ex and would be ex-gamblers support thread

my_mess

**** Hugs George ****

cantcope

Really sorry to hear that George. It's good that you've come on here and admitted it though. You realise what you've done and that you were looking for an excuse. Start again today. One day at a time

Make sure you close that account and any others you still have. By keeping them open you knew there was an option to carry on x

TotallyBroke

How is everyone doing this week?
How are the newbies doing? Keep posting so we can stop the slip ups.

Not sure what to say GeorgeUk, what's done is done.....close the accounts as cantcope mentioned and there will 1 less temptation there.
Oh and I can't think of anything so hideous and unattractive as a man with his head up his ar*e so yes please do pull yours out as quickly as you can lol

cantcope

Hi everyone. Hope we;re all going well. I've booked another holiday!! That's 2 this year!!! This would never have been possible if i was still gambling.

Just one of the benefits of stopping.

Keep strong x

TMoose

146 days today. For me, I think the biggest difference I've noticed is how much less stressed I am about money. Yes, I'm not quite out from under the debt yet, but it's nice to get to the end of month and be able to say yes to a pint!

Keep on truckin' everyone!

riquelme

great stuff t moose - it only gets better without gambling. keep it going

cantcope - great news, more to life than gambling.


george - hows it going? its just a slip up, get your head back on it and learn from your mistake. whats done is done - just come back stronger. keep posting and stay in touch

welcome newcomers, join in and post up how youre all feeling/ coping and recovering

rockabilly_rebel

Hi guys, as you may see from my signature I am in a fair bit of debt. Which I am trying to deal with I may add. And thus I am a regular over at the DFW board. i wondered if I could join this thread and get some support for my gambling.

Basically I had about £8,000 to invest and some money stashed in the bank, however foolishly I started casino bonus chasing thinking I could build up a nice bankroll. I did the live casino bonuses at the latvia tables via C*ral and W***iam Hil* etc. And after a while I did really really really well and started betting like £1,000 a hand and winning for 3 straight days and was up by nearly £32,000. Went on a holiday abroad and came back, took my girlfriend to london etc. Then thought, I wonder if I could now win the money I spent n the holiday thinking I would have a free holiday. I managed to (in about an hour) lose nearly £40k

Then chasing these losses I drew on credit cards & my savings anything to try and recoup it. Even tried learning card counting.

And now I am unemployed, health isnt what it should be, I have high blood pressure due to stress and massive debts.

I have come to realise that there is no way whatsoever you can cheat the casinos or win. I had a VERY good run. Followed by a much worse run. Not only did they get all the money back but also about £20k of my money. Totalling to nearl;y £60,000 in an hours worth of live blackjack. I even got 10% cashback at one of the sites on my losses and then blew that in 2 hands at a vip table where you can bet up to £5k.

I am open to any suggestions as to how to combat this, I am attending a GA meeting after the Bank Holiday. I have setup my own DMP and worked out what I can realistically pay and to whom. I will get out of this.

Please don't judge me guys, this hasn't been the easiest post to write. And I am looking for support rather than judgement please.

Thank you

cantcope

Hi Rockabilly and welcome to the thread. You won't be judged here.

I did the same as you. Had almost 70k in savings blew the lot and more. i too had good runs and bad runs. What i had to accept was that i couldnt stop when i was winning and i couldnt stop when i was losing. I just couldnt stop.

It;s taken me a long time to accept that i just can't win as when i do it's just more ammunition to gamble again. I can't control myself so there's no point in even trying.

I would suggest the following before you get to your furst meeting. You may get this advice there so if you do it beforehand then all the better.

Get a block on your computer. There are plenty about, gamblock is good and costs about £30, make sure you clear your cookies before downloading it.

I use a free child lock K9 which you can get someone else to choose the password for. My dad set mine and i know he won't EVER give it to me. It works a treat by taking away the temptation. I could still gamble if i wanted to, tv, phone, internet cafe but i choose not to.

Close all of your online accounts. And by this i mean ALL OF THEM. Dont keep one open for "just in case". If you read Georges post recently you'll realise this can be deadly.

By doing this you give yourself a really good chance of success.

Good luck with the meeting on Monday, you'll be made to feel really welcome and should be given lots of good advice. If you can, speak. it makes a big difference getting it all off your chest. Some advice you wont want to hear or will think is rubbish. Just think about it after the meeting. The people there give the advice because they know it works.

Feel free to post on here as much as you like. Most of us pop in now and again to see how we're all doing. It's a long road and things dont get better overnight. But they do get better.

Keep strong, xx

riquelme

welcome rockabilly, brilliant post cantcope, superb advice

rockabilly - nearly to the day i was exactly where you are, read back through this thread, my story mirrors yours. thought i had a plan, a way of winning, it was fool proof. then came the bad run and ended up in !!!!!! st. just like you

get yourself to GA and listen to people. if you really really want to stop then you will put things in place that in the 1st place will stop you gambling. eventually that temptation goes. its a tough road my friend.

but youve made a start

mystery_man_3

Hi again and sorry for my post and dash the last time- but not had much chance to be on PC recently

I hope everyone can try and keep strong and keep gambling free and as said in my 1st post of you're at GA keep going and if you're not give it a try as it works for me