Hi there, come across this forum and thought I would sign up to give myself someone to talk to regarding gambling, long story short I gambled away around £2.000 about 8 months or so ago, mostly online casinos but some football as well, felt gutted and wounded so signed myself up for gamstop for 6 months which was a lovely relief, thought I was over it and able to gamble with control again, anyways a few days ago the gamstop ended and I’m down £480 again and haven’t learnt a thing from before, well I guess I have as I’ve stopped at £480 and not £2.000, I’ve reluctantly signed up for gamstop again but this time for a year and not 6 months, I really wanted to do 5 years but maybe I’ll have to get someone else to press the button for me lol, anyways I do feel a huge relief again as I know I can’t gamble again now, I think I made the mistake letting the gamstop end and disabling it, next time I’m just gonna keep it going, I think one thing that made me do gamstop again is I’m £480 down again, at the end of the day if I won that money back tomorrow I would just gamble again so what’s the point?, anyways gamstop is on again so just need to recoup this £480 lost now by saving hard, anyone else want a chat or have any opinions/views on what I’ve said I would love to hear them removed link Thanks.
Dear Tommy_Boi,
Thank you for joining our forum, you have been reflecting a lot and now you are making positive decisions for yourself. GamStop is a great scheme and if you want to know about blocking software options, then please get in touch with us on the helpline or LiveChat. Also, some banks can block gambling transactions and you will find a list of banks in the Finance & Debt section on our website.
Best Wishes
Fiona
Forum Admin
You stopped again which is amazing. Going down that road again and you would have lost £2000 again and more. If I'd stopped gambling five years ago, my life would be so amazing right now.
As a gambling addict, you will always go back to gamble weather you win or lose. i always went back to placing more bets, even when my online betting account had hundreds of pounds in it. its just awful, if you lose, then you chase losses, if you win then you place more bets to try and win more..so you cant win as an addict. the best thing to do is install 'gamban' on any devices you use. also make sure you self exclude on gamstop for 5 years. sadly when you have addictions like this, the chances are you will have to battle them for the rest of your life, its about willpower, changing your mindset, keeping yourself busy doing other things. the main thing i try to do when i get the huge urge to gamble on football, is i think of all the negative s**t that gambling is doing/done to me. i think about how many times its made me skint and not be able to eat food or put electricity or gas on. i always try and get angry at gambling, and thankfully a lot of the time this makes me not touch betting anymore. goodluck and stay strong
Hello Tommy,
Well dome on enabling Gamcare and admitting there is a problem. This was one of the worst steps for me also, as I loved the buzz of gambling. However I do think if you truly want to beat this, you need to put all the stops on for as long as they possibly can. If you know you’re an addict, then you can never allow yourself to have a cheeky gamble here or there, as this destructive cycle will always pull you back in.
I would suggest also putting a block on gambling sites from your bank, if they offer this. Limiting use on social media and platform where gambling sites are advertised so regularly and reading as many post on Gamcare as possible. These helped for me, I am currently over a year gambling free and the biggest turning point was admitting how bad of a problem it is.
It may not be so bad at the moment in terms of money, but imagine if you allow this same cycle to keep occurring, you will never be able to save money as this will always be at risk, it only takes one momentary loss of concentration to lose it all. So please use the bans, for as long as possible.
All the best,
Callum
Dear Tommy_Boi,
Thank you for joining our forum, you have been reflecting a lot and now you are making positive decisions for yourself. GamStop is a great scheme and if you want to know about blocking software options, then please get in touch with us on the helpline or LiveChat. Also, some banks can block gambling transactions and you will find a list of banks in the Finance & Debt section on our website.
Best Wishes
Fiona
Forum Admin
Hi there thank you for the reply and welcoming me here, are blocking softwares needed if I’ve used gamstop, what other protection do they give me, sorry just a little confused as to what benefit they have over gamstop as well?. Thanks.
Thank you, yeah it took loads of will power to press that gamstop enable button again but this time I’ve done it for a year and not just 6 months, I just thought to myself why chase my loses cause if I get them back I’ll gamble again so I’m just back in the same situation and that’s only if I get the loses back, so I basically cut my loses didn’t chase the money back I’ve lost and just enabled it, thankfully it enabled immediately as well so logged me out of the gambling app I was on, I just really need to get myself into a head space where I don’t need blocks but I think there best to have in place really as I know I’ll have a little bet again and it’ll just build up to heavy bets and losing loads again, I’m just disappointed with myself that I took the gamstop off once the duration was up and gambled again and lost about £480 but at least it wasn’t thousands like last time and I actually stopped and put gamstop back on, so at least I had some control over it. Thew.
Are the blocks on the bank side needed if I’ve got gamstop on now, would they add extra control I’m not sure, surely if I keep gamstop on then the blocks on the bank won’t be needed will they, sorry I’m not quite sure how it all works so I’m just asking the question that’s all, and yeah I’ve put the block on for a year this time and not just 6 months, I think I’m gonna go back and enable it for 5 years though as I don’t want to lose anymore money and don’t want to give them gambling companies anymore money either, so no interest in gambling again or at least that’s the frame of mind I’m trying to get into anyways which can only be good, let us know about these blocks and if they are useful I’ll do it but I’ve got the gamstop block on now. Thanks.
Hi Tommy_boi,
Gamstop is great, we always advise to put as many restrictions in place as possible...so gambling becomes less and less accessible. Gamstop self excludes you . Blocking software e.g. GamBan (contact us if you want it) blocks your device/s, phone/PC/tablet etc. So it stop you accessing Gambling content/Apps, it should give you extra protection, as it might block something that is not covered by GamStop. Using a bank that can block gambling transactions gives you an extra layer of protection potentially. I hope this is clearer. If you need us we are here now and 24/7, so we are happy to talk it through. Another element to think about in recovery is your time. You will have spent a lot of time gambling , so explore how you can fill that time now that you are not gambling. It can be a great time to introduce a new interest. We offer a range of treatment options for free, if you need any further help then get in touch.
Best Wishes
Fiona
Forum Admin
Hi there, come across this forum and thought I would sign up to give myself someone to talk to regarding gambling, long story short I gambled away around £2.000 about 8 months or so ago, mostly online casinos but some football as well, felt gutted and wounded so signed myself up for gamstop for 6 months which was a lovely relief, thought I was over it and able to gamble with control again, anyways a few days ago the gamstop ended and I’m down £480 again and haven’t learnt a thing from before, well I guess I have as I’ve stopped at £480 and not £2.000, I’ve reluctantly signed up for gamstop again but this time for a year and not 6 months, I really wanted to do 5 years but maybe I’ll have to get someone else to press the button for me lol, anyways I do feel a huge relief again as I know I can’t gamble again now, I think I made the mistake letting the gamstop end and disabling it, next time I’m just gonna keep it going, I think one thing that made me do gamstop again is I’m £480 down again, at the end of the day if I won that money back tomorrow I would just gamble again so what’s the point?, anyways gamstop is on again so just need to recoup this £480 lost now by saving hard, anyone else want a chat or have any opinions/views on what I’ve said I would love to hear them removed link Thanks.
You did the right thing, I should have done the same months ago, but nope preferred to lose 5k more before doing so.
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