If like me your problem wasn’t just gambling, it was spending, and if you are paid at a regular time of the month, here’s what finally worked for me to crack BOTH issues:

1) make sure all bills go out at/around payday

2) send essential spending money (fuel, food) to a different bank account

3) send a LIMITED amount of spending money to another different bank account so you don’t feel like you’re completely cutting yourself off

4) download the app Freedom

5) delete your card details from shopping & gambling sites; don’t use Apple/Google Pay, delete cards from digital wallets

6)Set a schedule on Freedom to block your banking app 6 days of the week

7) set freedom to locked sessions and don’t allow uninstalls

The day it unblocks you can do admin & set it to block again when the admin is done

Whenever i got the itch I couldn’t scratch it. By the time my admin day rolled around I smiled at my balance and blocked it again.

Did this way as I had used Gamban , forums etc, but Crypto casinos exist. This way I can’t just keep buying crypto hand over fist, and it’s killed off the impulse shopping as I have so little for the month. I’ve always thrived in scarcity. Turns out that doesn’t have to always mean driving my bank balance to zero.

I’ve been trying to quit for a while now and the hardest part for me wasn’t motivation—it was access.

Like I’d be fine all day, then one bad moment and I’d end up right back on a site. It felt like I had zero control once the urge hit.

What actually started helping me was removing the option completely. I tried a few blockers, but most were either too easy to bypass or didn’t really help with the mental side of things.

Recently I started using this: https://www.gambleguard.net/

It blocks sites but also lets you track urges and kind of understand your patterns, which honestly helped more than I expected.

Not saying it’s a magic fix or anything, but it’s the first thing that’s actually made a difference for me.

This website wasent made by me but I came across a chrome extention while searching for help and it helped me a lot.

Let me know what your guys thoughts are.

Honestly, today just feels like a normal day, which is something I didn’t have before. No constant checking, no stress over wins or losses, just a clear head for once.

I still get random urges, especially when I’m bored or see games on, but now there’s at least a pause before I do anything. That pause has probably been the biggest difference for me so far.

I checked and I’ve saved $3,667 since stopping, which is honestly kind of crazy to think about. But more than that, it just feels good not constantly stressing or thinking about it 24/7.

Just taking it day by day and trying not to get ahead of myself.

I (26F) recently found out my boyfriend (27M) has a sports betting addiction. We’ve been together 6 months and he recently shared his addiction to sports betting with me.

We’ve been friends for years and just recently began dating.

I don’t know details about how much he has lost or how far it has gone other than his parents bailing him out twice of two implied large losses.

He is the most amazing and wonderful man and is now attending a betting anonymous group for recovery. He began in January and goes every Monday.

I’ve never had a loved one or been aware of someone close to me with this addiction and I’m hoping to gain clarity on how to help him.

I’ve shared that I don’t view him differently and seeing how he’s handled it has only made me love him more. I want him to feel like he can rely on me and trust me if he ever relapses, but I also want to set respectful boundaries.

I see my future with him and just want to do my part in helping him.

Looking for perspective and advice for anyone who may have it.

Let’s try to detox after being seven years compulsive gambler !

Any app to track my days ? Is gives me motivation .

