ex and would be ex-gamblers support thread

misskaytee

Hi all:)

No posts for a while , hope everyones doing ok ?

A small debate about gambling has broke out on another thread i post on, so thought id pop by, say Hi, and let you all know im not gambling :T and i am actually making some decent progress with pay off my overdraft at long last !!

cantcope

Morning all. Thanks for dropping by Misskaytee. Nice to hear some good news.

All ok here, been busy with last minute wedding things. So exciting one week to go!!!

Hope everyone is doing well. Remember, if you aren't it's imperative to talk about it either on here or with trusted friends. x

GeorgeUK

I'm gutted

No - not been gambling. Got my appendix out - literally gutted me.

Just a little sore, but doing okay. Hope everyone else is too. Had a few thoughts about gambling and what i used to do to create strategies before i actually did the betting, but avoiding that too. Just a pain that these things pop into your head and for an instant you thing - well it can't do any harm; it's not like i'll be gambling. The journey down the slippery slope can start with the smallest of steps and i aint going there.

Stay strong folks.
(Great news about the wedding Cantcope - you'll get a great day for it too i'm sure)

cantcope

ouch. i had mine taken out when i was 19. was bent double for weeks afterwards. hope your better soon George xx

keep strong x

SideB

Hi there,

So I joined here a gambling related forum a few months back, having already lost lots of money on multiple occasions tilting on casino offers. Yet I convinced myself that I'd start matched betting, and make money from this sensibly. I didn't ever start with the matched betting, because I became captivated with casinos once more. It started off with success on risk-free WH offers, and from then I started spending my own money... I think I started off with around £1,000 in my bank account when I first joined. With a but of luck, not just through risk-free offers, I had around £2,000 a couple of weeks later. I'd been very lucky on the casinos. However, then I started losing.

As soon as I lost on a casino, I'd instantly redeposit, at least double of what I'd already lost, sometimes triple, or maybe even more. I have no idea how many times I tilted like this, but more times than I care to remember. At the start I got lucky and mostly ended up in a profit, after tilting. However, one time it got really bad and I ended up in debt. I don't remember the figures exactly, but it was bad; even though I'm only 19 I have managed to end up with a £2,500 overdraft, and £1,250 credit card.

Somehow, I won it back. It's got to this level of badness at least 5/6 times over the last few months. In the worst situations I've had been -£3000 in debt. Somehow though, to this day, each time I've managed to end up again though. My best point was when I had £7,000 in my bank account. Each time I won it back I promised to stop, not gamble again, but I'd be tempted back my risk-free offers, and then it would go on from there... I lost the £7,000 and ended up in a lot of debt again, however, somehow, ended up with £5,000 soon after that. Since then I lost it all and more a couple of weeks ago I had £0. I decided to stop once more, but got 100% offer from Casino770 and was too tempted, so I used my overdraft to make a £200 deposit, with a £200 bonus, and bet all £400 on my 4 favourite numbers on the roulette... once more i was lucky and won approximately £3,600.

I was back in the game. Yet, the idiot I am, I lost it all... tilting I bet all I had left on my overdraft and credit card on black on the roulette, and won. So this morning, again I had about £4,000. I decided to stop again, but no... saw today's WH offer and was too tempted.. I won a tiny amount, and decided to keep testing my luck until I lost £300 on roulette. From then I kept depositng more and more, and as it stands I'm £1,100 in debt on my credit card.

I've rambled on a lot about my gambling patterns, although I could probably have summarised it much quicker, but I'm just typing as it comes into my head... I want to now tell you how bad the situation has gone in the past, one time when I was majorly in debt (before winning it back and more) i tried to commit suicide, overdosing on caffeine pills... it was horrible. I lay in my room at uni for almost 24 hours, just lying in bed, in just horrible pain, feeling like I've never felt before. It was this time that I ended up £7000 up, because I realised I had £200 left in a casino account (which seemed like nothing since i'd gambled away several thousand that night already) and put it all on a single number and won. Either way I still wanted to die, until I convinced myself it was silly almost a day after, and went to a hospital alone.

