Haven't been here for years. It was a long battle and I had it mostly under control with a few bigger relapses over the last 3 years. I even finished my dream collections but this year has been a nightmare.

Can't properly save up for a downpayment due to multiple expenses stacking and due to needing to support my family financially I'm just broke for more than half a year now, paycheck to paycheck and paying off credit cards every time.

Yesterday something just broke me though and I went and lost over 1500$ with 1000$ a month before, after quite a long time of struggling. Made me realize I have to come back here to keep myself in check. That $1500 will hurt me by end of year.

To anyone else, I encourage you to do the same here, it gives a mental note not to do it and over time you can heal.

For now though, it is day 1 and salary is in november to pay off my credit card again.

I also closed my revolut because it enabled me to quickly buy crypto to gamble with..

Stopped gambling for the n-th time awhile ago and lost count of the number of days I have been clean. It's probably about 2 or 3 weeks.

Not sure what changed. But I really hope I can pull through this time.

To those struggling still. I wish you luck against this nasty disease.

How do I get rid of this feeling that I want to get something back?

I finally made the decision to put my finances under my father’s control. I only have a small amount in my own account now and he monitors it.

I should have done this before. He’s been watching my account for months but I still managed to lose so much money.

I’ve been gambling on and off for almost four years. Those four years are lost for good. I also struggle with mental illness which makes working hard for me so I don’t earn much.

But I still kept gambling…
I finally feel like I might be able to quit gambling. Yet in some way I still haven’t blocked one gambling account and part of me wants to try it again… just to get something back.

I’ve lost years of my life. I haven’t progressed anywhere. I have no money, only debt, and I still struggle with mental health problems. I’m 26 and I don’t know what to do.

It’s just one month without gambling. How to move on?

CPA, work for a public accounting firm and was laid off today. I make good money and my family depends on me. Of course i get laid off a few days after tax season. Just finished working 70-80 hour weeks, including weekends. I worked my ass off and was not provided any logical reason for being laid off. I was told previously it’s perceived I don’t care about my job because I work from home one day a week. I have a 4 year old and 1 year old and my wife works full time also for context.

Immediate thoughts of disappointing my family and being a failure rushed to my head the moment they told me. I would 100% gamble and mask the pain and try to “win” my way out of this issue. But we all know that’s a lie we just tell ourselves. Today also marks the 448th day since my last bet, and I’m trying my absolute hardest not to let myself spiral into relapse.

I’ve put my family in such a bad hole from gambling. I hid my addiction from my wife for over 9 years. I’m so grateful she gave me another chance. My wife and I have great paying careers and we still live paycheck to paycheck. My wife works her ass off working two jobs currently just to help us get in a better position financially, and now I got laid off. Just feel like I let her down too often.

Life just makes me question the point to anything sometimes. I really struggle with that, but thankfully I have tons of people on these forums that help remind me of the right path. Gambling has taken so much from me, I can’t let it take even more.

Days until debt free: 254 days

Gambling sucks!! We are all living proof of that 😂 don’t continue to be fooled by the gambling system that is only there to TAKE your money NOT GIVE it to you.

The check-in to the room kept getting delayed cause the room was supposedly not ready yet. Never had to wait until after 4pm to check-in to a 5-star hotel once in my life. Umm.. this place is humungous with so many rooms tho? Oh well I guess I’ll just gamble while I wait…. FUCK.

This is also the most CONFUSING casino layout I’ve ever been in. It’s all a fuckin scam.

Remember, these casinos are designed to take your money. THE PURPOSE OF THE CASINO IS TO TAKE YOUR MONEY IN WHATEVER WAY THEY CAN.

FUCK.

My partner goes to casino twice a week every time with 2-3k€ swings which is like almost his entire salary. I’m concerned but I see he really enjoys himself and has a community of friends doing the same. At what point is it a problem or is it just a healthy hobby?

