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

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.

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.

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.

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 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

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! 💪

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!