So a few hours ago I had several thousand pounds, now I'm -£1000. Initially I started googling suicide tips once more, then I thought that I could bet my overdraft on roulette too and hope I win. But I've decided not to. I've told my best friend about all of the above, because up till now I've told noone anything. I really do plan to stop now, to be honest I don't really have a choice. It's gone on way too long. I wish I'd never started, but at least, I'm still alive, and "only" £1,000 in debt. One day, hopefully that will seem like an insignificant amount of money, but for now I have to pay it back somehow. I don't know how I will because I don't have a job at the moment, but what I will do is sell sell my mobile phone which is probably worth £300, and any other unnecessary items I have.

I'm sorry for the long post, but I just wanted to tell people here about what I've gone through, exactly how I felt it. Like I said at the start I know i'm probably very rare on this forum, as someone who has been so stupid, but in case there's someone in a similar situation, maybe they'll read this and do the right thing, and stop.

I already feel angry, disappointed, disgusted and sad at myself, I know how stupid what I've done is. I hate that I know how hard my parents work for money and that I've thrown away more than what they earn in a couple of months away in seconds.

I'm not sure what I expect people to say in return, I wouldn't be surprised if you tell me how stupid I've been, but I just wanted to share this anyway.

Time for a fresh start... with no more gambling.

PS. I contemplated emailing the casino that I just lost a good £4000 to and asking them to show mercy, but presumably that's stupid? Or has anyone heard of casinos be sympathetic in these situations?

misskaytee

Hello SideB.
All of what you have wrote above is very familiar on this board
The first thing that springs to mind from your post is that you have told your friend about your gambling, this is great and a really big step!

You WILL gamble again, if you dont put a block in place.

Google Gamblock or K9 and get your friend to install it for you. K9 is free and blocks access to gambling websites most importantly

No the casino will not give you any cash back

How are you feeling this Morning? You cant change the past, its best to accept what youve done and move on.

For me gambling was never about the money, although when losing it seems the money lost is everything!

Your life is certainly worth a lot more than £1000 :T You can and will be able to pay this back, try not to panic about the money you have lost and conscentrate on not gambling today, and then repeat this tomorrow, take one day at a time
Keep posting here!! Ramble on and get it all out, it will help

:mad: The one thing that gets my goat on this site is the promotion of match betting, some make it sound like easy money, but there are so many who get caught out and start gambling with there own cash.

SideB

Thanks for your message I'll put the block in place, but the casino wehre I lost all my money to, in one go (£5,000 approx) offer cashback to users with no WR on Saturday, and if I'm lucky I'll get something back and can just withdraw it immediately. After that, no access to any casinos.

I feel... crap to be honest. Yesterday, I had around £4,000. Today, I'm -£1,000. I'm a student, the loan I get doesn't even cover my accommodation costs. I could have had a really comfortable couple of years in London at uni with that £4,000 and now it's going to be crap quite frankly. I'll have to borrow money from my parents just to pay for accommodation, and also just get by eating the cheapest. All because I couldn't take losing to a stupid casino.

If I manage to get a job this summer, most of it will just go towards paying back what I owe to my credit card, and I'll still have a big struggle at uni.... I really wish I could earn some money at home from my computer, but I just can't find anything that'd work.

I guess the good thing is that I'm finally stopping now, not 10 years from now when I might have a family and mortgage. I'd hate to think what would happen in that situation, I really could ruin my whole life...

elodieb9

Bumping this thread up hoping for some more discussion - I bet a few times a month, nothing major - but it is still money wasted which I hate once I close the door behind me at the bookies. Also, I hate coming out of the betting shop, it feels like the whole world stops to look at me to see if i 'look' like i have won, or lost. Does anyone else get that strange feeling? I walk as fast as I can to my car, I feel embarrassed to be even in this type of shop.

erdd2

Anything that will help even one person is a good idea imo. I have witnessed wonderful people sink, some drown from gambling issues. I struggle to understand and help because I am not "attracted to gambling" ......thats not a judgemental view....many struggle with my issues but ideas such as this that are seeking ways forward for some, imo should be at the least be considered.

erdd2

elodieb9 wrote: »

Bumping this thread up hoping for some more discussion - I bet a few times a month, nothing major - but it is still money wasted which I hate once I close the door behind me at the bookies. Also, I hate coming out of the betting shop, it feels like the whole world stops to look at me to see if i 'look' like i have won, or lost. Does anyone else get that strange feeling? I walk as fast as I can to my car, I feel embarrassed to be even in this type of shop.

By sheer coincidence we posted at similar time...I was addressing the original issue and hope you do not take my post as referring to yours...that said.....I wish you well addressing what you raise in your post and admire your approach.