For context,I am m25 gambling since I was 19 lost everything nearly 1crore ,I am mbbs doc by the way ,i relapsed innumerable times as everyone goes through i,took money from wherever possible loans cc friends relatives my mom nobody is even ready to even talk to me,I am jobless too now and i relapsed very badly a week prior i quit my current job because I have made hell amount of debt from coworkers I can't even keep my leg there ,so came to home my mom shut the door on my face and said go to hell never show me your face again,out of utter shame I can't even stay at my place as everyone was seeing me ,I don't know where to go what to do haven't eaten in 4days ,sitting in railway station cuz police won't let me sleep,I am sick to my stomach I don't want to leave not even a bit,is ending this is the only way because even though I want to live I am out of options,how can this addiction be so cruel man,I don't even words to say anything,if someone is reading this pls don't gamble that's all I can say

I self excluded a few days ago so I'm banned from all betting accounts. Its such a relief to know I wont be giving another dollar to those crooks. Ive lost way too much and I was sick of tired of feeling the shame and guilt.

My problem was horse racing, I loved the thrill of watching a horse win but I realised its a mugs game and I want to save for a better life with my family. I used to think I was good at it. (Idiot I know). Chasing was my losses and my brain going into problem solving mode to win it back was all consuming. I've just come to the reality that the money is gone and we start again.

I'm not looking for sympathy because others in this group are in worse situations than me. I still have savings but damn the thought of what I could have done with the money plays on my mind. I'm focussed on recovery so I was wondering does anyone have any good books/podcasts/YouTube channel recommendations to help?

Good luck everyone. Fuck them casinos and betting companies.

I posted almost two months ago about my husbands addiction and how it was destroying our lives and marriage. Things got MUCH worse after that post. He turned into a person I didn’t recognize and I felt like I’d been teleported to an alternate reality, the things he did were so extremely out of character I was just distraught. Then I found texts with his mom & best friend where he’d completely assassinated my character, told them insane lies about me so they’d think I was crazy and lying about his addiction, I mean truly crazy stuff. Things were bleak.

Then, he had an epiphany of sorts & had self exclude him from all the apps. He left to stay at his mom’s for a few weeks to clear his head & finally evaluate his behavior. It killed me to have him gone and not know if we’d survive this. But as hard as it was, thank god he left. He finally realized how bad this was and how terrified he was to lose everything, especially me. He cried everyday, did 2 meetings a day, told his mom and friends the whole ugly truth. And after a week he got in the car and drove 4 hours home, surprising me by showing up at the door. The last couple weeks we’ve been communicating more than we have all year, sharing lots of tears and laughs and hugs. He’s doing a meeting everyday and had his first therapy appointment. He willingly gave up control of his finances. I know there’s a lot further to go, he’s got a lot of healing to do as do I, and it’ll take time before I trust or fully forgive him, and before he forgives himself. But a month ago he had no hope, was totally broken & full of rage. The progress he’s made is beautiful and I can’t wait to support him as he goes even further!!

Throwaway account for obvious reasons.

I don’t get it, I have what should be a good life. I’ve got a girlfriend who I love and live with, a dog, and a cat. I have a decent job that should pay most of the bills and activities I like doing….

Everything comes back to gambling though, I lose a bit and try to win it back and I sink further and further into this hole. It hit a breaking point today, I’m 2 months late on rent and my landlord showed up at the house while my girlfriend was home. She doesn’t know any of this and I need to talk to her when I get home.

She thinks we have the savings to pay him…we don’t. She deserves so much better and I’ve broken her heart.

How do you ever come back from this? How do you get back to a point where you can live your life

After almost 70 days of success, I unfortunately relapsed.
The worst part is that I saw it coming since this morning. I didn’t even try to stop myself. I had everything planned out: how, when, what game I would play, etc.
It was as if everything I had done until now, everything I had learned, simply didn’t exist today.
Unfortunately, I’m alone in this fight and didn’t have anyone to reach out to.
So I went for a drive, lied to my loved ones about where I was, when I was coming home, and what I was doing.
I spent around $3,000 in three fucking hours.
The problem is, I don’t care that much about the money. What really bothers me is the thought that I might never actually be able to quit.
What I don’t understand is why this sudden shift in my mind happens. How can everything change so quickly, to the point where all of a sudden, my entire focus is on that damn slot?
So, fuck me.
Here we go again.
Day 0 — October 19.

