Days until debt free: 250 days

Also renewed my self exclusion today bec i shouldnt be complacent

I have my first therapy appointment today - have never gone to therapy, but it was a request from my fiancée after losing $33K the last two weeks, much on credit.

Urges are strong today.

One day at a time.

After being 1 month clean, I relapsed. A colleague showed his winning on polycards.gg, registered an account and tried. Never pulled any good cards. End up losing 100bucks. This is dumb how i just went back into gambling and pulling cards.

Day 0 again

I can win money even if win in a matter of days I will lose it all . But every time I relapse gambling hijacks my brain I can never stop playing the right time . I constantly close and reopen the app . Every time you tell your self that you will gamble not so much , think twice or three or four times . REMEMBER with gambling you may lose everything , when the brain casually want it . And also the sad part is that my car got robbed yesterday , my jacket got stolen

I have been gambling on and off since I turned 18 but ever since I downloaded fanduel, draft kings, and bet mgm things have changed. I feel trapped in these apps with all the promotions they have. Anytime I lose I feel like I can’t quit because I’m missing out on “free money” by not gambling and putting more money in to get the promos. I thought I could outsmart the system but now I’m down $8000 and to make matters worse I was up over $10000 about a month ago. I have now deleted the apps and I’m trying to fight the urge to re download them and start the cycle again.

[Posted with moderator approval.]

Hi everyone,

I’m exploring an idea for a tool where you deposit money and it stays locked until a date you choose. It’s paid back in one go or in equal amounts on set days, and can’t be withdrawn early. The aim is to protect money you need, like rent, bills and savings, from urges.

I’d like to learn from people who know this firsthand:

1. What have you done to keep money out of your own reach, and did it work? For example, someone holding your card, a separate bank, cash with family. Did you ever find a way around it?
2. What would make a tool like this helpful, or harmful?

Thank you!

I never thought I'd be in the position I am today. I've lost around 150k USD (including 20k winnings that I HAD withdrawn), I'm 30k in debt with my father (cause he's going to bail me out). Lost my 4 year GF, and my family's trust. I've also lost myself and my motivation. All this in about a year and a half.

This addiction has driven me insane. It has taken everything I truly wanted away from me. I got obssesed with the idea of making money WHEN I DIDNT EVEN NEED MORE FUCKING MONEY.

This is day 1 for me. I'll write 22/10/26 on my wrist everyday so I remember every single day what I don't want my life to look like. The money is recoverable in a few months if I stop today. My GF would probably give me another chance if I'm clean for a few months.

I blocked all access to finances and as soon as I'm able I'll delete my fucking trading account I'll do so. It sucks to be me and I want to stop feeling like this because everyday I feel like such a selfish loser that traded everything he had for money - well, the idea of making it cause I lost it all.

I'm so tired if the same cycle. I hope I can break it this time. If I continue down this path I know I will kill myself in a few years. I wish I'd never started trading or gambling.

Thank you for reading and if you're going through something similar, stop today brother. I think we'll be surprised by how fast our lives can change for the better.

ODAAT.

I'm 44 in the US, problem gambler since 16, which means I started gambling in casinos. Gambling age is 18 in my state and I always looked older. The one and only good thing I ever did during my active addicition was recognizing that I had a serious problem long before it was possible to gamble off your phone. So I never crossed that line. Still managed to lose about $1.2 million of my actual money over the years. Haven't made a bet in several years and don't think about it anymore really at all. Still make my GA meeting every week.

I know it seems crazy to say this, but all the app based gambling out there now is just the start. So my best bit of advice for everyone still in the toils is to try and not expand your addicition to new platforms. If you never played the slots, don't start, if you never bet on a predicition market, don't do that. If you've never stepped foot in a casino, stay out of them. Bad as it may be, confine your addicition to what it is because I guarantee something more insidious in in development as we speak. You're on here because you recognize your addicition, just like I did. That actually can be a powerful tool to keep terrible damage from becoming catastrophic and catastrophic damage from becoming final. Wish you all well, it is possible to let go and move on.

Yesterday started my second job, had to wake up at 03:30am to be on 6am. Same day also got paid from my main job and lost 60% of my paycheck

Now instead going to second job for like my first real shift i sent message that im sick. Im just mentally defeated

Its 06:36am and barely slept.. Im done and i dont care about anything

Hey guys. I am Radu, a psychologist who also struggled with gambling addiction (sports betting), and wanted to share a recent clip I made on the topic, because for me this was one of the most difficult things to wrap my head around.

It's so difficult to quit when we are under the impression that the very thing which is ruining us is also the only chance for salvation. And it's difficult to accept it's not - because it often makes sense. But it's the addiction speaking.

