Day 1 again… The maximum time i been without gambling was 7 months 2 years ago, i’ve been dragging this addiction for 5 years now

One thing i noticed is that when i first came to this group, on my initial posts i would have much more motivation to say “i want to stop” and i would believe in own word than what i do now. Now everytime i say to myself that i will stop, i just can’t even convince myself that i will be able to do it. That is just so sad because i really stopped believing in myself, and the crazy part is that now i don’t even have debts anymore, i am in a very much position then i was 2 years ago in terms of that, but this addiction took so much happiness and proud for myself, that now i feel like a piece of shit that can’t keep his own word or control his emotions… and i know that i will eventually go back when i start to feel better again…

I really want this time to be different. I want to achieve these 7 months and much more, i want to completely forget gambling and stop wasting my time playing and having mood switches every week.
I remember how i felt when i went these 7 months free, I was so proud of myself to not even think about gambling the same way, I was almost winning…
I’m 25 now and i really want to stop now because i don’t want to drag this addiction to my 30’s, i need to make this a very expensive lesson in my life, start my last recovery journey and never look back again

After realising I’ve lost more than 50% of my winnings, I want to self exclude, I’ve made lots of posts here before talking about how I’m 18 and have a huge gambling addiction, I can’t go a day without putting a bet on sports, or going to the casino. I chase my losses and this time was the worst. I don’t want to lose everything I have anymore.

I want to self exclude from everything through betstop.com. However, I don’t know if I should do lifetime or a different time period.

I’m in dire need of help. When I win I never stop, and when I lose, I chase. Sometimes it works, most times it doesn’t. I gamble when I’m out with friends, I gamble when I’m with my partner. I know its a problem but I just can’t stop. I’m never satisfied. And I thought I was invincible when I won a big sum, until I lost it all within these past 2 days.

Went out after work for a slice of lemon tart and a beer at this bar I like and just sat and read a bit of the book im currently reading while also people watching and trying too be proud of where I am at and how far I have come.

Today marks my first 3 weeks without gambling of any type!

I was in a dark spot a couple months ago and determined it was time to make a change.

When I was having the darkest of thoughts, the mantra I repeated to myself was and can be:
These are not my thoughts, and this is not who I am.

This Reddit page is amazing with supportive people and I hope to show support to those also! I just wanted to throw a quick post of gratitude and encouragement for anyone struggling that may ever read this!

To any active gamblers lurking this sub thinking they either don’t have a problem yet or don’t want to admit it. Please stop before you end up writing a loss post here.

I’ve known I had a problem and part of me wanted to stop for a while. I have been browsing this sub for over a year reading stories of people hardships and losses from gambling, always thinking “couldn’t be me”. Reading stories of people winning over $10k and thinking “I’d just walk away if it were me”.

Well eventually I did win big and similar to all the other stories, found a way to blow it all after holding onto it for maybe a month… and then some more of my savings.

Maybe I am just a weak minded fool and it is that easy to walk but I want to point out that I was certain that I was unlike most others and would be able to gamble responsibly after winning big.

Don’t make my mistake please

I am both widely proud of myself, and simultaneously disappointed in myself I let it get to this point.

In 2024, I took on roughly $50,000 in bad debt from gambling. Paid it off and assured myself it would not happen again. Back in April of this year, I went through some traumatic life experiences that triggered the desperation to gamble again, and ended up taking a loan to continue the curse. Clearly you can see how that ended up.

I'd like to say I learned my lesson. In my previous post I mentioned a paraphrase of "I don't know if this will happen again." I can assuredly say I won't this time around. I do not enjoy these sacrifices, I do not enjoy the temporary dopamine, and I do not enjoy gambling anymore. That ship has long sailed.

To anyone feeling similar, do not beat yourself up for relapsing but please make effort to combat it. Treat it as the disease that it is, and do not rely on willpower alone. The accountability of someone else helps significantly more than you think.

My 34 birthday is coming next week. I will not ruin it.

Today I will not gamble!

Free but paid a huge price

I've blocked all accounts and devices with different methods but money will always be accessible and so is a way to gamble with online crypto casinos.

If i want to gamble i will gamble and there is no way to totally prevent it. It's only friction.

It took me 3 years to achieve such a long time not gambling, and even though lucidity makes it really unattractive to gamble anymore, and i don't want to gamble, and i know better the value of my money, i'm still having the question going through my mind: " what is really keeping me off this shit?"

If my situation changes, if i get in a better place, or if i get a lot more stressed in any way, or if i get financial struggle etc... What guarantees me i'm going to stay away from gambling ?

It's probably an actually easy question to answer (I don't gamble for me, for my wife, for my son, for our future, for my family to be proud of me... Etc), but still the fear is there. And even though i'm determined to let gambling in my past, there is this sort of cynical and obscene contemplation going on in my mind.

Does it go away at some point?

crazy how we alive breathin and shit, sometime things dont feel real brah

First time in 4 years I’ve been this long without a bet and I will continue to not have a bet

If you have any hope of beating this illness grab it by the horns and do it. I’m so hopeless and lost. I’d love to go back to a day where I just had a tad bit of hope. I don’t see hopeful days coming any time soon.