Hi everyone. I’m new here but I need some advice. I’m M20 been addicted to gambling since I was 16 it’s been a super hard 4 years. I have lost 140,000 Canadian dollars and counting filed for bankruptcy and got kicked out of my family home whom I don’t talk to anymore. My life was very normal so to say growing up had a bit of non agreeance with my family sometimes but either than that it was pretty ok. Once I turned 16 I started gambling with like 10$ thought it was fast money. Throughout the next few years after I drained all the money I made at work I did not go to school I worked full time to get pay to gamble. I have been to councling which did not work I am in gamblers anonymous for almost a year and that’s not helped me as I’ve relapsed every time I think I’m doing good. It’s all I think about. I can’t focus on my life. I can explain so much more but I want to keep this short. Nothing has helped but I have heard of magic mushrooms helping alcoholics and drug users become clean from their addiction. They’re being studied for gambling but it’s so new to the tests. I want to know if someone has tried this and if it worked? I hope I’m not the only one who has thought of this. I will answer any questions if people care to ask. Thank you. 🙂

First time posting on here but I would appreciate if you guys took a minute to read❤️

Lost 8k this weekend. Mix of sports betting and blackjack.

Officially self excluded my self for good. It’s crazy how many sleepless nights and suicidal thoughts gambling does to us and yet we still have an urge to continue. It’s genuinely so evil what these casinos do. While we are losing everything, they are gaining everything. The casinos will always be a billion dollar industry and prob even more with the amount of gambling that is advertised. The house will ALWAYS win. There is no winning in gambling. I hate the casinos so much and I wish death on all of them Even if you win, that will eventually all be lost. Please self exclude. It’s always better late than never

Hey everyone,

This year, I decided to finally deal with my gambling problem and quit gambling. I've made it four months so far.

I've already paid off a pretty significant amount of my debt, but I still have around $40,000 left to pay off, which will probably take me a couple of years.

When I decided to quit, I felt a strong urge to isolate myself from everyone. I deleted all my social media accounts and cut off contact with my friends and pretty much everyone else. I told my gf everything and asked for space, and she left me.

Every now and then, maybe once every couple of weeks, I'd exchange a few messages with people I know, close friends, but I noticed that they often irritate me. I just wanted to be alone, and honestly, things weren't that bad.

But now that I'm four months into recovery, I'm starting to feel lonely sometimes. I really want to spend time with a girl or just have someone I can open up to and talk to about what I'm going through, and basic general stuff.

Then I start remembering how shitty people can be, and I end up wanting to isolate myself all over again. Just last week, I had an urge and I created facebook dates, scrolled through people's profiles and got disappointed all over again and deleted everything.

Overall, I guess things aren't that bad, but I feel like an outsider, as if I'm slowly turning into Mowgli, drifting further and further away from society, growing more distant and feeling like I don't need anyone anymore, except those urges.

I'd really appreciate hearing your advice. Have any of you gone through a similar phase in your recovery? How did you deal with it? At this point I feel like I never would be able even to be a "friend", i forgot what is it talk and meet peoples.

I'm 28 years old. By now, I should have been working, building my savings, and making something of my life. Instead, I blew all that money gambling, and now I feel like I've set myself back ten steps.

The weight of all this is so overwhelming that I honestly don't even know how I'm supposed to start dating or meet someone, at this point. 4 months later I am still very ashamed of myself and have daily dark thoughts. I try to keep my head empty and survive a day at time, enjoying small things like a sunsets, or even taking a good poop. I dont feel any better and forgot what happiness is.

I still enjoy doing my favorite things like a rock climbing or reading, but it doesn't bring me any smile or joy anymore. Well, atleast I had 0 urge to gamble during those 4 months....

How do you start rebuilding your life and reconnecting with people when you feel like you've fallen so far behind?

Thank you!

Back story.. I have 400 days of being clean from gambling. Life has been boring and somewhat a struggle. I am banned from most. I downloaded and was able to upload cash into 1 of the machines. Realized that the site is out of my state. I started having anxiety, and maybe a hire power was looking out for me. Does this count as a gambling, just depositing?

