[martinb17]

Hello everyone,

I’ve had a little time going though the forums to get a sense on how everyone else is getting on, and can relate to so much.

To give a bit of background, I started gambling at the age of 13/14 on fruit machines in the local arcade (£5 jackpots) I used to help out cleaning the machines and would get paid a few pounds and put them straight in. Looking back this was my downfall and I was addicted. I remember being so exited going there at the weekends with my pocket money, or when I started working with my wages. I would pretty much lose it all.

Then I progressed to o line gambling when I was 18. This was a whole different level from gambling for me – unlimited winnings compared to what I was used too. I was working and had some control as I had to pay bills but would put a large amount of surplus income online. As I got older and as I worked in town I would go to the bookmakers and play in the FOBTS. Up to £100 a spin I had taken many payday loans and racked up in excess of £10,000 in debt. At this point I did speak to my parents but not how it was accumulated but just that it built up over the years. They gave me a loan to pay everything off then I paid that back over 4 years. If I fast forward to today. I’m pretty much in the same position, earning a lot more than I did but if I don’t stop know I don’t know where it will end.

As of today I have all the blocks in place, gamstop, self exclusions etc. I also have restricted my safari on my phone and my partner has the code so I can’t go into the websites. Even with gamstop you can still access the non uk licences casinos and I was spending to feed my addiction even though I know they won’t pay out.

So today is day 1, the last time I gambled was 840pm last night. I am now 36 and I need to get my life together, get a mortgage etc with out relying on everyone else. Any tips etc to keep my going would be a great help and I will continue ready the forum.

All the best
Martin

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