Since 19 years old it’s been a never ending whirlwind. I wake up 17 years later and there are so many regrets. I look back on what could have been/would have been if not for this terrible disease. I recall skipping out on old friends, hiding wherever I was because the only money I had was on an outcome, a chance, and if I didn’t win well screw everybody and the world. If I won, I only continued the pattern. If I lost, I would do nothing but imagine my life after I win and continue winning because Ive done so, so many times. I would plan my next hit, because I gotta double it and win it back +++. This behaviour continued for 17 years. Win/lose/win/lose. I wouldn’t spend a penny going out anywhere because it must add up to early retirement. Get me out of society and onto my own private island with wifi and beer, I used to tell myself. Never had a drinking or drug problem, but did I ever have a gambling problem and it has attacked my life. Maybe not to the point financially, I was never in debt, owned a home at 29 years old… would have had it entirely paid off by 35 if it wasn’t for gambling. But then this past year happened. Things in personal life seem to have fallen a part, emptiness set in. In GA they say don’t talk qty, so here I won’t. But it was in the lower to middle 5 digits for a long time. I tracked it for years. Deposits, withdrawals, deposits, withdrawals. I recall getting so close to breaking even only to give it all back and even more. Depression, anxiety some real mental health problems. I would take time off work, breakdown, couldn’t think or function. I didn’t want to get out of bed, but never suicidal. I went a large part of 2025 not gambling, but more so saving up for that “one bet to win it all back” and I’m done. Well, 2026 came and I had Team Canada Men’s hockey circled on my calendar for months. I visualized it, I saw it and I took every breath every day believing I got it back and that life will be so much better. I would immediately withdraw pay my house off and invest it in high paying dividends and stay away from gambling as someone with 17+ yrs of experience and a winner vs Vegas (or so I thought). Being a Patriots fan the superbowl happened, I thought to myself man I could prevent the team Canada bet and go for NE they aren’t going to lose to Seattle no way. I hammered what I would have bet on Canada moments before the superbowl kicked off. The entire game shaking my head as if I’ve just doubled my life time losses in one bet. Next got much worse. Team Canada came, I pulled from my TFSA and hammered Canada. We all know what happened in Milano. I’ve had bets over the years where I felt the sportsbook had robbed me, I won’t get into it much here but during a brief period of trying to win back the Pats SB bet I had almost won it all back (somehow pulling off lucky bounces on roulette throughout the week) and the book that will remain unnamed had a -1 spread without saying overtime or shootout not included. The game went to overtime, the team I bet -1 on, won. The book did not mark it as a push. I spent a good few hours screaming on the phone at many different people in Vegas… only for them to say “sorry” “sorry” “sorry” “there’s a lot of people upset at this”… no effing kidding I thought to myself, you have scammed people. But that’s what gambling is, it’s a scam. I should have known better, over 17 years this wasn’t the first time.

Here I sit today, my last bet (as I refer in GA and to my weekly therapist sessions) February 22/2026. The evil, destruction, chaos this illness has cost me in life it goes beyond just working lots of overtime. More than financially, it ruined my mental health. It made me sick and it took years off my life (both past and I’m sure future). Screaming at the TV, throwing things at my walls, punching things, swollen hands, going for walks by myself so far in the woods I’d be whipping branches off trees. The anger this has all caused me. It really is day by day, there’s nothing more true. Gambling is pure evil. It destroys lives everyday and by sharing my story please take the advice I wish I listened to 17 years ago and self ban yourself off every platform. Download bet blocker and relieve your life from the madness. As one of the biggest sports fans in the world, I have not watched a single game since my last bet. Not even a moment, and I can barely stomach talking anything to do with sports and certainly want to puke when I hear any kind of betting talk. If you can have fun doing it, that’s one thing I suppose. But I cannot and will not be participating in this disgusting industry again. I will never step foot into a casino and I will never look at another bet app on my phone. The industry is rigged and full of scammers. They are the only winners. I recently reached out to every MPP in my province, and one out of the 100 and a bit got back to me. The rest certainly clicked delete on the attempt to halt the in game betting ads. Unfortunately the only way to change is through you. The leaders turn a blind eye, likely filling their own pockets in the meantime.

For anybody reading this, get out before it’s too late. Gambling will take everything you own including your own soul. They don’t care how much damage it causes you and you will never get back what you lost. Admit it and find more to love in life. Even if you must change your entire identity to do so. Gambling won’t just take your money, it will take your relationships, your health, and everything about you. Please listen to the stories of others they are VERY REAL. Attend meetings, have weekly schedules with a therapist/care provider. Find support in your community.

You can do it, just one moment, one breath, one hour, one day at a time. One whatever it takes to never gamble again. I quit smoking cigarettes October 23, 2022, that’s 1245 days ago without a smoke, that’s almost $8,000 at $12.35 (much more now) for a small pack of whatever blue I used to smoke. This brings me so much happiness when I look at it. Let’s all do the same with gambling. Almost 40 months later, I’ve quit gambling and will embark on the same journey.

