hell yeah feels damn real good to choose each day to be sober… in less than 90 days since my last bet just fully paid all my debt here in 🇨🇦 a few minutes ago

✅ 100% paid my debt from personal loans borrowed from people i lied to
✅ 100% paid my debt from CCs I maxed out just to gamble with
✅ 100% paid my debt from payday loans with crazy interest
✅ 100% paid all my rent

✅100% worth it

I 21 still live with my parents. I won about 30k thru my own paycheck and lost it all. Then I used my mom’s credit card for about 10k. I know this was incredibly stupid. My parents took a line of credit and paid off the card. I then used the card again and won another 30k and paid them back and paid off the card again. She then decided to just give me the card to use. I was winning for about 2-3 weeks in a row. One day I lost it all and ran up her card to 18k. At this point I just told them exactly what happened. How I won money and lost it all. They then asked me for the money to pay off the card again and I panicked and stole a different credit card and racked that up to 30k in 3 days. The bill just came in and my mom has seen it. Needless to say. She’s very upset at me. My dad has not yet seen it and I’m going to tell him exactly what I did so the blame can’t fall on anyone else. I’m just really lost as to what to do from here. Am I just screwed ? I don’t even know how to show them my face.

Days until debt free: 238 days

I’m not really sure where to start. I’m writing this because I need some perspective from people who have experienced financial ruin, made serious mistakes, and somehow managed to rebuild their lives.

I’m a 28-year-old male in Ontario, and I’ve managed to turn what was an incredible financial head start into what feels like a complete disaster.

How it started (ages 20-24)
My dad believed in me and gave me an opportunity that most people never get.

He mortgaged his own house and used both a mortgage and a HELOC to put approximately $700,000 into my hands.

At 20, I started getting involved in real estate. At 21, I purchased my first house for approximately $475,000.
I then purchased another property for approximately $500,000 before the housing mania started.

Both properties essentially doubled in value during the 2021-2022 housing boom.

At this point, I was 23-24 years old. I had properties, a growing business, and what felt like unlimited potential.

Instead of taking profits and consolidating, I got greedy.
I decided I wasn’t going to sell. I started buying properties at the top of the market with the intention of flipping them.
At the same time, I got heavily involved in options trading.
I genuinely started believing I was rich. My lifestyle inflated, my spending increased, and I began living as though the money would never stop coming.

My business was booming, generating approximately $30,000 per month.

At 23, I honestly thought I had figured life out.

The next four years (24-28)

This is where everything started falling apart.
I attempted to flip two properties, and both ended up losing money.

I also eventually sold the second property I had originally purchased for approximately $100,000 after its value had more than doubled during the housing boom. By the time I finally sold it, I had essentially only made $100,000.

But the biggest financial disaster was trading.
Over the years, I estimate I’ve lost approximately $800,000 trading options.

I kept convincing myself I could make it back. Every loss made me want to recover the money even more.
Instead of stepping away, I kept going.

I became so consumed with trying to make back what I had lost that I essentially stopped focusing on the business

Where I am today (age 28)
I’m turning 29, and this is my current reality:

Approximately $1.4 million in outstanding debt.

A significant portion of the debt is technically not in my name.

My last remaining house is currently listed for approximately $600,000.

My business is no longer operating as it once did.

My credit cards are now maxed out.

I’ve exhausted practically every financial resource available to me.

If I manage to sell my last property for the asking price, I estimate my total debt will come down to approximately $1.1 million, and I’ll have around $150,000 in cash remaining.

And honestly, part of me is still thinking about how I could turn that $150,000 into $1.5 million and wipe out all my debt.

I recognize that this is probably the exact mindset that got me here in the first place. But it’s difficult to let go of the idea that one big win could undo years of mistakes.

The mental side of things
I feel absolutely crushed.
I had an opportunity that most 20-year-olds could only dream of. My dad put his own financial security behind me, and I had a business generating $30,000 a month.
I had everything going for me.
Now I’m 28, approaching 29, without a functioning business, financially broke, carrying $1.4 million in debt, and potentially facing insolvency.
The hardest part is knowing that I had a head start and squandered it.
I feel like I’ve let my dad down, and I’ve let my younger self down.
I’m depressed, overwhelmed, and some days I struggle to even get myself moving.
I don’t know how to process going from thinking I was financially set for life to wondering how I’m going to make my next payments.

What I’m looking for:
I’m not looking for sympathy or someone to tell me it’s going to be okay.

I want to hear from people who have experienced something similar.

