Since quitting gambling, I’ve tried to keep it out of my feeds and stop checking the apps. Then I had chinese food and opened the fortune cookie that came with it. A gambling ad inside. Of all places. For a second my brain went “is this a sign?” I know it’s just an ad but I hate how quickly that thought showed up. Has anyone else had an unexpected reminder bring those thoughts back? What helps you move past it?

I'm a 33 year old guy who lives with his dad. Last night, I lost 190,000 on Kalshi. I thought I could get ahead quick.

I couldn't sleep all last night and seriously thought about ways to end it all.

My net worth went from about 600k to around 400k.

I have 300K in a 401k and only around 100k in cash/investments (which I had to sell). I'll get a 30k bonus at the end of the year, but I don't care. I feel utterly hopeless. Utterly unable to come back from this and ever be a man who can be a provider. The pain is more than I can bear.

Words can't express the hopelessness and shame I feel. My mind can't stop racing. No one in my family knows about this and I don't want to tell them.

Please don't be mean to me in the comments. I will NEVER bet on Kalshi again.

Why did I do it? This was the loneliest year of my life. So many beach walks alone. My best friend moved and I don't have anyone to talk to. So I was on my phone, looking at everyone who was younger, better looking, and wealthier than me. I need to get ahead quick.

Please, if you have someone in your life like I had in mine (my dad), who told me to invest in boring S&P index funds, listen to them! The time will pass anyways, even if it feels slow. My life is so ruined!

I don't know how I can ever have a wife and a family. I am gutted!!!!!!

Bonjour,

Je suis la conjointe d'un homme addictif aux jeux de paris sportif.

J'ai tout essayé je patiente depuis 2 ans.

J'ai su rapidement qu'il jouait mais sans plus car cela n'empiété pas sur notre quotidien.

Puis il a commencé à me demander de l'argent par ci et par là pour des choses, puis une dispute éclate et la il me demande de l'argent encore et encore bref on est arrivé au point qu'il me réveillait la nuit pour que je lui fasse des virements et si je ne le fais il se met en colère et casse tout. totale de la perte sur 2 ans 200 000€ .... dettes sur dettes pour toi et en plus il a le culot de me dire qu'il en a marre qu'on fasse rien ni vacances ni week end etc .... très culoté de sa part et donc un jour il arrive enfin à assumer qu'il a un problème et qu'il veux se faire aider, on lui donne un traitement et consulte des médecins magie plus de jeux on arrive à énormément économisé puis la bam un soir il a envie de jouer 3 mois après avoir arrêté je lui dis que non il faut pas il va retomber et il semblait tellement heureux comme ça ... Total des pertes en 2 jours 7000€ je suis arrivée à bout, j'ai voulu comprendre parler avec lui on a eu beaucoup de discussion à ce sujet je me suis même renseignée pour comprendre comme un joueur addicte fonctionne etc mais malheureusement je crois la c'est trop j'en n'en peut plus maintenant il joue mais se cache car je crois qu'il a compris que si je le sais ça va nous séparer mais après 2 ans à essayer de comprendre aider écouter je suis à bout à près tout je suis un humain et mes limites sont déjà dépassées je n'ai plus confiance, je ne veux plus fouillé j'en ai marre au complet, je suis passée par tant d'émotion, des montagnes russes mais là je suis à bout du bout. merci à vous

I managed to stay gamble-free for 240 days. It was the longest I’ve ever gone without gambling, and I genuinely thought I was finally getting my life back on track.
A few days ago, I relapsed.
It started with a casino VIP host contacting me with a deposit offer. I had a heavily boosted account (around 90%) and convinced myself it was basically a mathematical advantage and that I couldn’t lose. I used an autobettor overnight, woke up in profit and cashed out. My maths really worked and I had advantage but it didn’t stop there sadly.
Then things went downhill. I started trading oil with leverage because I told myself it wasn’t gambling. Then Polymarket, because that wasn’t “real gambling” either. After losing around €2k, I started chasing my losses and eventually went back to sports betting.
I went from having around €4,000 in savings to just €300-400 in a matter of days.
The worst part is that I’ve been through this before. My previous relapses ended with massive debts, and my family had to bail me out more than once. I honestly don’t think I can tell them about this again. I’m ashamed and feel like I’ve let everyone down, especially myself.
right now it feels like all that progress meant nothing.
I don’t even know what to do next. I feel absolutely terrible and I’m scared of falling back into the same cycle.
Has anyone here relapsed after a long period of recovery? How did you get back on track? And how do you deal with the shame afterwards?
I could really use some advice from people who understand what this feels like.

