10k down in 3 months from online casinos

Hi Grant, sorry to hear you’ve had such a bad time. From my own experience trying to justify it isn’t going to help. I’d try to justify my losses and spending to myself but in reality I was just kidding myself, if it could be justified in my head I would carry on and do it again. I’m still wrestling with my actions during lockdown, losing plenty, setting up accounts in family members identity, thinking where I could have spent the losses. Not sure when/if I’ll get past those feelings but the last thing I want to do is try to justify it. Good luck in your recovery. 

Hi Grant,

Welcome to the forum.

I can relate to your story. I have lost thousands playing roulette. I am hopelessly addicted to roulette. I am fine with other gambling but when playing roulette I get so involved and consumed that I lose the plot. I’ve had wins but I always find a way to lose. No matter what I won it was never enough and just credit to continue playing.

As a consequence of the above paragraph, I had to make the choice to quit all gambling. At first I tried quitting just roulette but this didn’t work. If I was in the bookies I’d play roulette and if I lost a football bet I’d try to win it back on roulette online. So, after wasted years of this addiction I quit.

Ive went about four years without gambling then relapsed, then went bonkers for about a year worse than ever on roulette - lost over £7k in an hour then quit again. This time I’m at 550 days without a bet. My debt is almost paid off and life is so much better.

Casino games are very addictive and near impossible to control. Make the decision to quit and I promise you you’re life will improve dramatically. Once quit for a period of time you’ll realise that you don’t miss it snd your finances will be so much better.

Read lots on here, learn about addiction and take the steps to change your life. You’re a young guy and you can change. Be brave, make the decision and believe in yourself.

Good luck.

RR

Yes totally relate to this. I started gambling in June 2019 due to lockdown... I lost £7k on slots..... then I found Roulette, I was determined to get my £7k back...so I slowly played carefully everyday... eventually I made £4K back in 2 months.... I couldn’t let it go, I still needed to make another £3k to get it all back... by chasing this I’ve lost £16k in total. I first lost £13k , won £9k back in just 9 days I couldn’t believe it... wished I had stopped. Again, I kept saying, I needed just to make back another 3k but then one day I’ve lost £7100, the following day £3k so a total of £10k in just 2 days. All the feelings guilt, shame, anxiety,no determination at work or doing fun things, I’ve went through it all. It lasted a month for me and don’t get me wrong It still hurts to look back at what I’ve done but I made my rock bottom the solid foundation of getting better. I just think to myself it’s a bad business venture that went wrong, forget about it( not an easy one to say because I know it’s hard, I think of my loss everyday from the moment I wake up) but I won’t let it get the best of me. I can either make something out of my life or not... I’m 35 and for the best part of my journey to 40 years I’ll have 5 years of loan repayments, £13k was a loan and another loan for £4500, luckily not all of this was gambling as I used some of the money to consolidate some credit cards. I used to have £7k savings before I started, not sure what happened or what went wrong. I blame the addiction, it’s too powerful to overcome. My vice is roulette, I’ve lost so much but I can’t stay away so I can’t pretend to know how to beat this but today I’m only a strictly 50p  player, with a £2 budget, I get my fix and if I lose the £2 that’s means if I win then it buys me a coffee. I’m finding it hard to quit altogether but now I control my urges by doing this. Many will disagree, as many compulsive gamblers know we can’t stop. I totally agree to some extent so not at all I’m suggesting to this, but for me learning how to curb my addiction was the way out atleast as as start for me. I use to wager thousands, £150 on a number like it was nothing but one thing I’ve realised regardless if it’s £150 or 50p it’s the same thrill for me. I just wished I’ve learned my lesson sooner. What I’ve experienced is the more I fought my urges, the more I relapsed. Everybody has their own way out.... sure abstinence and self exclusion is still the most effective way but please don’t dwell on your mistakes and the past. It’s all done and gone- time to move forward. Don’t let it drive you insane like it did to me.... In the 2008 financial crisis millions were lost, experienced investors, gamblers lost more, startups fail, think of it as an experience that you thought you could make money- a business venture that just didn’t work out. Learn and grow from. For me my addiction was my attitude of get rich or die trying- but trust me - For every roulette player out there- I’ve tried every possible strategy you can think of and there are hundreds and I’m very skilled at them all, I’ve tried them all -  IT DOESN’T WORK.

Hi Grant,

Thanks for sharing your story. 

I will have go to justify your gambling behaviour.

In prehistoric times, human had relied on our ability to hunt, survive and breed. This behaviour is called the monkey (please refer to Steve Peter's book called the Chimp Paradox). However, the monkey is no longer needed in today's environment because the danger is no longer there. We are no longer in that world any more. What you did in the last 3 months  is that you had let the monkey to control your life; the monkey loves to take risks and gamble and it wouldn't care less the consequences of its actions. Because of this, the monkey is considered to be 3 or 4 times stronger than yourself.  

So how do you beat the monkey?

