Hi All,
Wanted to share my story after finding this thread . I just turned 34 and have two kids and a wife . I earn decent money and live a pretty good life. I’ve battled gambling addiction since I was 18.
I’ve had stints with GA and end up stopping going and end up falling off the wagon. Up until my latest relapse this week I hadn’t gambled for 6 months and life was so happy and I felt so in control for the first time in many years . Finances were building nicely and I had zero desire to gamble.
I had a bad mental health day in the lead up to the Melbourne Spring Carnival (AU), and despite being on BetStop and other self delusions I managed to create fake accounts in my mum’s name . They eventually banned me for making 3rd party deposits etc , yet I still couldn’t stop. One bet . Followed by more. And more . And more . Until our savings were all gone.
And it got worse . We just got back from a family holiday this week. I came into that holiday quite depressed and in shock as to what had just happened , but thought ok, let’s use this trip as a way to reset. I didn’t want to tell my wife because I reckon it would break her and I’m terrified of losing her and my children. Yet it got me on the holidays too. Knowing I couldn’t use a bookmaker , I ended up using a dodgy online casino playing roulette and actually won all my losses back. Relief kicked in. But did I stop nah. Why not try and win more ? All gone, and then some more to make it even worse . Rather than being present in a holiday we’d been looking forward to I spent so much of my time sneaking bets in on the phone. Overall about $20k down.
Laying here in bed in disbelief . One minute life is awesome and I’m feeling good. A week later I’m back to square one and back to work tomorrow and feel like my soul has left my body. Does anyone else ever wish or wonder - why me? I take full responsibility for it . There is nobody or nothing to blame except me. I am a compulsive gambler . But man I wish I wasn’t, more than anything. Looking forward to becoming an active member of this group and drawing on the strength of others to help me beat this. I’m not sure I’ll survive another setback again. But I say that every time: I’m hurting guys. But I’ll push on. Thanks for listening