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[du dude42 WANTED $2 Outlaw]

Hi all

I’m wondering if anyone else has been in this situation and has any advice.

I have a good job and a decent income. I enjoy gambling, I can afford to do so occasionally and for these reasons I don’t want to completely stop.

However, I find myself playing every day, about £20. Say I lose 50% of what I deposit so total loss of £300/month. It’s not causing me major problems but it is rather depressing.

I would like to cut that down to once a week but because it’s become part of my routine and it is something I enjoy, self control isn’t working on its own.

I know from some people, the only way to cut down is to go cold turkey but I want to try an intermediate step before I jump to that and don’t take it seriously because it’s not really what I want.

My wife doesn’t know I’m playing at all (she would freak out even if she thought it was £10/year just because gambling isn’t a socially acceptable thing) so I can’t really ask her to keep an eye on me.

Any advice appreciated.

[Seyahkram1977 WANTED $706 Outlaw]

Just put a gambling limit on what you can do a week/ month.If you feel your gambling it’s not out of control it should fit well with you ….£30 quid a week or something, or £100 a month ………

or go cold turkey, block your account for six months, everyday put the £20 pound you would gamble in a savings account and then go on holiday with the wife at the end ……

in not sure there is any other advice to give….

[kojak WANTED $64 Blocked]

300 quid a month isn’t a lot of money if you have a decent income… it’s depressing, as you say, but it sounds like “hobby level” gambling if there can be such a thing  🙂
I presume you don’t have a joint account with your partner though, or that would be noticed.

First thought is, I’m not sure I believe your numbers – if you’re appealing for help on a public forum to curtail your spend then I suspect the actual number has been skewed slightly and you might be spending more than you want to admit. No judgement, I’ve done it and did for many years kid myself that I was in control of it.

Second thought is, if you’re doing it pretty much daily then it’s definitely become a habit and can very easily become an addiction…  Working on my own experience I reckon you should look at the self exclusion programmes. So if you play a few quid on Monday, before you log off put a 24 hour ban in place. Even if you get the urge on Tuesday, your account is locked until the following day anyway. Better still, have a play at weekend then put a 5 day block in place.
(That’s an imperfect solution as you can just register with another site and be playing within 20 minutes, but if that happens then at least you know you have more than a slight problem).

The best thing I did when I stopped playing online was to find new hobbies. The obvious solution would be grab yourself a Playstation or an X-Box and kill a few hours that way instead – anything that keeps you off the computer and half a dozen clicks away from gambling!

[du dude42 WANTED $2 Outlaw]

It is “hobby level”. I know there are a lot of people that ganble a lot more, especially as a % of their income. I go to Vegas every year and drop a few 1000s, and I’m ok with it, because I get my favourite week of the year out of it, a nice environment, amazing food, free-flowing drinks…

But £300/month online gets me a bit of light entertainment while I’m having a poo. This is what I mean by depressing – when you think about what you actually get for it, it’s a lot of money. The numbers I gave as my best guess.

I have tried longer self-exclusions and I end up signing up for other sites. I like the idea of putting a 24 hour ban in place after a session, though. Thanks. That seems like something I could do without later convincing myself it was a dumb idea.

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