocked with each other in the way that they are unique in dealing with compulsiveness.....

I believe the way we perceive ourselves can be the very thing that makes us unhealthy.. A useful tip is right now we are okay aren't we? Feels better doesn't it?

Let it go.

Fella an interesting read, there is plenty of information out there like it. For me a portion is not to healthy as it leaves us the compulsive gambler an avenue of blame. I don't believe it makes a difference if the machine is rogue or not we are the rogue, the rogue gambler. We cannot win because we cannot stop.

Regards the losses I relate to this tale greatly

Which is worse the millionaire footballer who waged his100 k a week salary and more until he had nothing or the window cleaner who took the laundry money and rather than do the washington waged it on the fobt?? They are equal in there devastation. Until they arrested there compulsion they both simply could not stop today I am privileged to share my GA room with them as equals.

For me addiction is a great leveller.

As for the peacocking on the two threads, the who can pee the furthest. With honesty I sadly before became embroiled in the same. The result it helps nobody. Least of all yourself.

Be kind to yourself fella. Two days you have beaten those odds. Life will continue with the streak. You just have to take the opportunity.

A fella said to me once

" all we are asking is you don't have a bet "

Apt. Healthy and very very true.

Duncs stepping forward never back.

I agree to some extent that it is our own fault..On the other hand, some experts disagree..

One expert says; the story of “problem gambling” is not just a story of problem gamblers; it is also a story of problem machines, problem environments, and problem business practices’.

I agree with this statement too..

It is a good idea to put the maximum stake to £2 on internet and in bookies. How they have been allowed to operate like this is appalling to say the least...

I take full responsibility for losing my huge stack of money...But now it is time the government tightens the industry..They have made their money and surely there won't be new waves of people losing everything.

Eventually, all that will be left is the ill compulsive gamblers. Even they have had enough.

Afternoon fella.

Glad you are thinking about things it is good for the soul.

My question is simply this

What would regulating a machine do for you?

Make you less of a compulsive gambler?

For me it would have just took me longer to lose, the fact is I cannot win because I cannot stop.

I have waged more than a week's wages in a fruit machine in a pub. So for me regulating machines wherever they are won't address the issue of gambling addiction.

For me it does not address the issue.

To take responsibility for our actions and make an educated choice is surely the reality.

You won't win the losses back. You have the choice to prevent more.

I hope you keep making that choice.

Duncs stepping forward never back.

Hi,

I think you are right...I want to completely stop and all forms of gambling are the same regardless of the stakes. However, the government needs to curb the problem....This addiction has gotten into the public more so deeper than ever before and has manifested itself into families lives for generations to come especially if they don't do nothing now, therefore someone has to reduce the number of high street bookies and also slow the game down, in recent years jackpots have risen and to add, mini casino are everywhere.

Another point, I have been a gambler since i was young and I am sure that for many years if I won the jackpot on a fruit machine and got a repeat I would walk away. Have you noticed there is no jackpot on roulette?

On the other hand, I would never place big sums of money on horses or dogs.

I used to think people were mad to do that because of the huge risks.

Furthermore, I never started playing the fobts with big stakes the biggest bets I would do would be around £3...I never thought it would get out of hand...

So, to an extent I disagree with the compulsiveness part. If a machine has no cap and you realize that you won't win anything unless you are prepared to stake bigger amounts then quite simply it has something to do with the industry hypnotizing people into thinking 'place a higher stake' to win a bigger prize!, When in actual reality it is the company extracting as much as possible over a short period. On top of that, the government has really cashed in on taxes. Everyone's a winner, except for families, communities and 'other' small businesses.

I once many years ago saw a guy who owns a business placing a huge bet over and over again it lost and he left. I was a small fish at the time and tried to play on my small stakes, I won nothing. Then he came back to the machine and I let him continue where he left of....You can guess that he recovered his money...Maybe this was luck and I shouldn't have won? What my point is do you honestly think on my small stake I was going to win his money?

I realized over time that when I placed a five pound chip after becoming erratic from my loss, it won?....... My behavior was learnt...That is my point, you cant win..No one does I just hope I can undo the pattern of excessive gambling and abstain once and for all...

Again great post. Well measured and thought out. Is the answer in the fact that the compulsion to gamble is a progressive addiction in its nature. I remember the addition of the note function on fruit machines, the inception of fobts in the bookies and i embraced them both, funny if i think hard about it, there was winning at the outset. Maybe that was my driving force. But the winning was never enough for me, i was compelled to play on, actually the nearly wins more significant, the close but no cigar moments would drive me on. And yes i would wonder if the programmers would feed off this, how many times would a roulette wheel land on the number next to mine. But nobody forced me to keep playing until i had exhausted all my funds, i was compelled to gamble on, only regretting it after the event. I would kind of zone out, almost will myself to lose towards the end, actually playing held no entertainment just a relentless pursuit of chasing. Often during episodes of gambling i would get back to level or a small amount up, would i walk, seldom and then usually to return and repay the machine and some. So i have to take all this into account. For me the compulsion to gamble excists in all forms of gambling, if i play the lottery i go all in, scratch cards the same, so for me i have a choice. Any form of gambling will lead to one thing destruction and emotional carnage. I applaude any stance anyone takes towards regulating gambling for future generations but for me the choice is simple.

Abstain and maintain. I did win because i did stop.

Duncs.

D. That post is the reality of it all....It is an escape..

I walked with my true friend and girlfriend of 18years tonight and she wanted to go into the bookies to kind of help me, she offered some money...I dragged her away..Bless her..I know she isn't compulsive and it would be so silly of me to walk in and try again...

I am starting to win, because I have STOPPED!

Peace

I hate the lies in the news about the bookies employees helping problem gamblers...The workers ain't happy when a punter wins a large sum, no 1 is...The day I lost the fella working in the shop replied when I asked. "What time are you open till?" "9.30pm, plenty of time for you to win your money back". to which I plundered another grand in.

Bottom line is you don't have one friend in the bookies. It isn't a social place. People are bitter, bookies have changed. I remember how they used to be very smokey but more of a place to be, where men go. Then it was okay. Nowadays, quite frankly they are S***e.. Some old faces, mostly drug dealers whino's *** head beggars or die hard compulsive gamblers.

How would the politicians cope walking into my local and letting me rip £26,000 from their wallets?

Even in a casino tghe most I wagered was £100 and left..Because it is a more open place, more sociable time to think things through. The bookies however can steal money in seconds, with no live interaction or advice............................

Now please, am wrong to say that these machines are illegal?

Hi thanks for post - had to check back entries in your diary to see who you were - you have changed your name a few times!

A few interesting recent posts and you have been doing some good analysis and I agree with you that compulsive behaviour can be learnt. I certainly haven't always had a compulsive nature but when things in my life started going wrong I started to use gambling to escape stress and boredom and my gambling took on a 'must win' nature as in nothing else was going well in life so I had to win money so that all the other stuff didn't matter. Thus I learned to act compulsively such that my behaviour meant I HAD to win every day, then it became normal on losing days to bet and bet and bet until it was all gone.

Just to clarify, my controlled sports betting now is me going back to my roots, betting on football as a hobby, where winning isn't everything but it's a bonus. I don't do sports betting to relieve stress. I've adopted routines to relieve stress and boredom in which gambling plays no part.

Best Wishes and good to speak again.