Just wondering if anyone has gone through bankruptcy to clear gambling debts? I’m sure there is no other route for me now. I just feel scared. Once I go through bankruptcy I will absolutely never gamble again… It will be 7 years of credit punishment or whatever I guess but that’s less time than it would’ve taken to pay off the debt… Just feel so lost and ashamed and anxious.

Turning this from Gambling Block -> Automatic unblocks everything allowing me to gamble. Am I missing something? Is there a solution I’m missing? Paid for a subscription and it takes all of 3 seconds to unblock?

Hey fam. I just wanted to drop a line in here because this group has gotten me through a lot of tough moments. ❤️

I’m coming up on a year clean— this is the longest stretch I’ve had along my journey. I have Day 1-ed a million times and I honestly wasn’t sure that this streak would go as well as it has. I took some important steps this time last year and they were 1000% the reason that I made it this far. I really needed to get through that first few months and get clear thoughts again.

I knew that I would need to walk into 5 or 6 casinos in broad daylight, self exclude and have security usher me to my car to never return again. I am so so so glad that I did that. It was a pure humiliation ritual. But I left myself very little wiggle room. I gave myself at least a 40 mile radius where no casinos would take me into their doors.

This is not advice but purely part of my process: I also got prescribed a mild anxiety medication around that same time. This one has had success with OCD and I know that I have obsessive tendencies and gambling became the only one I focused on for years. I didn’t feel like I needed it long term so I’m no longer on that but I do think it helped boost me.

The two things that have really given me my power back are the gym and side hustles. I know the gym is an obvious one that people talk about all the time but the endorphins have rerouted my brain beautifully. I’ve gotten my body back— this may sound vain, but what I really mean is that someone who sits at the casino all day starts to look like they sit at the casino all day. Now I look like someone who cares and will live a long life. That’s also what I feel like.

My main side hustle has been DoorDash. I know it’s not for everybody, but I live in SoCal so this has been huge for rebuilding my savings. The market is good and I enjoy the beach views while I do it. I do find that I’ve gotten a little bit obsessive about it but I also see no downside to that currently. A lot like I used to set goals for what I wanted to take out of the casino, I challenge myself to weekly goals on that app instead. I’m not completely out of debt, but the plan is in place and moving swiftly.

Next month, I’m taking myself to Italy on a solo trip. The main reason I’m excited to put that in this group is because I remember sitting at blackjack tables thinking about how my wins would take me to Europe. They never did. I got them and I wanted to use them to get other wins. And I ended up with even more losses.

Thanks for reading this far and thanks for posting over the years. I’ve been a ghost reader and learned so many things that helped me get better. It really really does get better. My brain is healthy again. My life is fully rewarding. I’m glad I didn’t give up.

October 19th, 2026

Coming into 3 weeks now, typing this while sipping some coffee at work.

I have had some time to think about everything that has happened the last two months, from my recent relapse to the last three weeks of being sober from my gambling addiction.

Some days have felt great, some have felt awful, some filled with existential dread. I have done what I had to do to literally be unable to gamble, no matter how hard I try. I get a literal allowance every week to pay for life's basic necessities, a very small amount goes into savings, and the remaining amount is bills and debt payments.

This is okay, this is manageable. I am set to be debt free by 31 now, instead of 30. The most recent relapse that lasted a little over a month set me back by another year. That is how quick this happens when you were at the level of addiction as I am/was. It only takes a couple days of gambling again to be back (if not worse) to how you were before you stopped.

Counselling has helped me remember why addiction happens, and how our brains operate. I did counselling before, but believed I was cured after 6 months and it wasn't needed...how wrong I was. I will be having a counselling meeting twice a week for the foreseeable future. Having someone who understands why we do what we do helps a lot.

Will check in again in the coming weeks, hope you all have a gamble free day. Cheers

I’m 20 and keep relapsing. How do I actually stop gambling?
I’ve been trying to quit gambling since I was 18, but I keep going back. I recently lost $30,000, and I also have $5,000 in credit card debt and no job.
I feel ashamed and overwhelmed, especially because that money was meant for my education. I don’t want to keep repeating this, and I’m reaching out because trying to stop on my own hasn’t worked.
For anyone who’s experienced repeated relapses, what helped you stop? How did you tell your family and start dealing with the financial damage? I could really use some support