You can read my story here:
http://www.gamcare.org.uk/forum/battling-sports-addiction
Long story short, gambling addiction cost my relationship with ex GF, friendships, health (anxiety and stress), happiness (spending money on betting as opposed to what I actually need), debt (maxed out credit cards, overdrafts, pay day loans).
At it's height I was -3.5k in debt at one time, in total I have lost between 10-20k with the bookies slowly fleecing me. Maxed out my overdraft leading to me overdrawn, payday loans and credit cards. The turning point was where when after going on holiday for a friends wedding, I could not really enjoy myself, I was counting every penny, taking payday loans, then somehow becoming overdrawn in overdraft, leading me to feel very miserable.
In 95 days I have:
- cleared my debt, back in the black
- Spending money on what I actually need. Going out, dating, clothes, messages...actually makes me realise how expensive London is!
- More focused at work and applying for jobs. Recently accepted a new job with a large company earning double my salary.
What I have learned:
- Gambling is evil, evil, evil!!!!!!!!!!!
- If you are short of money, it is not the way to make money. Sports betting is just as random as playing slots, poker.
- To make money you have to earn it by working hard, in my case the gambling was distracting me from actually looking for a better paid job.
How I did this:
- Kept a recovery diary on here, really HELPED massively. THANKS GUYS.
- Wanting to stop.
I no longer have urges, and finding that I am watching less and less sports. The first week was the hardest, then it got easier as time went on.
If anyone is struggling with sports betting, please quit it. You might win a few bets in a row, but eventually the tide will turn and you will go on a losing streak! It is just as bad as other forms of gambling, one issue I had which could have prevented this is where there was not enough awareness related to it but more towards slots, FOTB etc. Sports betting seems to be nicified from the television adverts.
Great post..... My problem is with sports betting also(mainly football), got myself into debt stopped for a while cleared debt started again got into more debt and so on.Good to see you have turned thing around for the better and have to agree that there is not enough awareness towards problem sports betting.
chartom3 wrote:
Great post..... My problem is with sports betting also(mainly football), got myself into debt stopped for a while cleared debt started again got into more debt and so on.Good to see you have turned thing around for the better and have to agree that there is not enough awareness towards problem sports betting.
The problem is where people have the idea that sports betting is skills based. The problem is that the bookies set the odds.
Favourites all have short odds, and the problem with that is where when you do finally lose you end up losing your winnings and then eventually more. In sports, favourites do tend to lose quite frequently - Arsenal (at home) lost against Stoke at the start of the season. There is also something I just cannot describe, where when you go on a losing run, you end up losing no matter what...I have been in situations where the losing team who have never beaten y team end up losing on that particular day. Weird as hell.
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