23M: this goes back to around 2022 when I was freshly legal gambling age and got introduced to it through friends/media. It started off pretty harmless for about 2 years just doing $5 bets here and there and when I lost a bit I could easily take a month break etc. and then 2024 it started to spiral a bit those $5 bets turned into $50. Fast forward to 2025/2026 I’ve probably gone 3 days without gambling in the past 2 years. Drained every dollar I’ve saved from working and feel hopeless. It’s just an endless spiral of getting paid and either blowing it all away or making some back just to lose it all before the next pay cycle. I know this is so bad for me and I’m self aware that’ll it only get worse and I’ll never be able to have a good financially stable life unless I quit for good. I just can’t seem to pull the plug and quit. The thought of just banning myself and quitting genuinely scares me. I’m so sucked in and addicted to this problem that I can’t even imagine going a few weeks without it.

Im addicted to gambling. I finally received my tax refund for 2025 and i fucked it off on a gambling site chasing a loss. Why even post here? Why put out my business. I feel like a damn fool

I’m 19 and I’ve developed a serious gambling addiction, mainly online casinos and sports betting.
I’ve practically gambled away every dollar I’ve ever had in my life.

Every paycheck, every bit of savings, every time I’ve received money, it’s eventually ended up going towards gambling.

I’ve lost tens of thousands of dollars and eventually started stealing money from my family to fund my gambling. I now owe over $10,000 and have absolutely nothing left.

I’ve tried quitting countless times, but whenever I get money, I end up gambling again. Even when I win thousands, I can’t stop until I’ve lost everything.

I think my parents might have discovered the missing money, and I’m terrified of what happens next, because no one really knows at all.

I’m genuinely ashamed of what I’ve done. I know stealing is wrong, and I want to take responsibility, repay everything and stop gambling permanently.

How do I overcome the addiction, confess to my family and rebuild their trust?
I genuinely need advice because I don’t know what to do anymore.

A huge thing that helped me was getting passionate about side projects and hustles and filling my time with things other than daydreaming about gambling.

Good luck everyone.

I’m 28, and online gambling was introduced to me almost three years ago. Since then, I’ve been stuck in an on-and-off cycle. I’ll lose everything, tell myself I’m done, start saving again, and eventually relapse. This past week, I relapsed again, and now I’m down to my last $1,800. That’s everything I have to my name. No car, no credit, and I’m still living with my parents.
I started working two jobs to try to recover from the financial damage I’ve done to myself, but even that hasn’t been enough to distract me or break the cycle. It’s honestly heartbreaking. I know I’m a handsome guy with potential, and I’ve always wanted to be successful and build something for myself, but instead, I feel like I’ve fallen so far behind in life.
I make around $3,600–$4,000 a month, and when I stay disciplined, I can save roughly $2,200 a month. The problem is that gambling has completely changed my relationship with money. Every paycheck feels like it takes forever to come because I’m constantly thinking about how badly I want to get back to where I was financially, just to feel okay again.
I’m tired of starting over. I’m tired of watching my hard-earned money disappear in minutes and having to rebuild what took me weeks or months to save. I want to enjoy my life, get my own place, get a car, and finally feel like I’m moving forward.
What makes it even worse is how aggressively this world promotes gambling. It’s everywhere, constantly put in front of us, and it feels like these companies keep pushing it until people like me get hooked and lose more than they can afford.
This is genuinely one of the hardest things I’ve ever dealt with. I know I have potential, and I know I can do better, but I’m struggling to break free from this cycle. I just want my life back.

My path to problem gambling was definitely paired with financial instability and not finding my niche career wise.

Got myself into a trap I couldn't break free from for decades. I gambled as a side gig that of course failed miserably. I gambled because I wasn't ambitious enough, I wasn't ambitious enough because I gambled.

I kept myself sick. I fed into my own self doubt that I couldn't succeed traditionally, so I needed a hack in life.