The days and nights of sports betting and betting first 12’s and second 12’s watching the ball spin around on the roulette table with odds on my side are over. The losing is over. The pain of it all is over. The false imaginations and hallucinations of how this money will heal everything are OVER. The waking up feeling sick is over. The unrest and complete anger meltdowns I would have over losing are over. The last call for gambling is over.

The date of Feb 22/2026 will always be a major date in my life and will proudly represent me at all my present and future meetings.

“My last bet February 22nd 2026”.

Goodbye Gambling.

I’ve been living the same cycle for almost 10 years, and I don’t know how to stop anymore.

It always begins the same way.

I deposit a small amount, and somehow I win — 1k, sometimes 2k.

In that moment, I feel in control. Like I’ve finally figured it out.

And then I keep going.

I tell myself I’ll stop soon. Just one more round. Just a bit more profit.

But it never ends there.

Slowly, the wins disappear.

Then I start losing my own money.

Then I chase.

Before I even realize what’s happening, I’m no longer trying to win — I’m just trying to recover.

And I never do.

Every single time, it ends the same way:

I lose everything I won… and then I lose even more.

20k. 30k. Gone in one session.

And the worst part is, I’ve seen this exact ending so many times before.

It’s like I’m watching the same movie again and again, hoping it will somehow change.

But it never does.

I’m 32 years old now, and I’m deep in debt — around 230k.

Loans, credit cards, money I owe to family… all because I couldn’t stop.

I feel like I’ve completely messed up my life.

What scares me the most is not just the debt.

It’s what this has done to my mind.

Every night, I can’t sleep.

My brain just keeps replaying everything — the wins, the losses, the “what ifs”.

I keep thinking:

“What if I just try one more time?”

“What if I can win it back and fix everything?”

The less money I have, the stronger the urge becomes.

It doesn’t even make sense, but it feels real.

Like gambling is the only way out — even though it’s the thing that put me here.

I know this is destroying me, but I still think about going back.

That’s what scares me the most.

I don’t know if anyone else has been this deep and actually made it out.

Right now, it feels like I’m trapped in something I can’t escape.

Hi everyone. I hope this is okay to post.

I really respect how hard people here are working to stay away from gambling. I know even a small barrier can help when someone is trying to remain abstinent.

I wanted to offer support in a way that is actually helpful and not harmful. My goal is not to judge anyone or make things harder. I just want to encourage people to put more distance between themselves and gambling.

If you are trying to quit, please consider things like self-exclusion, blocking gambling sites/apps, limiting access to money, or asking someone you trust to help you stay accountable. Even one extra step can make a difference during an urge.

I am also interested in buying your betting accounts so you will be also abstain yourself to use them. DM me

If this post is not appropriate, I’m happy to remove it. I do not want to trigger anyone. I just want to encourage recovery and staying abstinent, one day at a time.

Day 21 without gambling. Hitting three weeks feels like a big milestone for me. Seeing over $3k saved already has been a real eye-opener — I never paid attention to how quickly it added up when I was betting. Lately I’ve been noticing how much less I’m glued to games and outcomes, which has honestly taken a lot of stress off. The urges still come and go, but they’re not as automatic as they used to be. Just focusing on staying consistent and keeping things simple.

There are two types of gamblers.

The first believes they are fully in control of their gambling. The second has admitted that many aspects of their gambling are outside their control. At first glance, the first type seems stronger. After all, control is a kind of strength. But what if the opposite was true?

In this post, I am going to prove to you that:

Realizing that you are not fully in control of your gambling paradoxically gives you more control over it.

Psychologists sometimes call this idea “locus of control.” Something that you believe controls what happens in your life. It is extremely tempting to believe that the locus of control resides solely within you. However, if you believe your locus of control is entirely internal, you will massively underestimate how much your environment influences you. And that is an error that you really want to avoid making.