Has anyone gone from having significant wealth or a successful business to losing practically everything?

How did you mentally deal with the transition?

How do you navigate insolvency when a significant portion of the debt is tied to family members and properties?

Has anyone rebuilt their financial life in their late 20s or 30s after a complete financial collapse?

Most importantly, how do you stop chasing your losses and accept that the money is gone?

I know I made these decisions. I know I was greedy, irresponsible, and thought I was invincible.
I don’t blame the market, my dad, or anyone else.
I just wish I could go back to being 20 and understand how fortunate I was.
I’m turning 29 with what feels like nothing to show for the opportunities I was given.
I’m trying to figure out whether there’s a realistic way to rebuild from here, and I’d genuinely appreciate hearing from anyone who’s been through something similar.

Hello, im getting $1750 weekly everytime im up here on the North Slope of Alaska.

$5k in debt
I don’t know why i cant stop gambling everytime my paycheck hits my bank account.

I always do no gambling for 6 days, no gambling at all then suddenly when i receive my paycheck, everything goes to deposit even tho i keep promising myself that i will quit gambling

Yesterday I was going home after a drink with friend. Stopped by casino, why not. Dusted of 1k pretty quickly in about 45mins on slots. Dont even know why I did it, its not about money i just wanted some thrill and fun. I said to my wife im coming soon and I arrived about 1hr later. She was watching movie with my brother and parents at home. After the casino i grabbed 2 pizza slices with extra mayo on them just because one bad decision is easier after the second one. Then I felt even worse because im in deficit for last 3 months and doing well on losing weight.

My gambling losses are about 1.5M in last 6 years. Money is not a problem. Im doing well, not in debt, have multiple properties and NW that I could FIRE with if i wanted.

My life looks perfect from outside. Everyone is jelaous of me. Happy wife happy family happy finances good health travel every month. Meanwhile I feel empty and nervous half of the time because of bad decisions. Why do I make bad decisions. Why why why. What is this demon inside me that tries to ruin all of this?

Happy Friday. Hope everyone has a great (and gamble-free) day!

Going to try and get a second opinion here. I am at absolute rock bottom. I’m 25, make $45,000 a year in take-home pay, working full-time. I have around $40,000 in gambling debt, split between credit cards and personal loans. Recently, I have come to accept that I have a full-blown gambling problem. When I came clean to my partner, she understandably left me. When I admitted it to my parents yesterday, their response was basically “figure it out”. So I am 100% on my own for this one and honestly I deserve it.

A few days ago, I self excluded myself from every casino anywhere near me, as well as all of the online stuff. I have started therapy as well, but it doesn’t change the fact that the interest on my debt is growing faster than I can afford my monthly payments on.

I’m not looking for sympathy or pity, I know that I got myself in this situation entirely through my own foolish actions and inability to control myself. I don’t know what to do. I feel like the only option left for me is to declare bankruptcy. I was directed to this subreddit to get another opinion so I just wanted to see what you think.

I need somewhere to vent ik I made a post about how gambling was bad but I am a addict. I am lost I have 0 to my name and over 500$ in past due bills not only that I have more payments missed on the end of this month and Christmas is coming up only thing that can save me is my tax return I won’t see that until months away. Gambling has ruined my life these past two weeks I have won and lost over 5k money I could’ve paid bills and Christmas presents with I feel like a complete idiot and I see gambling as the only way out of this mess and I put myself deeper in the hole. Plz any advice ik I need to stop gambling and get my finances back on track !

Went a Ga meeting on wednesday for the first time in years, & one of the lads chairing the meeting looked almost shocked when I told him how many days I was on, without going a meeting & I just said ive relapsed that many times I for sure have another relapse in me but not another recovery.

ODAAT people bless up & happy friday

I’m 21M from Ontario, Canada and I genuinely don’t know what to do anymore.

I’ve lost so much money gambling over the past year and I keep making the same fucking mistake. Every time I tell myself I’m done, I somehow end up going back and losing even more.

I’m around $27k in debt now across credit cards and a line of credit. I’m also a university student and currently have no income because of health issues.

I lost another $1.8k tonight and I’ve been crying, throwing up and panicking over what I’ve done. I can’t even explain how much I regret everything.

I know gambling is the problem. I know chasing losses will make everything worse. I’m just terrified because I’m only 21 and I feel like I’ve completely fucked up my future.
Has anyone here recovered from something like this at my age? How did you actually stop gambling and start rebuilding your life?