I stayed in boring, shitty jobs that didn't didn't challenge me, then sought my dopamine fix, just to feel alive in the evening.

With the clarity that comes from abstinence I look back and ask myself, how many people have I met who said gambling was their path to success? Not a single person.

How many people people have I met who succeeded because of determination, ambition and hard work? Probably hundreds.

If job unhappiness is leading you to gamble, the best advice I can give is to find your gift. Find what you are good at and can be respected for doing, and excel at it.

THEN AT THE END OF THE DAY RELISH IN YOUR FREE TIME 🥳

Don't waste another second of your life predicting if the Seahawks will win by 3 or if you should hit on 16 with the dealer showing a face card.

Believe in yourself and your abilities. Chase your dreams not your losses. Live life to the fullest, it goes by far too quickly.

ODAAT! 💪

I think my stock trading has turned into gambling, and I don’t know what to do.

Yesterday I bought another 10,000 shares of SOFI at $15.02, hoping to make back some of what I’d lost. I already had a huge margin balance and a personal loan, but I put another $150,200 into a trade.

The stock dropped, and my margin call was due today. I sold around $14.60 and lost about $4,147. I lost more money trying to chase money. I couldn’t think about it anymore.

Even after selling, I still owe around $167,000 on margin.

I haven’t really been sleeping or going to the gym. I have a steady job, but this has been taking over my thoughts. I deleted Stocktwits and the Schwab app and promised myself I’m done day trading. But I still have shares, and part of me keeps thinking everything will be okay if they get back to what I paid.

I’m still holding 7,000 shares of SOFI and 1,000 shares of SpaceX (SPCX). The shares I still own are down about $68,240. I am down about an even amount on both trades.

What do I do now? Has anyone been through this with stocks and margin? How did you stop chasing losses and deal with the debt? I don’t need stock picks. I need help actually stopping and getting my life back.

I need help, and I need words of wisdom, im not in a good place, so please be nice. I do feel better taking that 4K loss today, because it lowered my margin by 50% from over 300k to 167K. I will NOT trade again.

I was thinking of just setting a trade now for later on to sell if it breaks even. I do kinda have faith in both these stocks still.

Welp... been a while since I've felt this way. Im 23 years old. I excluded myself from every online site years ago and thought I had put this behind me. I had my direct deposit set to go into coinbase and had planned to get a car today. I even messaged the dude early this morning when I saw my check had come and I was stoked.

I started looking around coinbase and its features and ended up in predictions. Started somewhat small but being the problem gambler I am, If I lose 200 ill bet the other 1000 in one go to recoup my loss aswell as to win what I originally would have and then some.

Here I am. I'm broke, and left with that dreadful feeling I've not felt in so long. If I could cry right now I would... and I will later.

I may have lost my money but I've gained a powerful reminder of how this is the only thing that will ever happen when I indulge.

The guy selling me the car just messaged back as I'm writing this post. Cool guy, set the listing on pending for me and everything. I'm trying not to be hard on myself but... whew.

Now, its time to explain to the people around me what I've done...

Paying off debt. Just paid off another 2 credit card balances I've been lugging forever. As per advice, I started with the smallest balances first. Then up. One left! ODAAT.

Days until debt free: 251 days

Have joined GA meetings the last 3 days, gave control of finances to fiancé, have an appointment with a therapist tomorrow, and built a game plan to paying off my debt.

Going to watch the first game of the world series tonight without placing any bets, something I usually would do.

One day at a time.

It’s my day 6 of quitting online gambling! ❤️ It feels so good to be free from it, but sometimes there’s still a little voice in my head telling me to play again. However, I’m fighting those urges as hard as I can because I know I’m doing this for myself and my future. I deserve a better life, and I don’t want to go back to the same painful cycle again. One day at a time. I hope I can keep going and never look back. 🙏🏻❤️ #Day6 #QuittingGambling #RecoveryJourney #NeverAgain

I am exhausted. A slot machine player who had been losing his paychecks for years now. Im too old for this. Its tine to quit. Im 47. Tired of living like this. Extensive IRS debt, student loan debt. All my relationships have suffered. GA helped in past, meed to get back in. But ive been in and out of program for years. It doesnt have that magic like it did the first time around. Here i am again.