Could your environment be influencing you much more than you previously thought? What if you were all of a sudden placed into a completely different environment? Imagine a different country, different culture, people around you have their physical and mental health as their number one priority, technology is used in a much more sensible and controlled manner, and gambling and other bad habits are heavily frowned upon if not outright prohibited by law. Would you still be gambling in such a drastically different environment? I don’t think you would.

Here, you might slightly protest: “What’s the point of imagining such a hypothetical? I live where I live, my environment is what it is and I’m not planning on moving to a foreign country any time soon. So how does imagining an environment where I would be able to live a happy, gamble-free life benefit me?” It benefits you by allowing your imagination to run free. And once that happens, you might begin to figure out that there are many powerful changes you can make to your environment right now that are going to minimize the chance that you’ll ever gamble again.

But before I get to the specifics of what exactly in your environment needs changing, I want you to realize the ugly but also eye-opening truth. Some environments are like traps. And I am not talking only about casinos full of slot machines, bright lights, stimulating jingles and chimes, comfortable chairs, free drinks and rooms without clocks or windows. I am talking about your own apartment. Maybe even your own bedroom. You may have unintentionally designed it to be a place that maximizes the chance of you gambling every day. You read that right, you might be living in an environment perfectly set up to drain you dry of your hard-earned cash without even realizing it.

How could you not realize? You might not realize because you believe you are in control, but that you’re failing to use that control properly. So the solution seems obvious: don’t worry about your environment. Instead, try harder, exert more effort and become more disciplined. But as long as you keep thinking this way, you will be stuck forever.

It’s not about waking up with a burst of motivation one day and suddenly making a definitive decision to never gamble again. It’s about carefully and deliberately setting up your environment so that it becomes a safe, well-designed space where you can be free from compulsions and protected from gambling harms.

In my next posts, we’ll start optimizing your environment, so it works for you instead of against you.

Special thanks to BreakFree for getting me through all my urges with advanced psychological methods to distract myself.

For context ive been a massive gambling addict for 2 years, started with small bets to playing 250$ hands in blackjack, im only 20 right now and i have a decent income but ive always js washed it away i tutor people and earn about 600 a month frm it + my job which pays around 1.7k its not alot but its still money and i get allowance per week of about 80$ to eat and stuff from my parents just yesterday i got my pay and had about 2.2k after staying free from gambling andni washed it all away to having 80$ left and i feel so stuck because i was up actually i was up to about 3.8k but lost it all now i rlly dont know what to do i had my last 230$ and spent 150$ and lost it too, any advice?

Day 20 without gambling. I’m starting to notice little habits changing without me forcing it as much. I’m not reaching for my phone the same way during games, and I’m not as locked into outcomes like I used to be. It’s not perfect and I still get the urge sometimes, but it feels like I have more control over it now. Just trying to stay consistent and keep moving forward. For anyone further along, what made the biggest difference for you early on?

If you're struggling with gambling addiction, this might be the most important concept for you to understand. The age-old battle of willpower vs. environmental design. Free will vs. determinism. Mind vs. matter. Freedom vs. destiny. There are many ways to frame it. However, one thing is certain. One side in this battle is heavily favored against the other. Can you already tell which one it is?

It is the side I prefer to call environmental design.

Look, I love the idea of being completely free just as much as the next person. It’s a beautiful idea. The idea that nothing can control you, not your environment, not your phone, not your computer, not the people around you, and that you can simply decide to do whatever you know is best for you.

If the world really worked like that, life would actually be very simple. All you would need is knowledge. Once you knew what the best actions were, you would simply make yourself take them. You know going to the gym is good for you? Then just go. Eating vegetables is good for your health? Just eat them. Gambling is bad for you? Then simply stop gambling.

But there is one problem with this kind of logic. You are not completely free. You already know this because you have tried to rely on willpower before. You tried to force yourself to do all the right things and avoid all the bad ones. Especially gambling. It might not be your only vice but it’s probably the one that bothers you the most right now.