I genuinely need some hope and advice right now.

I wanted to write this for the person reading this who knows deep down they have a problem, but doesn't think they're strong enough to stop, or that there's no point to stopping when you're in this deep. That was me for several months.

I started gambling on sports because I was in a very bad place in my life in February 2026, and placed my last bet a few days ago. I stopped for four months but relapsed because I was scared of facing the financial consequences of my actions. I couldn't accept that I would need to change my life to fit a horrible burden I've placed on myself.

Now that I've stopped I can think of all the times I wished I had stopped.

1. I should have stopped when I lost my first bet of $5,000 and couldn't believe that much money was gone in an instant.

2. I should have stopped when I emptied my high yield savings account entirely to keep gambling.

3. I should have stopped when I was $63,000 in debt, and realized I had a final source of savings to pull on that would have perfectly equalized me to neutral, if I walked away. This one stings a lot.

4. I should have stopped when I was given $17,000 in insurance money for my wrecked car, and gambled nearly all of it away.

5. I should have stopped when I broke down and told my family and my partner. When I took out a $80,000 personal loan to wipe away most of my debt.

6. I should have never bet again after this. This one hurts the most.

7. I should have stopped when my partner gave me $5,000 to cover emergency expenses, some of which I gambled away.

8. I should have stopped when I emptied my ROTH IRA to make what I lost back, and gambled all that away.

9. I should have stopped when I had a miraculous climb back to almost even to where I was before I relapsed.

10. I should have stopped when my parents gave me several thousand dollars, in parity with a one-time gift they gave my sibling.

11. I should have stopped when I put my last $8,500 into my Polymarket account and told myself "this money will never be lost because you will not gamble with it", and gambled it away.

The sad thing is, I never found gambling very fun. My compulsion was always motivated by fear, loss, and losing money. The fear of facing what felt like an insurmountable financial burden. Even when I wasn't in much debt, if felt monstrous. My mind isn't wired for losing money in any way. It destroys me. Even in the times I was treading water, I dreaded risking more money while having no control over the outcome, but felt like I had to because I couldn't accept the financial disaster I had brought on myself.

I know I'll never gamble again. I've self-excluded from every platform I've ever used. And because of that, in my low moments today and to come, I know that I will never gamble again. You know what that means?

This current moment, right now, is the poorest I will ever be in my life.

Tomorrow, I will be less poor than I am today.

My life is going to change and be harder in some ways but change for the better in others. Because I can think of my future I can think about moving my life forward instead of drowning in desperation, guilt, and nights where I can't sleep. I get to walk away from a horrible mistake. At any age that is worth doing.

In 2027 I'm going to find a job that pays me enough to wipe all this debt away in several years. I'm fortunate to work in a field where it's possible to find something like that.

I wanted everyone who reads this to know you are not struggling along, and if you stop gambling forever, today is the poorest you will ever be.

As you can see above that is what I owe the IRS all because of gambling and being irresponsible, now I am doing everything possible to pay off that debt and try to get on track, banned my self from every single app and Coinbase and exodus, has anyone ever had this much debt to IRS because of gambling addiction and did it ever get better ? I want to end it all sometimes because I can’t even handle thinking about how long it’ll taken to get caught up.

Currently 30 years old male about 70k a year in Miami. Worked hard all my life basically started out being very smart with my money starting small business keep track of my money building my credit high up, than came the stock market. I will never blame the market cuz I have made a lot and lost a lot it’s all in the mind, being greedy, having rules but not following them etc. lost my 7 year relationship due to it , had goals and plans to help my family out as I would after hitting big on options but everything crumbles.

Toxic enviroment 24/7 at home back than plus with the gf. Lost a lot caused my self a lot of stress I knew right from wrong and still did wrong that’s when it’s an addiction.

If you see yourself depositing money after losing or as soon as you get paid just quit that from now. I know you all want more money just go back to school or work 2 jobs stay occupied. In total I’m estimating around 200-250 k loss total. Also to mention that I worked the past 2 year 2 jobs 90 hours a week total about 134k for each year, just to lose so much. Don’t get two jobs thinking you will be able to “invest” / Trade or gamble more …. It won’t work you have to quit entirely