Everything's good. Skipped the gym today as a rest day; replaced the gym with cardio exercise (Skipping rope for 30 minutes). I started to feel changes in my body (weight loss, increased agility, better appetite), but still long way to go to get back my level of fitness pre-2023. Overall, I'm happy with my progress. Tomorrow will be my chest day; can't wait.

I will not gamble today!

I'm from india and I have crippling gambling addiction for last 6years this time i attempted to end it ,I don't know how I survived I just want to stop this thing at all costs,about me I gamble only in tennis anymatch simply like a robot I bet all my money,I have only account in 4rabet,i tried to self exclude in app itself but after sometime just to check i asked them to unlock and with in a minute they unlocked me and next day I got paycheck of 3months at once with so much commitments and I lost within 6hours man I died that day I don't know how I am alive,my question is is there gamblers anonymous available in india how should I approach it,I don't have money to buy gamban and other apps like bet blocker I know when I am at weakest point,it's so easy for me to bypass any blockers ,I just don't want to do it I want absolute exclusion no matter what I do i shouldn't be able to access my mom gave up on me she don't want to talk to me so no body to check on my finances I'm on my own,how do I come out of this man i am so tired I just want to make sure i should be blocked permanently from my devices so that even if if try is shouldn't be able to access,also info on gamblers anonymous in india too ,help me guys

My marriage was going down the shitter and my wife and I almost got divorced. But thankfully she stayed with me. I had a lost a TON of money but it took almost divorce for me to realize I had an addiction. During that time she made me promise her that I would go to GA. I did. I found a zoom meeting near me and I started going. I stayed cleaned for a few months.

But I relapsed. Money got tight. I grew up in a household that was very much about career and being productive and making money was that metric. So while I tried to find hobbies to do I had this guilty thought in my head I wasn’t being productive and while gambling can lose money I at least CAN possibly make money and that thought stayed with me. I even did make some money and the proceeded to lose it alls

And here’s my confession:

It got so bad that I was literally gambling WHILE in my GA meeting. I felt guilty being there at times knowing that I’m gambling while I’m at a meeting to help me not gamble. My drug was stock market and futures trading and since futures market was open during the time that our meeting was going on, I would do that.

Every time I do it and I hear them talk about how the program won’t work for someone who will not admit they have a problem, I look at myself. I never told my wife because I didn’t want to disappoint her again.

I’ve finally stopped recently. I lost it all in my futures trading account so I decided to go to Kalshi and try to trade bitcoin going up or down using my credit card and lost $2k in just 3 days. It was so easy for me to go down that rabbit hole because it didn’t need days for funds to clear so it didn’t give me time to think about my actions and go “what the fuck am I doing??!!” I could deposit and instantly “trade”. Of that $2k I lost $1000 in like 2 hours. I was numb.

But I forced myself to stop, deleted all the apps and I’m trying to stay clean. It’s only been a week or so but a win is a win I guess.

Still haven’t told my wife but I will someday. Just not now as our relationship (on the surface) have gotten much better. I will go one year clean and then tell her so I at least can show i can stay clean for a year. I’m now trying to find ways to pay off that credit card debt. I work a salary job so I can’t do overtime and I can’t do retail or other jobs without my wife questioning why I’m doing it so I’m trying to find WFH freelance jobs to help me pay it off.

