[pramgoat]

NAME: Paul
AGE: 49
LOCATION: London, UK
BETTING STARTED: Got a ***********credit card with spending
limit: £250.00/limit gradually increased to become £5000.00; one
day, I went and bet the full credit limit on a game of golf; and,
lost everything!
LESSON: Betting on credit is not a good thing; as it just leaves
you in a whole load of debt; as someone who’s ‘unemployed’ I’m
still struggling to clear this debt off even after multiple years
and years; what, usually, happens is the monthly payments which I
can ill afford to make merely serve to pay off the interest,
alone; whilst the principle underlying debt stays exactly the
same! In this way, you end up paying off the debt, repeatedly,
again and again; just through merely covering interest payments.
GAMBLING PLACES:
Casino, betting shops, gambling arcades, newsagents(lottery),
post(football pools), online.
TYPES OF BET:
National lottery, Football pools, English football-soccer,
American Baseball, Racing Cars, Snooker, Tennis, Cricket, Dogs,
Horses, Roulette, Black Jack, Chance: Will it snow on Christmas
day? -Etc.

BETTING DURATION: 20+ years. Once the gambling addiction has
already begun; going on for all of 24/7/366; then, quite honestly,
it becomes next to impossible to stop! Though, at first, you think
you can, quite simply, quit; but, after finding yourself living
with it for a number of decades long…; then, eventually, you
come to accept that this is just a regular, and, on going part of
your personality; and, therefore, isn’t ever likely to change.
That is why people go to visit GA/Gambler’s Anonymous meetings,
sometimes, right throughout their entire life…!
WORST BETS:
1> The day I bet my full credit limit on golf; and, lost 5 grand!
2> Invested £200.00 on roulette/doubled it/tripled it/quadrupled
it/and, just kept on winning…until when my winnings were
£4,000.00+; only I just couldn’t/or, wouldn’t stop. With the odds,
quite firmly, set against you; then, the longer you stay and play;
then, the more likely you are to lose. When I did, eventually,
quit the game that night; it was because my balance said, NIL!
3> I bet and won; bet and won…each time re-investing all of my
winnings on the next bet…I won 7 times all in a row; then, lost
it all on the 8th bet!
4> I was betting on Roulette…the choices were 2: black/red…I
chose, black…15 times in a row black lost. Each time black lost;
I ‘doubled up’ my bets; hoping to recover all that I had gone and
lost before; eventually, I went totally flat broke because I had
no more money left to go ‘double up’ with any further.
BEST BETS:
None! The best bet is when you don’t bet at all. Because even if
you did win; then, you’d not wish to stop; instead, you’d only
wish to continue betting so that you could win some more; until
when you eventually lost both all of your original stake
invested/togeather with all of your winnings on top.
 
OVERAL TOTAL BETTING LOSSES: £100,000.00+.
An ‘addictive’ gambler always believes; and, really quite
genuinely too; that no matter how much they’ve gone and lost in
the past; they will still be able to win it all back on the ‘next’
bet/or, ‘next’ series of bets; it’s for this same reason why a
compulsive ‘addictive’ gambler never ever, truly, learns…?!
 
LOWEST MOMENTS:
1> Gambled away all of my inheritance money: 40+grand.
2> Gambled away all of a joint bank a/c. money which was entrusted
to me to keep: 30+ grand.
3> Gambled away my full **********credit card money: 5 grand.
4> And, still won’t stop, gambling…when I have no ‘real’ money left to go and gamble with; then, I go and use ‘play’ money, instead, to go and gamble, at such online web sites as…
http:/ edited
…where I can stay there all/night long playing endless games of Poker; until my eyes can’t take it no more; then, I have to sleep/only to wake up, then, start gambling, again.

GAMBLING HELP/SUPPORT GROUPS:
The Samaritans: 08457 888 444
(they usually refer you to GA; who also have a phone number to call)
GA/Gamblers Anonymous meetings, All Saints Clubhouse, 141 Cleveland Street, (near Great Portland Street tube station), London, UK
GamAnon, they offered me 1 to 1 counselling; which I took; I lasted going there for 10 sessions; then, quit!
 

Sometimes, Temptation comes/Temptation goes…; but, I always know it’s lying around in the background somewhere…whether clearly visible to me/or, not. All I can do is just learn to fight it by taking every single day just one step, at a time.
— 28/06/2012 18:25:58: post edited by Charles.– 29/06/2012 09:43:47: post edited by harry.

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