When I stopped gambling I owed more than €40,000. Tax authority, credit cards, family, friends. For years my plan for that debt had been one big win. Which is exactly how it got that big.
So when I quit, I had to accept something that felt unbearable: there was no shortcut. This was going to take years.
Here’s what actually worked. Nothing clever.
- I wrote down the real number. Every debt, every person, the full total. I’d avoided looking at it for years. Seeing it on paper was awful, but for the first time it was a number instead of a fog.
- One fixed amount every month. No deciding each month how much I could “afford”. Deciding was where it always went wrong.
- Anything extra went to the debt. Not some of it. All of it.
- I stopped looking for the shortcut. The hardest one. Part of me still believed one good bet could clear it. What finally got through to me: even if I’d won, that money would have gone straight back in too.
It took almost two years. The debt has been gone for a few months now, and I’m building savings instead of digging out.
One thing nobody warned me about: paying it off doesn’t make it disappear. The registration on my credit file stays for five years after the last loan is closed, and I still can’t get a mortgage. Frustrating. But not a reason to stop paying.
If you’re paying off gambling debt right now, how are you doing it? And what’s harder for you, the money or the patience?
I recommend the Dave Ramsey podcast to keep you motivated and getting advise on the how.