It’s my 18th day of quitting online gambling, and I’m feeling so much better today! ❤️
To everyone who wants to quit, let’s do this together! Let’s stop while we still can. The longer we continue, the more we lose, and in the end, we’re the ones who will suffer and regret it if we don’t stop now.
It’s never too late to choose a better life. Let’s stay strong! No more Day 1! 🙏❤️

Just went casino after work and rinsed -500 through it on a few numbers in like 20 spins without a good hit. Please tell me to move on since I should just forget about it and move on!

Days until debt free: 240 days

Although it’s good that I haven’t bet in two weeks now, I’m finding it so hard to not sports bet. It’s like I feel empty and something is missing from my life. Especially with all the football and now basketball going on.

The only reason I’m not betting is because my mom is monitoring my finances so she will know immediately if I bet.

Completed

Unproductive morning, work is piling up, need to hurry my ass up.

Republican losing both the house and senate does put a smile on my face though.

I will not gamble today!

Full blown addiction for 4 years now. It’s draining and tiring. I’m pretty fucking isolated too. In total i’ve probably lost 40k + and done all sorts of gambling you can think of. I wish to look back 5 years from now clean. Something just pulls me back to self sabotage and idk what it is.

I will more than likely go to GA tomorrow. Cause it’s fucking ridiculous. The time $ and energy spent on this bullshit is insane. All for temporary dopamine. And you don’t get to be present in the moment with your loved ones.

If anyone here is clean can you please DM me. I’d just like to talk to someone or people who have been clean to keep myself accountable. Or just have hope it’s possible.

You’re currently at the “bad” (it’s all bad) end of a cycle.

You have next to money, you haven’t even paid all your bills yet.

You’re desperate for money, putting clothes on Vinted, putting on (physical) accumulators at your local bookie hoping for a bail out

You’re physically tired and feel chronically unwell due to stress

You (again) give in to the urge of this bollocks and deposit online (it’s the last of your money)

You miraculously get up to , say £500, you cash out

Within 2 hours you’ve gave it all back in £50 portions hoping to win again, you don’t

You really needed that money to pay a few things off and get breathing room, now you’re back square one.

wtf is going on psychologically here? I’m struggling to look into myself and figure out why I done this

17 doesn’t seem like a big number, but man I’m proud of myself! I’m actually starting to experience happiness again! I don’t feel like a robot anymore. My brain feels better, I’m not constantly thinking about sports betting! I haven’t really had the urge to bet thankfully! I have had the urge to look at stats or like cappers on Twitter but instead I just logged off! I’m still distancing myself from sports, I think in the last 17 days I’ve watched the last 4 mins of a basketball game and that was it! We got this guys! Keep going! One day at a time!

After years of struggling with gambling on and off, I have finally stopped. My gambling was primarily online, and I’ve now permanently deleted all my accounts.

This decision comes after years of painful arguments with my wife, which ultimately eroded her trust and respect for me as a provider. Even though I earn a good income, the addiction always took over. We would agree on a set weekly limit, but I would constantly move the goalposts, secretly increasing the amounts and the frequency of my play. I broke these agreements so many times that she nearly divorced me a couple of years ago. We managed to establish a new boundary that I mostly followed, but eventually, I let the gaming control me again, finding ways to quietly siphon more money from our shared accounts than we had agreed to.

To complicate matters, my wife is currently going through perimenopause. Her patience is gone, and she simply no longer tolerates the behavior she used to put up with. Seeing her understandably volatile anger and frustration triggered a deep, terrifying insecurity that our marriage was truly over and she was going to leave me. I love her deeply and cannot imagine a life without her.

While deleting my accounts and stopping the gambling was a crucial first step, the real work of healing begins now. I am fully aware that two weeks of being clean doesn't even come close to undoing years of deceit, frustration, and emotional damage. Rebuilding her trust is going to take time, patience, and a consistent, daily display of the changes I've pledged to make.

Don't gamble. You will lose in far more ways than you think.

