[LeedsLad123]

Here’s my gambling story.

About 5 years ago I was living in a flat and had a friend move in, never had any sort of addiction and never gambled online. He introduced me to skybet, thought it was amazing when I made a £20 bet and a few days later had £80

sent to my bank! From here on I quickly became hooked. Had a great win of £1200 that really re-installed this addiction but a few months later I’m broke and getting bailed out by my parents. O and there was a point where I was popping in gambling shops every day.  Was awful and went to gambling anonymous. 

for a few months. Found it helpful just the fact of meeting with people and talking to people with same problems. But didn’t agree with a lot of the way GA operates. Found the holding hands thing very strange and a bit cultish GA in genereral, 

also just didn’t like the thought of having to spend a night there every week when theres other things I’d rather do. Strangely enough I stayed gamble free (online) for about 4 years. And even now haven’t been in a bookie since.

But last summer I was off work sick and got back into the gambling. Long story short I was quickly about 4k down, in about 10k debt ( other debt from car/holidays etc.) But my look changed, in football almost every game was an injury time

winner in my favour! Then on the slots hit a £4k win! before I know it a 8.5k swing. I pay off a fair bit of debt and install gam block. Thought can’t waste that luck and want to quit. 

But during the last year, setting computer to factory settings to uninstall gamblock, re-adding it, up until last month I’ve lost £2.5k. Then 2 weeks ago, I hit a 5k slot win! But don’t feel much from it, gambled about £1100 of that away but at the

whole time just want to quit but feel a bit helpless. Been suffering with depression over the years and only realloy get enjoyment out of gambling. Wish I could put my energys in gambling into something more productive.

So here I am typing my story on gambling therapy stories, added the gambling blocking software and just signed upto that nation gambling exclusion thing. I just want to stop and be thankful that unlike most extreme problem gamblers my finances

haven’t been destroyed (I’m strangely about 6k up this year.) And for the 1st time I’m debt free! But yet I feel so annoyed that I put 1100 back after that ridiculously lucky 5000 slot win and should have stopped then. But yes Im addicted which i obviousl 

am! Any suggestions of what else I can do to beat this demon?

[finding_laura]

Hello Leeds Lad and thanks for sharing your story. Wins for a problem gambler are like crack to a crack addict. Satisfies briefly but the hunger for more wins drives us back. It’s the feeling of that win. And over time it takes more to get that feeling. We risk more and usually lose more to try and get it. Installing a blocker helps but it sounds like you know how to get around that based on your post. Hopefully the national gambling exclusion functions properly, it’s a new system I believe. You can lock up savings in investments, ask someone you trust to help you with them, or move them to an account you can’t access easily with a bank card. Get rid of credit cards, close the accounts and cut them up. I guess how drastic you want to get depends on how badly you want to make sure you don’t gamble again. It’s good to know you have a problem early. I knew fairly quickly. But I still wanted to be able to gamble. I wanted to figure out how to do it without causing myself damage. After making a lot of attempts to control I had caused so much damage. I hope you make a go of your recovery. GA may not be for everyone. Try and find some hobbies or clubs or something positive to do to fill your time and thoughts. And if you find it difficult perhaps a few counseling sessions with an addictions counselor to talk things over will help. Take care, Laura

[charles]

Hi LeedsLad, well done on looking for help.

Your parents helped bail you out in the past, they could help in a different way now. You lost some quite big sums – you could only do that becuase you had easy unaccountable access to it. Read the other stories here and you will see that accountability and financial barriers really help. Your parents could help with that. it would still be your money of course, you would just be less able to gamble it.

I have to say that I have been to many GA meetings and have never once held hands!! Maybe try a different meeting. Having said that – if that is the only meeting you have available then isn’t holding the odd hand worth it if it stops you losng the next £****? You did say it helped and at the end of the day that is the only important thing.

Keep posting

[charles]

PS. Sadly yours isn’t “an unusual story.” read the other stories here and you will see many similar. You will also see the sort of thigns that have helped others stop gambling. You can apply them to your own situation.

[i-did-it]

Hi Leedslad,
I have read that one of the reasons AA and similar organisations are not so successful anymore is that most groups out their own spin on things rather than following the original format – I hated that they called everyone’s name and when they came to yours you felt obliged to speak – the whole meeting was lost to me as I was worried about speaking.

You are in an extremely fortunate position and I wish I could go back and stop when I still had the capacity to make any withdrawal. This disease will only get worse so do everything you can to arrest it now – if you are having wins like £5k then you know you are gambling high stakes .

It is great that you are in a position where you are stopped and financially ok. The addiction gets to us like that – many’s a person who lost thousands chasing their first tenner !

Let the 1100 go – you are in a most fortunate situation .
And well done on recognising that you have a problem before things got worse !

[Jamie1267]

Hi, My story is similar to yours. Addicted to the rush of winning and even when I have won big its not the money that the excitement comes from.

I stopped for about 8 months, I am a business owner and have tied funds away however I need a bank account for expenses etc.. Horse racing is the killer for me and I dont bet on anything else or gamble on any casino type games.

The big meetings come around and my brain teases me, I dont know how I can get out of this, its a life wrecker, a demon in your head, would love to hear some things that might help.

[charles]

Hi Jamie and welcoem to the site.

You can get a lot of great advice here but can I ask you to click on the My Journal Forum, scroll to the bottom and click on “New Topic” That way tou can get a lot of feedback and advice on your own thread.

You might also want to connect to one of the groups here – you can get a lot of practical advice. The “Open Groups” don’t always have someone in them but all the other type of groups always have someone you can talk to.

[作者]

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