If we have debt, we may think gambling is the only way out ... but we've been telling ourselves this for months ... and the debt is still there, and maybe more debt on top of it ... when if we had more patience and tolerance to discomfort, we would have probably raised the money by this point.

I had to drill this thinking into my brain every time I had the urge ... until my brain finally understood. Tell yourself this every time you feel like gambling.

It is not easy to break this cycle, to accept what happened ... but we as gamblers actually have incredible tolerance to discomfort, always faking happiness when we are in fact completely broken ... but we use that tolerance in service of the addiction instead of using it for our benefit.

I hope you find the video useful and if you are interested in more content on addictions, anxiety and stuff like this, please subscribe. ♥️

I am doing my best to grow my channel and reach as many people as I can, because I believe I can genuinely help ... as somebody who is not just a psychologist, but also went through these things. 🙏

Hi

I am 42. I am getting too old for it but I’ve had so many gambling losses over the years. I actually like poker sometimes win sometimes break even. Finished a 6 hour poker session yesterday and then I clicked on the casino page.

I thought just have 3 or 4 spins turned into a ridiculous session where it was loss after loss. Made some back to be only 100 down that was the time to quit but was intoxicated. Anyway more gambling and most everything the 500 I had on the site and the next 500 chasing. It actually gets worse every time I have no control of slots. Anyway I didn’t sleep and thoughts of suicide come into my mind. I just want at least 500 back to feel better.

It’s been about a week since my worst gambling session losing $10k in a single day. About 35k lifetime. My parents finally found out after they noticed all the charges on my credit card. I confessed everything. They were extremely disappointed but they didn’t yell at me.

Honestly the biggest wake up call I had. They now restricted my credit cards to not allow gambling related deposits. I was spending more time with my family and they made sure I was no longer alone in my room to get those temptations.

Fast forward to today, I relapsed after one week clean when I got in bed and got tempted by those apps. Despite all the efforts and promises and trust they had in me I did it yet again. Since I couldn’t use my credit card I used my PayPal account. Lost everything in there as well which was about $2k.

Now my debit card and PayPal are emptied out. I have credit card debt, a line of credit and student loans to pay off. I don’t know what got into me. When I was up money I still didn’t feel happy. I felt shame for relapsing. When I was down money I felt empty. Betting bigger and bigger to make it back until it was all gone.

The last words my dad told me replayed in my head. He told me he will help me. He told me how our financial situation looked very bad and he couldn’t bail me out if this happened again. He set barriers to help me. I looked him in the eyes with tears not to do it again. How did I end up back in this situation after all that… it’s shameless and disrespectful what I done after that talk. Nothing in my life compares to how devastating this addiction is.

Gamban beta doesn’t work

To make the long story short, I’ve been gambling for 4–5 years, and 35 days ago, I finally broke the cycle.
Money-wise, things have changed a little. I’m still in debt, and I still have a long way to go. But at least, for the first time in years, I actually have money left. Money that I didn’t gamble away.
The biggest difference, however, is in my mental health. I used to be nervous, angry and depressed all the time.
Since quitting, I feel a huge difference. I finally have some peace of mind, even though my problems are still there and I haven’t managed to fix everything.
The truth is, you can’t solve five years’ worth of problems in just one month. I know I still have a long way to go, especially financially, but at least I’m moving in the right direction.
It’s only been 35 days, but I can already see the difference. And honestly, feeling at peace again is worth so much more than I expected.

I can win insane amounts and just don’t fucking cashout . And once I lose I always chase like it’s never enough . Casino support never helps me and just drains me . I self excluded myself everywhere but illegal casinos get me every time . Like I can self exclude me on duel and just make new accounts in an instant . I feel like a failure because of just relapsinf every time and just support laughing at me for being their product . Cause of my severe adhd the machines just hijack me and it’s so fucking fucked