1. Find healthy replacements for your gambling such as walks, taking up hobbies that interest you. Learn new skills, write a novel, painting, new language, or it just be as simple by listening to the radio.  

2. Put all necessary blocks in place such as gamban, gamstops, as well as banks blocking gambling transactions and so on. Some may let others control their finances. 

3. You will seek the benefits from stopping gambling; your sleep pattern will improve, your sense of purpose is clearer. 

There are loads of help out there, GA meetings, counselling, group therapy, gamcare help line. 

I hope this helps.

Xoi

Ps stay sane, calm, and take one day at a time

Thank you to everyone for sharing there advice and care towards my post.. the last loss was the weekend just gone so it’s still all fresh but I’m trying to tell my self everything you guys have advised I have more than one addiction so I’m going to try my hardest to put a stop to everything and hopefully my life will get better,

thanks again to everyone sharing there time and effort to reply to my story I really appreciate it and I wish everyone the best

Time really does heal all wounds Grant and I hope you stop gambling but only you will find your way out. Like you and many others here, I came to these forums when I was feeling down... I played roulette everyday since June last year. If it was school, I’d get top marks for no absences! I was present at the table everyday- with only one goal to win. I was really skilled or so I thought I was, I practiced every single strategy out there, observed tables, patterns, you name it and had a spreadsheet of wins. On average of 30 days I was winning 28 out of 30, walking off the table every month with a £2k profit. My goals were small at first but greed got to me, they got bigger and so did my addiction. I don’t know what happened, a stressful day triggered me to ignore my senses, I thought I had control - I’ve been doing this and profiting after all! But I soon realised all those strategies, none of them work in the long term. I didn’t even think I had an addiction at first but boy was I was wrong...  something took over and compelled me to lose £10k in 2 days. This was my rock bottom and realised that I’ve made a mistake that no matter how in control or skilled I thought I was, the addiction and compulsion took over. For a month I was deep into depression, I could feel the sadness and frown in my face every minute of the day. I had suicidal thoughts, I was crying most days, did not want to see or speak to anyone....stopped doing things I liked.  The pain I felt inside lasted a month, then I started to focus on myself again... I started reading blogs like how to cope with losses, how to forgive yourself, how to bounce back after a big financial loss. The thing is financial loss is part of life. We all experience it at some point. Let this be the one experience that teaches you to really be careful with money again. For me, my gambling was a way to make money, so I think of it as an investment that didn’t work out for me and the only way to financial freedom is to start working hard and saving again and treat money with more respect. I got out just in time before I lost everything - like myself and my sanity... Give it time, one thing I can tell everyone here that’s really in a very dark place, it will pass. So no matter how bad you are feeling, maybe you’ll feel that way again tomorrow, so be it but I can 100% assure you the day will come when you wake up, and it’s all distant memory.. and like Uncle Bob Marley says.... Don’t worry about a thing, coz every little thing is gonna be alright! I never thought I would get out of my depression, I thought it was gonna go on forever..  but here I am a £16k loser, yet I can live with that everyday now... but it’s a £16k very expensive lesson and well played.... After all I paid for it- I really need to take this lesson in and learn from it and I hope you do too

I totally get you, I saved and saved, managed to get myself 10k plus, never had a gambling problem, in fact I totally disliked it as both my parents gambled!! Then after a few family issues out of my control I looked to gambling as an escapism!!!! The bit that gets me is I didn’t even think of the money as I spent it!!!! Once it was gone I was gutted thinking about what I could of spent it on!!! However I have told myself I will make it back again, and it has been a learning curve for me!!! I will not gamble again!!! Never!!!  I haven’t gambled for around 6 weeks and have managed to save around £1700, onwards and upwards!!! 

ive put gambling blocks on my bank accounts, I’ve blocked myself from non gamstop casinos, down loaded Gamban, and signed up to GamStop for 5 years!!! 

im now gonna put my all into saving that money back up!!! 

Great way to look at things good positivity, sounds like there has been quite a few people on my situation.. that’s all I’m going to do now is work hard and get that money back, all it’s done is put my plans back another year. This time next year we should be flying. Good luck to everyone 

Sound like you had a emotional time. It sounds weird but it makes me feel better knowing I’m not the only one. Thanks for sharing your story 

there are some comments here which read like they are justifications for gambling 

don't get me wrong everyone has been through hell in the last 12 months because of the lockdowns but to try and claim gambling is like a "business venture gone wrong" is ridiculous and this mentality is probably part of the reason your trapped in the addiction 

we are not clever or smart for "giving gambling a go" we are clowns that's why we are all here seeking redemption

OP nobody can justify for you , thats a tough conversation you need to have with yourself 

I just want to say people have different coping mechanisms and mine is that’s how I cope... I understand why you will feel that way but other people will have different coping mechanisms than yours

Hi Grant 

yes i can relate to this I started gambling again late last year and stopping for 12 years and now i have lost 10k plus and i feel ashamed of myself i hurt my family as u have told them and this is the first time i written on here and i think i feel a little bit better for it x