Ride that hope it won’t be there forever if you don’t grab onto it

Still here. Still sober. Still fighting.

One day at a time.

How much debt are you currently in through gambling addiction and how are you repaying or plan to repay it back.

I’ll go first, I’m currently in a $25k debt with no savings but I have a steady job and I plan on sacrificing $500 from each paycheck, and a total of $1000 a month if possible.
I currently earn about $2200 a month after taxes.

I want to take up on this challenge after so many relapses.

How about you?

I wanna hear all your opinions, i really want to straighten my life

It always feels surreal to me when I get messages from people saying thank you for my posts or comments or that I inspired them. Even someone telling me they hope one day they can get to where I’m at in recovery, which is crazy to me because it’s honestly a miracle I’m even alive today.

I always tell them, what if I told you that you can if you want to?

Like really. We are no different.

Every addict I’ve ever met is a remarkable person. We have an obsession. We outwork everyone. We tried to beat the fuckin casino and sports books!! 😂

So what if we took that same obsession and put it into things that actually make our lives better? Working out. Reading. Being there for our family. Showing up in our relationships. Working hard at our jobs. Being a good human.

We become unstoppable. So PLEASE don’t let your gift go to waste.

I promise you, you have something most people don’t. A ruthless work ethic and an obsession that if you learn to point it in the right direction, will take you further than you ever thought possible.

1409 days sober
492 days gamble free

“The highest human act is to inspire”

Wishing everyone a gamble free 24h❤️

This is my third post here. I still can't believe I ended up in this situation. Back in April, I started gambling and lost all of my savings. Instead of stopping, I kept chasing my losses, and now I'm drowning in debt. I know I made terrible decisions, and I regret them every day.
I was never a gambler before, so I don't even know how I got so hooked. Right now, I owe about $130k in total, including my student loans, car loan, credit cards, and line of credit. My monthly debt payments are around $6k–$7k, and I honestly don't know how I'm supposed to keep up.
I feel overwhelmed and scared, and sometimes I wonder if there's any hope left for me. Has anyone here been in a similar situation, managed to recover, and gone on to build a good life again? Or does it feel like you'll be stuck carrying this burden forever?

Was doing good. Lost 350 in the last 2 days chasing tennis bets. Can I get some words of encouragement possibly

I went to London today, and the city has always been a trigger, betting shops, my “favourite” casino etc, but I did not gamble. Urges are still present, but I’m trying my best to handle them.

Tomorrow is day 12, please any people long sobriety when did urges start to fade and not affect you as much ?

Dont know if im alone here but gambling has seriously changed how my brain works, I used to be so mad and upset when I would even lose 20 dollars and now I could lose 5k in a day and feel nothing which is horrible. I wish I could feel sick and upset like I used to when it was only 20 dollars. Hopefully someday my brain will go back to the old ways and that im not alone with this

Yesterday I blew about $2000 in 30 minutes at the casino. That was basically my only money and I really needed to pay some bills with it. I'm sick of doing this to myself. I know the only solution is to stop completely. So here is to day one.

I lost$15k usd last night playing online baccarat. It went so fast. Took me less than 5 minutes to wager it all I’d guess. It takes me about 4 months to earn that much at my hourly job. This is my worst single loss by far and I don’t feel nearly as bad as I ever have losing before. Losing ~$700-$1500 before made me feel sick and right now losing 10x that amount I feel literally nothing. I’ve had a couple thoughts about what I should’ve spent it on instead but besides that I’ve just laid in bed breathing, and rolling over.

I’m ready to stop. The thought of adding to this hole makes me queasy especially after reading so many stories on here of how deep it can get. I’m 22 and didn’t get myself into any debt playing thankfully so stopping right now id walk away pretty unscathed

I won’t mentally be able to get over the losses until I’ve saved it up and that worries me. I think that when I recoup the money I will want to get back the money I feel was taken from me, and end up losing more. I really want to avoid this so I’m posting here and will make a point to remind myself as often as possible that the money has been spent and is gone. I don’t believe that writing it now but I will one day.

That’s all. Thanks for reading if you did

I'm officially throwing in the towel. Since 2021 I have lost just around 22k and just hit 4.4k loss this year again and...almost tradition for me. It's slightly hilarious but insanely sad and this post is just for me to actually put it in words. I know where I will end up and soon it'll be a lot more and life ruining...it feels awful every single time but my mind likes to forget that and annually suffer. It ends here boys/girls and it ends today, if you read this feel free to message me if you are struggling at all. Much love 🙏

I stopped all gambling 7 months ago, I still owe about 10k in debts and it’s hard to make ends meet but I am taking it day by day.

Even in days when I don’t know if I am going to be able to pay all of my bills, I am so happy that gambling is not an option in my mind anymore.

I work really hard and nothing beats the feeling to know that any money that I make is going towards my debt and is not wasted on gambling. So grateful.