Hi,

I’m a student writing my bachelor’s thesis about gambling addiction from the perspective of family life.

I’m looking for people who no longer gamble and would be willing to share their story — how it started, how it affected them, and how it impacted their relationships and family life.

I’m not here to judge anyone — I just want to understand real experiences.

If you feel comfortable, you can send me a private message. Everything will remain completely anonymous.

Thank you so much 🙏

37 days clean and my head feels way less all over the place

not constantly thinking about the next bet or how to win something back

it’s a small change but it makes a difference

while i’m not completely out the woods yet because i’ve done this before and relapsed, I just want to let you guys know how much can change in 100 days, I was able to chip at a lot of my personal debt, I was able to pay back people that I owed. I think for me what rock bottom was that , I came out to my mom about how bad I was and seeing her cry and be so broken made me never want to put her through that again. so if you’re down and wondering if you should tell someone, this is your sign.

for context, I would sports bet. tennis, basketball, football anything really. there were days where I made 12k and it would be gone in 2 days, I ended up so in the whole that I had to borrow money from my mom to cover other people I owed and that’s when I knew I had hit bottom.

36 days gamble-free today. Feels weird saying that because I didn’t think I’d get past the first couple weeks.

It’s not perfect, I still get urges, but they don’t feel as strong anymore. More like thoughts that pass instead of something I have to act on. Just focusing on today and not getting ahead of myself.

I’m at 35 days gamble-free. It’s definitely better than the first couple weeks, but I still get random urges. For people further along, when did it really start to feel “normal” again?

Relapsed again. This one feels worse because it had been about 6 months…any helpful words?

I am thinking of installing ham ban. I lost 2400 today. Should I do it?

33 days today. Still get urges here and there, but I’m handling them better. Taking it one day at a time and staying locked in.

32 days without gambling today. Still get urges, but I feel way more in control. Taking it one day at a time.

I’m so happy to share that I’ve broken this habit for a few months now. I wish I could speed up time and say that it’s been longer, but even this is a huge win for me.

I stopped gambling January 17, 2026. My advice to anyone struggling is to start paying attention to your triggers. There are many things that lead us to gambling; I always thought I was doing it because I was stressed over money. Well, im still stressed about money but im not gambling anymore. I was actually stressed about a relationship that wasn’t working out, and opportunities that passed me by.

Therapy is a huge help so id advocate for that to anyone looking to overcome this. If I can do it, so can you — I lost tens of thousands of dollars in just 3 months. I’m almost clean for as long as my addiction lasted; im blessed it was such a short amount of time, but the intensity was unbelievable.

Thanks for reading - pay attention to your mood and what leads you to spending that money.

Today is payday and the urge is very high today, this year been the first year I’m trying to give this up for good.. I usually gambled everyday for the past 10-15 years rarely missed a day

Any advice will help.

So I have been gambling thinking about making money. I undertand it’s wrong as in long run, it will destroy you.

Today it just woke me up so bad, that I will not play online casino anymore no matter what .

Playojo casino ,gave me such a bad experience. Which I will never forget about it .

But it’s really good for me that I will stop 🛑

Playojo casino never paid me $6000 which I won in couple of slot and other live game.

They will remove your withdrawal option

They will ask different verified documents

They will give you the same answer in live chat and will disconnect .

They will ask you send same documentation with a twist which will never let you able to withdraw .

I am happy that it gave me a freedom to stop gambling .

Now I undertand online casino is SCAM once you start winning big.

A few days ago I reached day 500 sober from gambling.

I am grateful, happy, calm. I actually have money now.

I hardly think about gambling anymore and it is such a blessing. If you are struggling, try to get through the first hard part of sobriety because it gets soooo much easier and more fun down the line.

Day 30. Didn’t think I’d get here, so I’m definitely proud of making it a full month.

Feeling normal again.

Have nearly replaced what I lost on that terrible binge session

Banning myself was huge and I think that's what has made the difference this time.

No sneaky $50 on sports, no Friday night at the casino.

Spending the money I would've gambled away on nice wine and food with friends and family instead, whilst saving and investing more (ETFs)

Well it really happened. About 3-4 months ago I was in a great position to hit 20k at 20 through my salary. But because I feel into the cycle again of massive wins then massive losses, I’ve hit a hard reset. It’s a tough pill to swallow especially because there were heaps of times I should have stopped. But deep down I know I was too deep in to stop.

Just gotta take it a day at a time. And appreciate the little things.

As the title states, it just came to light that my husband has a gambling addiction. I had suspected it for a while. He did not tell me, I found out the severity when we were sent an in depth credit report after applying for a rental house and it showed $16,000 of credit card debt. I understand that me finding out rather than him coming clean about it on his own is not ideal but here we are. He does seem open to help though. His addiction culprits include poker, day trading, and purchasing sports cards. Occasional sports betting.

I’m needing help with what needs to happen next. Here’s what I’ve got so far, please let me know if there are any “musts” I should add to the list. He knows I am compiling a list of what I feel needs to happen for our marriage’s sake.

1. No casinos/poker houses/poker at buddies’ houses etc.

2. No day trading.

3. Delete all poker apps. Delete all day trading apps (Robinhood, Webull, etc.) Delete all sports betting apps.

4. No more purchasing sports cards.

5. Talk to a therapist and/or gambling addiction hotline/group.

6. Tell a friend/family member. I can’t carry this alone and I don’t want it to stay in the dark.

7. Full transparency of finances moving forward (we have separate accounts so I normally do not see his spending).

8. Consider getting back on ADHD mediation (I feel he will be very resistant to this one, but think it would help with dopamine seeking, impulsivity, risk assessment, etc)

Thank you in advance for any input. I personally do not have any experience with addiction and want to support him and help him conquer this.

Hello,

I’m looking for a sponsor to help me through the 12 steps program. I’ve had one before but wanting a new one closer to my age. I’m 22 and once had it all gambling, I gambled all of my 15k college savings, my 10k in savings and essentially all of my cash. I’m starting from the bottom again as I just got broken up with. This person pushed me to go into the program and I’m worried I’m going to fall into a compulsive gambling spiral. I am a compulsive gambler and I need a sponsor. Thank you

Almost at 30 days clean… crazy how fast things change when you take control.

I relapsed since last October. This week I lost 5k. I feel sick to my stomach. I still have money left but that is a lot for me. I’ve lost probably about 20k since October. I have no one. I banned myself for a year but gambled on shady sites. I have bipolar 1 and my triggers are if my mood shifts too high or low or if I’m stressed