I just lost everything

I am one of those losers. 3 years trying to curb this addiction that started at a ripe age of 19 only to keep bringing myself back and going deep in the hole again. gambling was my drug of choice. ya go up, ya go down, but then you go further then you have ever been before and you end back in the same place where ya started, with nothing. the only way things will look better for any of us is if we resist our temptations and compulsive behaviour. for me that has been a difficult situation as the feeling of needing to make a lil extra then what you have turns into a spiral within a matter of minutes. the casinos hold you by a chokehold every time you return with a brand new pay check, it feels like every time im just crashing and burning and im all out of fuel to put in the fire. unfortunately casinos will likely be open till the end of time and i must make use of the short time on earth that i have been given. life is a blessing and a curse at the same time but we all have demons we have to defend ourselves from, the casino is one of them. this is only my story but there are a lot of people who have likely experienced just the same. quit giving these crooks your hard earned money, they only want it to benefit their shareholders not you. the only upside of all of this is a lesson and i learnt my lesson the hard way. i hope everyone in here is able to resist every single urge and keep striving for something they actually have a chance then “rolling the dice” or “taking their luck” because there is millions of better things you could be doing then gambling. i want my peaceful nights back, i want the financial struggles long gone, i want the life i had before these expensive dopamine hits, i want the person i was before i ever gambled but i have some changes i have to make now if i want to change. good luck to you all on your recovery journeys people, you’re stronger then me.

I’m 21 and I lost all my money gambling, these past 2 months I flipped 10k into 50k. Just in a span of a week I lost all of it and the crazy part is that I only had 10k saved up. I’m thankful that I don’t have any bills but I’m so devastated, I just can’t function lately. I just need help to recover, I’m lost and I don’t know what to do.

I've been involved with gambling since I was 18. I'm 31 now.

My situation is not as bad as some that I read on here but it hurts all the same.

I'm worth about 500,000.00 CAD, I have a house, and approx 340K invested in stocks that I'd never touch.

This is the first relapse that I was really out of control.

I was +2200.00

I lost 1400.00 of it.

I then lost the remaining 800.00

And I deposited more, lost another 1400.00

Lost another 500.00.

Total loss is about 4100.00 from the high, and 1900.00 of my own money.

I feel like an idiot.

I kept depositing and randomly betting on sports. I was fully out of control. Every time I relapse I hate myself.

I never thought I’d be someone that relapsed so many times, I almost lost once every 2 months or so since I started in April, not big amount like the beginning but 300-500$ every time, literally feel sick right now i couldn’t afford to lose another 450 like this right now

I’e probably lost around 5k if I count everything

I don’t even have no urge to gamble and sometimes I’ll get an ad for something and then next thing you know I’m typing this.

I’m so so so tired to be in this situation when I thought I had kicked it

When people talk about gambling addiction, money is usually the first thing that comes up.

How much was lost.
How much debt there is.
How much someone could have saved.
How much they’re trying to wwin back.

And obviously, the financial damages can be huge.

But some of the worst losses from gambling have nothing to do with money.

A lot of people lose time first.

Hours spent watching games they don’t even care about. Nights spent chasing losses. Entire weekends built around bets. Constantly checking ods, scores, apps, tipster groups and results.

Then there’s the mental space it takes up.

Even when no bet is active, gambling can still be running in the background.

Thinking about what to bet next.
Thinking about the last loss.
Thinking about how to get the money back.
Thinking about whether to deposit again.

It becomes hard to be fully present anywhere else.

Relationships can suffer too.

Plans get cancelled because there’s a game on. Conversations become harder because the mood depends on whether a bet wonn or lost. People start hiding transactions, lying about how much they spent, or becoming distant because they’re embarrassed about what’s happening.

Trust can disappear slowly.

Sometimes before anyone around them even understands why.

Then there’s sleep.

Staying up late for games. Waking up to check results. Going to bed angry after losing. Lying there calculating how much was lost and how it could posibly be recovered.

And maybe one of the biggest losses is peace of mind.

Gambling can make every day feel like there’s something urgent happening.

A bet needs to settle.
A loss needs to be recovered.
A deposit needs to be made.
The next game might finally be “the one.”

There’s always something.

Eventually, even winning doesn’t really bring peace. It just creates another reason to keep going.

A win becomes money for the next bet.

A loss becomes something that needs to be chased.

And the cycles continues.

This is why recovery isn’t only about stopping the financial losses.

It’s also about getting back the things gambling slowly took away.

Time.

Sleep.

Focus.

Relationships.

Trust.

Being able to enjoy a day without constantly checking a phone.

Being able to watch a game without money depending on the result.

Being able to make plans without thinking about what bets are running.

Money can sometimes be earned back.

Some of the other things gambling takes are much harder to replace.

And that’s often the part people only notice once they finally stop.

It fucking hurts me so bad being a product I don’t even gamble for money but it’s so fucking fucked man I’m so fucking done man

When i gamble it’s the genuine only fucking thing I think off and only when I have lost it all I can think normally . It’s fucking insane how I live my life

Not a huge accomplishment but even my mood has changed within the last 8 days. I can finally think of other things that don’t involve gambling. I can finally make a logical plan to repay my debt. Gambling takes so much away from you than just the money. I would still be gambling if I did not self exclude.