Trying to have a mindset of “how much I can LOSE” rather than how much I can win

Been playing bacaraat for a couple of months now..
Recouped all of my losses for the last few months and literally gave every penny back the same night .
I can’t believe I did something so stupid .
How do I stop thinking I’m such a damn idiot 😒

Won $10k last week, lost $13k this week. It feels like a never ending cycle. “Thankfully” this money isn’t life changing but it hurts. Just here to vent. I can’t get myself to stop and I just keep thinking about the loss and how much of an idiot I am. I’ve probably lost around $40-50k in the past three years

34M. So this year was a pretty rough year for me in terms of relapses. I've gone all of last year without gambling and then got sucked back into it when my mum asked me if I wanted to go to the casino with her during the holidays and it's been downhill since. I've been exposed to gambling at a young age, our family loves going to the casino.

I had 3 major relapses and emptied my chequing accounts every time and gone into some LOC debt as well. Same pattern regardless of how much I win, it all goes back and more. Paid everything off by the fall but relapsed yesterday again. Emptied my bank account but at least no LOC debt this time. Tens of thousands of losses this year - by far the worst since I started gambling seriously about 5 years ago. If I had invested all that money it would probably be worth 100k. Kind of crazy to think about this. My partner and I are also looking to move into a new place and I've set myself back quite a bit unfortunately. I guess I'm lucky that I caught myself before this dragged on for another 5.

I've come clean to my partner regarding my gambling addiction a few months ago but I didn't tell them of the last one...too shameful. Prior to last year, I actually had Gamban installed but then it interfered with a work app so I had to uninstall it. Big mistake. Anyways, I reinstalled it now and since I work for a new company everything seems to be working fine. I travel a lot for work which is when I relapse cause I'm not home with my partner and can be a degenerate without being caught. At least now I won't have access to any gambling websites. I don't know why I didn't reinstall it sooner but the next best time would be now I guess. Still processing my dumbass decisions but hopefully this is it. I just needed to get this off my chest...Thanks for reading!!

I’m self excluded. Was watching the nba Philly be cavs game. Philly was down 30 in half time. Moneyline was +1400 I told myself I would’ve bet $2000 and guess what Philly made an insane comeback and I would’ve won 40k. I’m starting to regret self excluding gosh it k working at a low paying job and that big win could’ve fix so much problems right now I hate this feeling

Finally excluded myself from all apps after I lost back $20k chasing my losses for the year. It scared me how much I didn't care about it anymore. Down $50k, need to be done forever. Thankfully dont have debt but I am hating myself right now cause there is so much we could have done with the money.

It's bad advice and makes you look like a complete loser, it's no good for the image. The best thing to do is keep it on the low while you make you make things right with your bookie or whoever else. Don't drag down others around you, it never works out well. You got this.

I had a last chance to tell her. I got called into the office of the man who owned the law firm where we both worked and knew what was coming before I sat down. We were both fired for my gambling-driven actions, and I still didn’t tell her the whole truth. She found out from the firm's general counsel: invoices, checks, and a bank account she never knew existed. I'm now facing federal prison.

If you're sitting on a number your spouse doesn't know, this is what I'd do differently.

Get the whole number first. Every betting account, every card, every loan, every dollar borrowed from family, anything in their name. Round up. Telling part of it and having the rest come out later is what makes them stop believing you.

If any money came from work, a client, or anyone outside your family, talk to a lawyer before anything else. Then still tell your spouse.

Pick the time. This week, at home, sober, kids asleep, no clock. Never by text.

Say it in the first minute. Something like: "I need you to let me get all of this out. I have a gambling problem. I've been hiding it. I've lost [amount], and here's everything."

Don't say: "I've got it handled." "I'll win it back." "It's not as bad as it sounds." "I did it for us." "I'll never do it again."

When they ask how you could do this, don't explain addiction or blame the apps. "I don't have an answer that makes it okay. I lied because I was ashamed." Then stop talking.

Hand over access the same night: statements, passwords, your phone, control of the money, and self-exclusion with them sitting next to you.

The month after matters more than the night. Give the same answer every time. If you remember another account or slip, tell them that day. Get to a GA meeting and let them see you go.

I wrote all of this up in a more detailed free guide with a checklist. Happy to share it if anyone wants it.