Ways to not watch gambling videos

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(@leeiom33)
Posts: 21
Topic starter
 

So I have been a problem gambler for quite a while. And while I have been backwards and forwards with my gambling. I made another attempt at therapy And touch wood it’s working

i feel stronger about myself and proud that 2 months I’ve been able to stay away. 

but I do have one issue and I don’t no if anyone else does this or not. 

I tend to watch a lot of gambling videos on YouTube mainly out of interest or boredom. Now I genuinely don’t feel tempted or anything like that cause in my mind I know how much damage it’s done. But a part of me knows it’s just a waste of time when I could be doing something  else and also that there is a possibility that I could get tempted. 

does anyone have any idea to stop this as I’ve come a lot way and don’t want to throw it all away

 

thanks 

lee

 
Posted : 31st May 2020 10:05 pm
Joydivider
(@joydivider)
Posts: 2156
 

Hi Lee and Welcome.

Many people went through that stage including myself. Its a known stage and the reality is its providing you with a gambling feeling or gambling hit

Its a lesser hit but you are still getting something from thinking about the method of gambling and watching them do it which gives you the butterfly or nervous feeling of what may happen. Its quite complex why people watch them and there are a lot of addicts watching them to justify it all and they want someone to get back at the man.

If you are recovering properly you will get soon bored of them and realise that watching them is a mugs game anyway. You should get miffed or even slightly angry that they are not presenting the true picture as they are not telling you the truth about their finances or how they are funded.

Some are addicts turning it into a viewing business because they will get advertising sponsor money as they mention casinos etc. Some act as jack the lads like its just a laugh when its far from that. You havent seen their accounts and you dont know the truth behind it. I wouldnt trust a gambler to present the true picture....I heard enough of the deluded banter in the bookies and arcades... a lot of them were clearly ill but made out they were mr casual...one of them was bragging that he had lost thousands in a day like it made him special in some way...so casual with money like he was a mr big

I knew the names and the slant they put on it. some of them have a lot of money (daddys inheritance to get through) and they make out that they are just the bloke next door type . If they have money to burn like we havent its a false representation of whats going on Obviously they are controlling the film footage and even though some show they lose its still not the reality of how gambling affects people.

The YT comments are nearly always from a load of fan addicts. Any counter comment would just get shouted down or deleted.

I actually think they should be banned like all gambling advertising

Talk it through Lee as that is what the forum is for. Im glad you are here.

best wishes from everyone on teh forum

This post was modified 4 years ago 2 times by Joydivider
 
Posted : 1st June 2020 6:54 am
(@libbyuk87)
Posts: 28
 

Totally agree with joydivider.

i used to watch a lot of gambling content on YouTube/twitch. Ultimately it always lend me to gamble again, I feel I wanted to get the high/win they do which was never going to happen. Most of these streamers are funded and as joy said get sponsored etc so it’s never truly their own money... some yes it is their money but they are very well off to start with. 

I have been gf for 27days now and at the start I’d still constantly watch them but about 4days ago now I think I tuned into my favourite and within 5mins I was actually bored wondering why I wasted 2-5hrs a day sometimes watching this. I haven’t watched since.

so yes your probably get bored so don’t worry too much, long as your taking steps forward and not back everyday it will work out.

keep going forward 

Libby 

 

 

 
Posted : 1st June 2020 8:21 am
(@leeiom33)
Posts: 21
Topic starter
 

Thank you guys so much for coming back to me 

yes I always had a feeling it was financed by someone or donations or sponsor by them asking us to like ect and advertising online casinos.

i just felt that besides that and knowing they weren’t actually taking a risk with there own money I still found myself from time to time going on just to see what wins they had.

this a new thing for me to watch and maybe your right regarding me it giving me a gambling feeling. But honestly deep down at this present time I don’t feel the need to actually search a online casino and try my luck because I know how much damage it will do to me and my family and I don’t want to go back to lying where my money has gone and where I’ve disappeared to.

i think I need to maybe take my time up more to avoid going on my phone and going on YouTube to search ect

 

i fully agree that these should be banned as no doubt it would cause a lot of people to relapse

thank you again

lee 

 

 

 
Posted : 1st June 2020 9:32 am
(@david31)
Posts: 25
 

This is an interesting point. As far as I know, the blocking software can't block gambling videos or adverts? 

It's not affected me too much, but I've found it a little annoying that some social media sites I go on advertise gambling sites to me. I have an ad blocking software on my PC but not my phone and I see these adverts fairly regularly.

The way that Youtube works as well is frustrating because they very often show "suggested" videos, so if your browsing history is gambling related, it's very likely a gambling video will appear on your feed. 

 
Posted : 1st June 2020 10:08 am
Chris.UK
(@chris-uk)
Posts: 887
 

Hello,

Maybe I'm reading the other replies wrongly but anything that is detrimental to your addiction won't just get boring and eventually fade. If you are constantly feeding your addiction through passive watching, somewhere in your mind will be a little bit of what if and could I? You need to be as proactive as you can.

I also wouldn't worry about the politics about the various channels being banned or how fake or real they are. Just block them and get them out of your feed.

On newer iOS systems there is an additional feature which actually bans the channel but if you're like me and I've got an older iPad what I've done is to go onto the channel and block the user via the three dots on the top right hand side. If you also clear your search history too then you should have a clean from gambling videos channel.

I don't think it's perfect and you can search for them still but like all blocks they are as good as you want them to be. If you want to find a way around any block you can but at least it won't be in your face without your choosing.

Chris.

 
Posted : 1st June 2020 2:09 pm
Joydivider
(@joydivider)
Posts: 2156
 

Yes I do agree with you Chris.

What I was meaning to say to Lee is that as part of a proper recovery the mind moves to new levels of healing and the desire or willingness to watch them does fade away. I didn,t just mean that  a person naturally gets bored of them with no other recovery measures in place. I perhaps didn't word it clearly in the approach I was taking

I'm talking about born again foundations and do the exercises with people close by talking through my feelings and urges which would include watching videos like that

Lee is already questioning why he watched them and is on this site so its good steps on the road to recovery. Maybe I was just emphasising a step by step approach to realising they are a waste of time...rather than saying just get them blocked now..its a useful site for other videos

The video site is a good one and its a great shame that gambling advertising is everywhere . The video site should take steps to ban these videos as they encourage gambling and are only harmful. 

I feel that if the government were not raking in huge amounts of gambling taxes it would be heavily regulated or banned........ well it would be banned because if the government couldn't get a large piece of the profit, they wouldn't be prepared to brush the misery under the carpet 

Obviously the deeper issue is that the video site are under no legal obligation to regulate those videos .

I find it interesting now that I watched them for a while. It was the last stand for a rattling mind and the addiction fighting me in its not so subtle ways

I'm calm now and Ive no interest in them. I was just getting over to Lee to fight it and question the motives of these videos. They don't represent the truth and enough of them are addicts trying to make others into addicts and or cashing in during the process.

Best wishes to everyone on the forum

 

This post was modified 4 years ago by Joydivider
 
Posted : 2nd June 2020 3:22 am

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