[cactus]

Hi everyone. I’m new to GT today. Hope I’m using the site correctly.

So, where do I begin!? (apologies for the long post BTW)

My problem has been getting worse over the past year I would say. I’m 26 years old and somehow feel that if I don’t get this problem under control, I’ll still be coming on here when I’m 46 and not sharing my success of being gambling free but rather that I’ve lost everything.

I got a job in my local shop at 16 as soon as I left school and started at about 10 hours a week bringing home about £100 per month…I thought I was rich at this point. As my hours increased and so did the minimum wage I was of course earning more. Then I discovered those lovely scratchcards….and it was a very slow and downward spiral from there.

I’d spend £5 here and there but mostly I would spend my money on computer games and cigarettes. Then I began spending less and less on games and more and more on the cards. It started off with the £1 ones, then £2’s then £5’s. One lunch break (on payday as well) I’d spent £200 on £5 cards! I was winning £10 here, £20 there, but I finished my lunch break with nothing left in my wallet – I hadn’t eaten and although my wage had increased slightly, that £200 was all I had been paid and I’d blown the lot.

I was then given a new contract for 40 hrs a week. Great, that means more time in work being busy and less time to think about those pesky scratch cards, boy was I wrong. My pay packet had more than doubled but I told myself I wasn’t going to gamble – but I did, and kept on buying them for years.

Fast forward to 2015 and I’m in a worse situation than I’d ever been in. Five credit cards, a bank loan and 2 payday loans and I’m in trouble now, real trouble. I keep telling myself I know I’m not going to win back what I’ve spent so why am I doing it!?

So, it’s now the beginning of 2016 and I’ve now discovered online slot machines. Wow, so much choice and sooo much money I can win. I sign up to them, setting a deposit limit upon registration so I don’t go overboard, but yeah, as if that’s going to stop me. I must be signed up to about 20 different slot machine sites now.

Once I won £1000 betting at £5 a spin, I managed to get bonus spins and at £5 a spin I was sure to win…and sure I did, I got £1k out of it. Did I with draw it, did I hell. I could turn this into £2k, well within 15mins I lost the lot. That was the first time I’d experienced that feeling in my stomach of guilt? regret? worry?

Fast forward to now and I’m still spinning, in the hope I can at least win my wages back. I’m at 40hrs a week, just over £7.60 an hour, so I bring in a nice pay check for someone who hasn’t got a girlfriend or child and still lives at home with their parents.

I currently have a bank loan of around £5k, 7 credit cards (all maxed out) and 5 payday loans. I’m depressed, feel sick most of the time, worry about money, my parents/friends don’t know my problem and have considered suicide 3 or 4 times this year.

I’ve spent 10 years in a job I quite frankly hate and could have used all that time to study in college or uni or whatever. But I was too busy cramming in as much overtime to get a nice paycheck, just to gamble it all away.

I’m making the minimum payments on my cards, but with interest rates etc, the balances don’t really go any where. I pay my pay day loans off, but then after all that I’m left with nothing – so I borrow on payday loans again to live through the month (and sometimes gamble that as well).

I’ve even put gambling blocking software on my pc, K9, but found a way around it so I can’t even seem to help myself there. I don’t have any friends I hang around with outside of work so all I do is come home and gamble. Now I know that isn’t an excuse but I feel that’s part of it. People say get a hobby, go for a walk, get a bike and go for a ride…if I could find a hobby that didn’t involve spending money I really don’t have because the payday loan companies have it, the bank has it, the slot sites have it, then I would.

Anyway, I’ll stop now as I feel my post started to resemble something that should be on the Money Saving Expert forum and not on the GT forum haha.

Just wanted to share my story/problems and will be reading through some of the others on this site shortly.

[Jonny123987]

I think you need to come clean to your folks and ask them for help. Is that something you might consider? They might be able to help you get to a better place by offering a loan that you can pay back to them. You can turn over all your finances and paychecks to them and maybe they can help you at least get done with those pay day loans. Telling my folks was a big help for me and the support has helped me stay clean. You’ll then need to seek help from GA and most likely the support of a sponsor or two. The good news is that you’re young and can go back to school and stop gambling and have the life of your dreams. The amount of debt you have is nothing once you start making some real money. But you do have to stop now.

[charles]

Hello and thanks for starting a thread in the Gambling Therapy forums

Here at Gambling Therapy we pride ourselves on being a caring and diverse online community who can help and support you with the difficulties you’re currently facing. We understand that this might be a tough time for you, particularly if you’re new to recovery, so come here as often as you need to and participate in the forums, access online groups and connect to the live advice helpline if you need one to one support. We’re in this together!

Here on the forum you can share your experiences in a safe, supportive and accepting environment. The beauty of writing it all down is that you can take your time and you will be creating a record of your progress that you can look back on if it ever feels like you’re not moving forward. So, share as much or as little as you like but do try to stick to keeping just one thread in this forum so people know where to find you if they want to be updated on your progress or share something with you.

As well as the forums New Members are invited to join Charles in the New Members Practical Advice Group On Mondays at 21:00 (UK) and Thursday at 19:00(UK)

And on that note….

I’m going to hand you over to our community because I’m sure they will have some words of wisdom for you 🙂

Take care

The Gambling Therapy Team

PS: Let me just remind you to take a look at our privacy policy and terms and conditions so you know how it all works!

[charles]

Hi cactus. well done on looking for help. Read the other stories here – you will see a lot of things that you will relate to. You will also see the success stories – what are they doing that you can apply to your own situation?

Telling your parents would help; they could help you with financial accountability.

Those debts don’t sounds manageable on a long term basis. There is a lot of free financial advice her ein the UK. Talk to the Citizens Advice Bureau or to Stepchange. They would talk through your options and help you get things to a manageable position.

Use the support that you ahve available, keep posting here, get to a Gamblers Anonymous meeting.

Keep posting and let us know the positive steps that you are going to take.

[Auteur]

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