Hi all,
I’m 20 years old and like many of you, I struggle with gambling. Thankfully to a much lesser extent this year but it’s not always been this way...
In 2017 I signed up to (A gambling website) - my first ever gambling site. That first night at 3am I won (X amount) and was over the moon. It seemed so simple, I’d put in £10 and suddenly I was “rich”. From then on until spring 2018 I’d gamble once or twice a week, starting with bingo games and then moving onto the casino games on other platforms. I’d probably signed up to over 40 websites.
Roulette became my favourite and I started upping my stakes; instead of 50p - £5 I went to the other end of the scale and put (Larger stakes) Typing that number sickens me if I’m honest now. At the time though it felt like a 50/50 chance, black or red and I’d either win or lose.
In that time period I was fairly successful, I’d raised my bank savings (An amount) but I just couldn’t stop. Bets went higher, I was playing as often as possible, signing up to more and more sites.
Eventually I started losing though. Hundreds, then thousands until I was left with only £200, a loan of £500 that I wasn’t able to pay off at the time and a mental breakdown with major physical stress symptoms. This on top of my long term depression was too much so I knew I had to stop. I spoke to my family about it all which was extremely difficult & they weren’t exactly pleased but they helped me out with a third 1/4 of the loan and I paid the rest off over the summer via my pt job.
I signed up to Gamblock which has been super helpful, it blocked all my usual accounts and I can’t sign up to new ones because of the requirement to use correct name, address, dob.
I’ve been able to heal my bank balance to my pre gambling period and I haven’t gone on other websites. However, on the weekend I blew £30 at an arcade place and feel irritated with myself as some of the urges to gamble have awoken again and I also regret the actual act of gambling on the day because it was a fair chunk of money for nothing.
You are very young so decide now if you want a future because gambling will take it away from you.
Sorry to be blunt but it will. Choose to stop now and you will have a great life.carry on and you won't.
Good luck
Stop now.
If I had stopped at 20 I would genuinely be one of, if not the wealthiest of my friends and family.
Hi
I am often asked if I have not gambled in quite some time why still go to meetings.
Time invested in to the recovery program has proved very much worth while.
First of all my addiction was very much filled based.
My addiction was a form of self abuse, why work for months years and give my hard earned money to compete strangers while I and my family go with out.
In time I would see that money represented my time lost.
Money was never going to make me feel successful in myself.
Trying to get some thing for nothing I was cheating myself.
While consumed in my addictions I was often giving up faith and hope in myself.
The recovery program would help me understand that my addictions and obsessions were a complete waste of time and energy.
While consumed in my addictions I got in to unhealthy habits of lying and escaping from people life and situations I could not cope with.
With each lie comes more fears.
With each lie I betray people close to me and I caused them pains.
In time people not only feared me but also tried to avoid contact with me.
I was a very unstable person while consumed by my addictions and obsessions.
The recovery program help like minded people to work together like a team achieving more with their time and their life.
The consequences of pains in my life was fears I did not understand.
In time as I shared more of myself in my recovery all of improved the quality of our lives.
Each time a person goes back to their addictions or obsessions is a lesson if we are willing to learn from it.
What were my emotional triggers, how can I avoid this unhealthy situation again.
My addiction and obsessions was a form of escape from people life and situations when I was emotionally vulnerable.
As our fears fade our trust grows, once we heal that hurt inner child our inner child comes out to play.
As our fears fade when we no longer fear rejection or abandonment, we no longer fear failure, we no longer fear being our self.
My unhealthy reaction in my anger caused further aggression and confrontation, my anger caused people to fear me.
I want every one to be free of all fears towards me today.
Dave L
AKA
Dave of Beckenham
Honestly, stop now. Stop and go and enjoy your life. Start a bookclub, join a football team, go surfing. It doesn't matter, find something you can pour your heart and soul into but not this. Coming from the family member of a CG. If I could go back to his 20 year-old self, I would grab him by the collar, shake him and tell him that if he wouldn't stop he would lose everything. He'd lose his partner, his children, the roof over his head and all love and respect he'd ever known. It's simply not worth it. It's great you've come on here for help, wishing you all the best.
Hi
The addiction was a form of escape from people life and situations I could not cope with emotionally.
I use to think that I loved gambling and every thing else was boring.
Once I was able to abstain from unhealthy habits I found fun and excitement going ten pin bowling with my family.
It took me along time to open up and enjoy life and relationships.
The addictions and obsessions were a form of self abuse.
They distorted my view of life and relationships.
The recovery program helped me help myself become healthy once more.
Once I put a lot of time and effort in to my recovery and handed over all of my finances and started to abstain my recovery was going to become much easier.
The money was just the fuel for my addiction.
By abstaining from one addiction did not stop me trying to escape in other ways to another addiction or obsessions.
I am a non religious person and have been able to find a healthy spiritual life with out being religious.
The recovery program works for any one who is fully committed towards healthy living.
Please keep going to meetings, you will benefit from it in so many ways.
Love and peace to every one
Dave L
AKA
Dave of Beckenham
We are available 24 hours a day, every day of the year. You can also contact us for free on 0808 80 20 133. If you would like to find out more about the service before you start, including information on confidentiality, please click below. Call recordings and chat transcripts are saved for 28 days for quality assurance.