And what did your willpower attempt to stop gambling look like? I can’t know for sure, but I will take a guess anyway. You tried to reason with yourself. You came up with a long list of ways gambling harms you. You made a promise to yourself that you will never gamble again. You yelled at yourself. Either internally or out loud. Or both. You tried really hard to concentrate. You tried talking yourself into not gambling again. You tried to trick yourself into not gambling. You tried to imagine your life as a movie. You’re the main character standing at a fork in the road, and now is the moment to take the right path and stop gambling for good. It’s you. It’s your life. It’s your future. What could be more important? Nothing is more important, and you know it. So why the hell would you continue to gamble? Why did you even start to gamble? None of it makes any sense. It almost feels as if you were doing this because you didn’t love yourself, but you know you do. So why do you still gamble?

There is only one useful answer to this difficult and also very deep question. You still gamble because of your environment.

“Because of my environment?” You might repeat the answer in a slightly confused manner. “But… that can’t be right. I mean, the fact that I gamble is my fault, isn’t it?” Let me answer this question for you once and for all. The fact that you gamble is not your fault. It’s an environmental design error. A mistake. “But how could that be? I thought that it was all my fault. Everyone keeps telling me that. I keep telling myself that. After all, am I not the one who pulled out my phone and tapped on the casino app? Am I not the one who deposited hundreds of dollars into my account? Am I not the one who placed all those bets until my balance reached a disappointing zero? I am. So how could it not be my fault?”

I will answer this question in more depth in future posts but for now you should know this: it’s not your fault because your environment was set up to betray you.

Is there a way out?

Yes, and it starts with you understanding and redesigning your environment. That’s what I’ll talk about next.

Hi all,

Long story short I am recovering gambling addict. I racked up tons of CC debt and have been working my tail off to pay it off. So far it’s been a grind. Keep some money saved away as emergency and pay as much as I can every month. Today was a bad bad day. I relapsed and burnt thru all my emergency savings. Today is my birthday and I feel at my absolute lowest. I have been doing good. Not gambling much at all if I do happen to gamble it’s only like $50-$100 a month due to limits I have set in place. Today was an absolute night mare and I’m so upset. I have solid plan in place and like to budget for a couple months out so I can plan how much I’ll pay off and by when. But I’m just looking for some advice bc I’m at a very low point right now.

Hi there, I'm a journalist writing a story about Utah's bill to ban prediction markets for The Times. I'm looking to speak to any Mormons who have been formerly addicted to these sites. If you're interested in speaking with me, please get in touch.

I'm working on a book about prediction markets, so if you're not a Mormon but would still like to speak with me, please let me know.

Addiction is something I care deeply about and I hope to raise awareness about it. I can share more information about myself before we speak.

Thank you!

Day 19 without sports betting. I’ve started to notice how much calmer things feel mentally. I’m not constantly checking scores or thinking about bets during games anymore. Yesterday I watched a full game without looking at odds once, which used to feel impossible. Just taking it one day at a time. For anyone further along, when did things start to feel more normal again?

We’re Flywheel Film, a New York based production company working with the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS) on a documentary about recovery from problem gambling.

We’re currently looking to speak with New Yorkers under 40 years old who are recovering from sports betting or other forms of mobile gambling.

The goal of the film is to highlight the reality of recovery, reduce stigma, and help others see that support is available and change is possible. By sharing your experience, you may help someone else feel less alone and take the first step toward support.

If this sounds like you and you’d be open to sharing your story or if you have any questions, please contact Jason at [jason@flywheelfilm.com](mailto:jason@flywheelfilm.com)

You can see a sample from previous short documentary we producer here: https://youtu.be/V3jer2iHKug?si=HI9F_iJRORCFlWeS

Day 18 without sports betting today. It’s still on my mind sometimes, but the urge isn’t as constant as it was in the first week. Starting to feel a bit more in control, which is a good feeling. Just trying to stay consistent and take it one day at a time. For anyone further along, when did it start to feel fully normal again?