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[Al Alfie WANTED $3 Outlaw]

 

Hi All,

Sit back and relax, this is going to be a long thread

 

So, I’m 21 years old and have been gambling in one form or another for the past 10 years, I remember when I was young (around 10 or 11 years ago) my dad used to take me to the local bowling alley and we would play the £5 jackpot fruit machines, to be honest it was great fun and me and my old man had a lot of laughs (they were good times, in a controlled manner gambling can be fun) it went on for a few years and I never really thought anything bad about it.

During this time I would get my family to put me a couple of quid on the national each year but other than that had no interest in any forms of gambling and never would have thought it would have been a problem.

It was a couple of nights after my 18th birthday (around 3 years ago) that the roller-coaster really started to come off the rails. I remember scrolling though the tv channels at some stupid time in the morning and stumbling across a televised roulette program (no brand names mentioned 🙂 they offered some really rubbish deposit bonus with like 35x wagering and roulette been 15% I was too young to care about t’s and c’s but I thought “it looked fun” and “hey I might win” (kinda stupid when I look back at it now haha) so I proceeded to deposit a small amount and have a go.

Of course I didn’t win with my first £10 but hey I’m working a 40 hour week and still living at home with a large amount of disposable income what harm can another deposit do ?. I played for a few days and ended up getting around £400 of deposits to £2000. (I was 18 at the time this was like 3 months wages for me so I was buzzing as you would be) I requested to withdraw the winnings sent me ID documents as you do (multiple times I should add) and was told they were been processed waited for days to hear anything and heard nothing. I got back in touch with support only to be messed around and get automated responses. By this time I had reversed the deposits and lost the lot (if only that had taught me my lesson!)

So after this I proceeded to open a couple of other accounts at online casino’s I had little wins but I was loosing more than you win (that’s the nature of the industry and how it survives) I took out loans borrowed money from my parents lied about my whereabouts and did everything I could to keep my habit a secret. Of course it didn’t last long, my parents were quite rightly questioning why I was borrowing money from them all the time when by this time I was earning £300 a week and only paying £30 a week rent (that’s £270 for myself and it should of been happy days) but happy was the last thing I was. They proceeded to open my bank statements see all these deposits and I promised them I would stop, but by this time I was hooked and I couldn’t do it

For the last 3 years I’ve been gradually getting myself deeper and deeper into debt, chasing my losses “if this hand comes in I can pay this debt off” or “i’ll double down on a hand and if it comes in I can put it towards a holiday or treat my parents for all the rubbish I’ve put them through with my gambling” despite having a problem I like to think I’m not actually a bad kid.

It’s got to the point where all I can think about is gambling the spinning of the roulette wheel or the deal of a blackjack to give me a healthy return when in reality as everyone knows your only going to loose more than you win in the long run

Through watching rocknrolla and TheBandit I discovered GamBan and Gamstop and have proceeded to block myself from every online casino (fantastic right?) wrong… after blocking myself from online casino’s I needed another way to get the fix so I popped into my local William Hill… (after hearing Paul say the usual f%ck the FOBT’s so many times on stream and with all the previous problems gambling has caused me I should have known better really.

A few weeks later the FOBT’s have added another £1500 to my debt and started to take over my life. It was only when the bloke behind the counter came over to me and questioned me about feeding £100’s into the FOBT that I have started to realize and think about the damages that gambling has done to me during the couple of years I have been doing it in a serious way. The bloke (no names mentioned has self excluded me from all bookies and offered me his personal phone number if I need someone to talk to (There are some nice bookies out there), he also expressed he thinks FOBT’s should be banned words I never thought I’d hear from a bookie haha.

 

Step’s I have taken to exclude myself from gambling

————————————————————————————–

 

– Registered with Gamban and Gamstop and am now self excluded from all online casino’s

– Self exluded from all bookmakers via my local bookmaker and the national self exclusion service

– Now starting to realize what a tw£t I’ve been for wasting money that I could have put towards a mortgage on something so stupid as gambling

 

Total Debts

—————————————————

Credit Card £1500

Credit Card £1500

Credit Card £300

Credit Card £600

Overdraft £350

——————————————————-

Total Debt £4250 hoping to update these as I pay them off

 

Rockandrolla and Bandit your both awesome and what you do…. thanks to both of you for doing what you do 😛

 

Sorry for the essay on how my life has turned into such a mess

 

Looking forward to your replies or similar stories.

 

[Haz40 WANTED $1,167 Outlaw]

Hi Alfie welcome to the forum mate. I replied on tgc as kev40. Hope all the advice has helped. I just wanted to say this guy put exactly the same post on tgc and received 28 replies. On biam none not one. I know we’re on here for a laugh guys and to share gambling stories but this guy genuinely needed some of our highly experienced advice.?

[Malkychamp WANTED $486 Outlaw]

Welcome alfie. Very detailed introduction to get a good idea of how you came to be here. Sorry to hear for your debts just need to look at the bigger picture now you have realised how much you could of had, had you not gambled it all away. I have never been in a similar situation nor any crazy stories but have heard many people in similar situations. Just know that you can and will be able to turn this mess around. It looks as though you have already starting making steps in the right direction just keep on the right path and you will clear your debts in no time ?good luck

[Ke Kelvin WANTED $31 Outlaw]

Hi pal

Your story is almost exactly like mine I stopped gambling around 8 months ago now.

What I have found is I now get a buzz from seeing my debt totals go down each month as I chip away at them and the thought of what I’ll be able to do with all the spare cash once I’ve paid everything off.

 

Good luck mate.

[Eightblack WANTED $446 Outlaw]

Very similar to my story as well although I’m 27 now and am still struggling with it, it seems to come in waves like last night I did the unbelievably stupid thing of losing money I could not afford too, its strange as at the time I was almost in a trance but I’ve woken up this morning sick to my stomach thinking of lies to explain why I can’t pay my court fine

 

It’s excellent that you’ve noticed what a problem it is and well done for self excluding yourself.. Without gambling those debts will be gone in a matter of months

[Geezawin WANTED $270 Outlaw]

Awrite alfie welcome aboard bud glad to hear that you have realised there is more to life than gambling.

You are only 21 and have the best years in front of u with a decent job and a good family to  boot and im sure with their help, ur resolve , and maybee a wee bit of advice from the forums wealth of experience you will be back on top in no time at all . (Fk forgot the sympathetic bookie) ha ha there is not very many of them in a £. But fair play to him . ive never been down the gamstop route probs becos i dont believe in gambling what i dont have . So no debt in that respect but if you think u are struggling with ur payments just ask for advice there is plenty of help here. Im only suprised nobody been on in this capacity already . Sure they will . So chin up alfie mate and all the best .?????????

[Smokingbeagle WANTED $59 Outlaw]

Hey Alfie , the main thing is that you have seen the error of the devil wheel and how fast it can make you self destruct.

It’s great when your winning and to be honest that initial win of £2000 is what started you in your downward journey .

online casinos and slots are absolute bastards at not letting you withdraw you funds and many times I have beaten wagering and been over £1000-£2000 up

however there are a few good casinos that have fast withdraw and you can also stop yourself from reversing now on others .

i just wish this was available when I was in my prime gambling days

however I too have been online slot free for nearly a year and just do bookie footy bets

I have fallen off the wagon a few times with the FOBTs but they have all resulted in winning big but spending big too.

cant wait for them to be £2 max spin so I can visit the bookie with no temptation for them

keep you chin up and chip away at that debt it will come down faster than you think

[whoswho WANTED $116 Outlaw]

All the best Alfie, Admitting you have a problem is the first step. You can only go up from here.

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