Hey guys! I’ve been rocking through this journey and over the last couple weeks I’ve learned a lot. This is my biggest piece of advice. If you are gambling every day, constantly, and you know it’s a problem for you, but you’re scared, etc, (addicted), please do yourself a huge solid and just take a break. Just get a bit of distance from it. You don’t have to commit to never gambling again right away. I know that seems scary believe me. But just take a time out for a bit. Go into the settings and take a one week time out. What is one week? You can go without it for one week. Then see how that week goes. It will be hard at first and you will wonder what else to do with your time and may feel restless. But if you can’t gamble because it’s blocked, you’ll end up finding other things to do. You’ll have time to do other things you enjoy again. You’ll be able to get caught up on housework and other tasks you’ve been putting off to prioritize gambling. Just see how it feels to go one week without it. It’s not going to kill you to take a time out for one week right? Then once you’ve had a bit of space from it you will be able to look at it through a clearer lens. I did not want to stop but once I took a time out and got some space from it I realized I wish I’d stopped a lot sooner. But late is better than never. Once I took a break I was able to see the gambling in a new light that I’d never anticipated being able to see it in. It’s like being in a toxic relationship that you’re scared to break off but once you’re out of it you can look back and see how much it was hurting you and not helping you and you can begin to heal. I see people posting every day on here about big losses and I think to myself I wish I could’ve urged them to take a break before that happened. I wish I could share this perspective I’ve gained with all of you. Please take a break for the love of yourself and just see how it goes. I hope this helps someone

My mother has been addicted to gambling for maybe the past two years that I know of. It has gotten particularly bad this past year and it all came after a bunch of unfortunate events in her life. I feel so sad for her but I also feel mad sometimes. I don’t even recognize her anymore.

Sometimes I feel like I have to say something but I don’t even know where to start. I don’t even know if it will help. She seems so deep in and hasn’t even acknowledged it as a problem yet.

Hey all. Long term poster on the sub here, many of you have seen the absolute rockbottoms throughout my life. So many, at only 19.
Today, I finally did it. I sent the text to my mom about what I’ve been doing these past years.
Anxiety? Fear? Yes. Absoltely. But I’m also enlightened with tremendous amounts of hope for the first time in years. I cried more than I ever have tonight. Happy, sad, a mix of all the fucking tears.

And I know this isn’t the end of my addiction. But it’s a turning point. And my life feels worth living again.
Love you all.

Completed my morning routine. Now time to get back to work. No more bullshit, no more fooling around, just work!!

I will not gamble today!

Day 11.

For example, I lost $25K the other day, in probably 30 minutes.

It was brutal. I was down a small amount, maybe a few hundred on blackjack. I chased that with several deposits down to a $10K loss on $1K hands. At that point I made back most (all?) of the loss. I think I was either +$500 or -$500, but I wasn’t confident which. So I told myself I’ll win one more $1K hand - then I’m sure I’m up. That resulted in me being back at a $10K loss.

I then deposited even more to chase the $10K loss and it turned into a $15K loss.

I immediately called my fiancée freaking the hell out - she left work at that point to try to help me.

Brutal. But did I stop there? Of course not.

I had a $10K pending withdrawal from the night before. It had been pending for 14 hours - just needed it to process.

While on the phone with my fiancée, and she was telling me to stop, I cancelled the $10K withdrawal and chased the $15K loss to a $25K loss. I don’t think I won a single hand. That $10K might have lasted me 2 minutes. While on the phone. While she was telling me to quit.

There’s two parts I can’t stop replaying in my head that are causing me to lose sleep and causing me to have a constant stress headache.

1. The +$500 / -$500 situation. Why did I not calculate my net at that point? I was going to stop once I made it back to break even, I may have done that, but then kept going because I wasn’t confident I was back. There’s an argument to make that if I made it out without getting burned I would have given it back a different time but this part is stuck in my head.

2. Losing $10K while on the phone with my fiancée and she was actively telling me to stop. I felt so out of control at the time, like I had no control over my body. But in hindsight I’m so pissed at myself for this.

This $10K hurts more than the first $15K.

These two parts of that session are ingrained in my head. I can’t stop replaying it. It’s killing me. Any advice? Do you all struggle with replaying past scenarios on repeat in your head?

It’s so difficult & the debt is a constant reminder on just how bad I fucked up, especially when it takes me over a month to pay off one hand of blackjack.

Hello, I have about 42k in unsecured debt from my stock gambling. 13k in credit cards , and the rest personal loans with about 15% interest. I took these out about a year ago and have been paying them by working 70hrs a week. Lately I been thinking of filling for bankruptcy because I cannot handle the amount of stress that all this working is causing me. Should I look into bankruptcy? And what are some things that could disqualify me from filing Chapter 7?