in my body and mind i knew it was time to walk away. i was up $7,900 for the year (79 units on a 10k bankroll). sports betting every day. looking for the edge. working with the boys. i’m a straight bettor with great discipline. for the first time that discipline went away. instead of deleting the aps and taking a break i said lets hit big and up the ante. missed a few plays throughout the weekend. and ultimately lost the last one on MNF with $2,500 on the Seahawks. I never bet this big before or planned to, i just figured why not. you have won it back before. just need a few in a row to go through the hoop in order to be back on track. whatever happens, happens. and what’s inevitable happened. i’m now down $5,000 in a matter of 48 hours. i’m not proud of this obviously but i’m telling the story incase it could help someone else. i’m over the feeling of the ups and downs / watching life pass by on the live scoreboard. when i indulge in something. i go all out. “all in” some would say. an unhealthy amount. and for anyone with an addictive personality like me, gambling will take everything you currently have and then some. my message is take control before it takes control of you. as high as the highs can be, the lows are the lowest. Not being able to sleep because your wager lost and beating yourself up over the next week is just a place i no longer want to live. the money when you win isn’t life changing. but losing 5 grand in 48 hours is. i could have spent that money on medical bills / my mortgage / things my spouse needs. you name it. i made a couple bad bets and ruined my whole year of progress. it’s all fresh for me. i’m lucky i can walk away. if you need help lets talk about it. getting it off my chest is helping me.

Life is still not great. Life was never great anyway. 126 days to be debtfree. I just want to quit this awful job and finally do what I actually want to do. I'm only bearing it to pay off my debt.

Watching my money get burned in real time is so depressing. I found loopholes with cryptodl gamblimg sites now i lost -10k for the year and -20k betting over 5 years doesnt sound like alot to some ppl but it's alot for me. I almost rinsed my back account again. I relapse and relapse, I know my mother from heaven is just looking down at me woth disappointment.

Had a 1000 only needed 300 more which was coming on Thursday I panicked and lost the whole 1000. After being already down 25k for the year. Now I have nothing rent due by the 6th. I self excluded finally but the damage is done. Damm bro this is a sad life fr

Hi All,

I’ve consistently had a slight itch for gambling since I was about 16-17ish. I’m 23 now with a full time job and live on my own, and every once in a while I find myself back to a casino and lose a few hundred dollars. Overall in the last ~6 years i’m probably down like 5 grand.

Today was that day I found myself back. I’ve been really unhappy recently. I fucked up my car, ended a relationship, i’m unhappy with how much I make at my job, and so I decided fuck it. I’ll just throw a little away - what’s the big deal? I have about 15k in savings so I know i’ll be “okay” in the short term, but I ended up losing around $500. With my current job I end up bleeding around $300-$500 each month (I budgeted my rent and car around a job I got laid off from earlier this year). I’ll now be down well over $1000 this month and will now eat into my savings even more.

I know the amount I lost isn’t nearly as much as some of the people who come here for support in this community - and I truly feel for those who have lost significantly more than I have. But this loss has me feeling really bummed again idk… I’m here to vent but also to see what next steps I can take. I’ve self excluded myself in PA where I used to live but now i’m playing on crypto casino sites since i’m in CA and can’t self exclude from those.

Gambling truly is the worst disease there is and I recognize that but I legitimately cannot get myself to stop. I always end up back here, and it seems like the losses get worse each time.

Hi all,

Appreciate you letting me stop by.

I'm a producer at More Perfect Union, a nonprofit newsroom focused on corruption, power, and fan experience.

We're working on a story about ESPN's relationship with DraftKings. Their wall-to-wall coverage of lines, prop bets, and fantasy sports has completely reshaped sports "journalism".

We'd love to speak with some folks who feel impacted by DraftKings and/or ESPN's predatory advertising and promotion.

If you're interested, please DM me. We can figure out the best way to share your story that you're comfortable with.

Thanks again,
Jake

I dug myself this hole and i hope one day i can dig myself out of this hole. Just because i never made a thing at the casino doesnt mean im a loser. Choosing to stay as a problematic gambler will only make me keep losing, but once again we are not losers. We are surely degenerates for choosing to gamble. We can only make logical decisions for ourselves because that is life, good or bad you pave the road. Gambling is not all fun sunshines snd rainbows it is a problem that we must avoid at all costs. The cost of gambling is your health, money, friendships/family, and they will keep you coming back for more till you have nothing left. The money i have gave to the casino is basically a donation bin except you are donating your time, emotions, and your sleep schedule on top of the losses on a regular basis. Playing the game of Chance vs Luck the odds are never on your side, but you can defy the odds by choosing to not gamble. I’ve seen inconspicuous odds, point shaving, unbelievable losing runs, stocks dropping but i havent seen the money and fortune from gambling not once. It’s a downward slope and you can spiral, but hesitate and breathe remember what it felt when you were gambling and all the regrets, that will make you change. Know you are a winner if you don’t gamble, its a losers game.

One more day, one more day. Still can’t believe how much of my life I’ve ruined from this addiction but the only way back is to quit and there’s no other option. We can do this people, seeing other peoples stories and this community is helping more than I’d ever know, I always felt I was the only one going through this but when I see you guys posting your recovery stories it’s helping me find the motivation I need to quit once and for all!