20-10-2010, 08:32 AM
I am 24 years old, and am a compulsive gambler.
I realised a long time ago that i had a problem with gambling. it started when i was about 16, with football bets. then when the machines came out, them too. over the years, it would be impossible to recall the amount of times ive walked into a bookies out of sheer boredom, n walked back out with not even enough money to eat. theres been times over the years when iv felt like giving up on everythin, always after a long losing streak. even then, i think it was more trying to get the money back id already lost if that makes sense.
in 2008, i won a hell of a lot of money. although its hard to recall actually spending it on anything, except other bets.
The embarrassment of finally going into a betting shop and askin to fill out a self banning form and attaching a photo was somethin i knew i had to go thru.. i went into a photo booth n got twenty passport sized photos of myself. At the time, the blackjack machines were killing me. i once wasted 3 months wages in a machine over the course of four hours. with my last couple of hundred, i managed to get it back up to almost what i started with. But obviously with me being a compulsive gambler, i continued until id lost it all.
It was then i made the decision to get the photos taken. i went to all the major bookmakers in the area, gave them photographs and filled out forms to ban me for 60 months. then i thought, 'problem solved'...
it wasnt long before i was traveling ten miles out of town to put bets on. sometimes, after several months, i could even get back in the shops where id filled the forms in!! Now, two years on, and more or less financially ruined, im at my rock bottom. iv tried all sorts of ways of stopping gambling, from blocking myself from sites to barring myself from anywhere that takes bets. and yet i still manage to get bets on, still manage to lose. im writing this now after getting myself in a proper hole, and then putting everything i had on 'one last bet' to win it all back... it folded, as thy always do.
iv logged on to gamblers anonymous and iv decided to attend a GA meeting on thursday. for some people, self banning forms might work, but with my personalty, it wont work for me. i wish i had done somethin much more than get some photos taken all that time ago. Now, i know i have a very serious problem, and if it continues, it will threaten to ruin my family and possibly my life, if it hasnt already... i sincerely hope the meetings will help, if not, i dont know where i will end up...
I realised a long time ago that i had a problem with gambling. it started when i was about 16, with football bets. then when the machines came out, them too. over the years, it would be impossible to recall the amount of times ive walked into a bookies out of sheer boredom, n walked back out with not even enough money to eat. theres been times over the years when iv felt like giving up on everythin, always after a long losing streak. even then, i think it was more trying to get the money back id already lost if that makes sense.
in 2008, i won a hell of a lot of money. although its hard to recall actually spending it on anything, except other bets.
The embarrassment of finally going into a betting shop and askin to fill out a self banning form and attaching a photo was somethin i knew i had to go thru.. i went into a photo booth n got twenty passport sized photos of myself. At the time, the blackjack machines were killing me. i once wasted 3 months wages in a machine over the course of four hours. with my last couple of hundred, i managed to get it back up to almost what i started with. But obviously with me being a compulsive gambler, i continued until id lost it all.
It was then i made the decision to get the photos taken. i went to all the major bookmakers in the area, gave them photographs and filled out forms to ban me for 60 months. then i thought, 'problem solved'...
it wasnt long before i was traveling ten miles out of town to put bets on. sometimes, after several months, i could even get back in the shops where id filled the forms in!! Now, two years on, and more or less financially ruined, im at my rock bottom. iv tried all sorts of ways of stopping gambling, from blocking myself from sites to barring myself from anywhere that takes bets. and yet i still manage to get bets on, still manage to lose. im writing this now after getting myself in a proper hole, and then putting everything i had on 'one last bet' to win it all back... it folded, as thy always do.
iv logged on to gamblers anonymous and iv decided to attend a GA meeting on thursday. for some people, self banning forms might work, but with my personalty, it wont work for me. i wish i had done somethin much more than get some photos taken all that time ago. Now, i know i have a very serious problem, and if it continues, it will threaten to ruin my family and possibly my life, if it hasnt already... i sincerely hope the meetings will help, if not, i dont know where i will end up...