I started gambling in 2022 after turning $30 into $2,000.

That first win made me feel smart and lucky. In reality, it was the beginning of an addiction.
Recently, I saved $5,000 recently I worked hard for that money.

Then I convinced myself I could gamble a little and quickly double it.
Within a few hours, it was all gone.
That’s what gambling does. It makes you believe the next bet will fix everything.

When you lose, you chase your losses. When you win, you keep playing because you think you can win even more. There is never a good stopping point.

Gambling is not harmless entertainment for everyone. It can become a serious addiction that requires real treatment and support. Willpower alone is not always enough.

Please don’t believe you can control it, beat the system, or win your money back. The money is gone, and chasing it will only cost you more money, time, relationships, and peace of mind.

Block the gambling sites. Delete the apps. Tell someone you trust. Get professional help.
It is not worth placing that first bet. And if you are already addicted, you are not weak or hopeless. But you do need to treat it like the serious addiction it is.

28M. After gambling for 11 years, I finally decided it was time to give up the ghost.

Since stopping, recovery has been an interesting road. I’ve met new friends, started speaking to old friends again, reconnected with my family and become genuinely hopeful about my future.

Not everything is fixed. I’m learning that gambling addiction is an emotional illness as much as a financial one. Without the constant rollercoaster of gambling, my emotions are finally beginning to settle and I’m having to face them properly rather than escape from them.

I never thought I would be able to say this, but tomorrow I reach 50 days without gambling.

In those 50 days:

I’ve been more social than ever before. I’ve spent more time out speaking to people than sitting alone. I’ve started managing my money and treating it as a friend rather than an enemy. I’ve attended therapy sessions, joined Gamblers Anonymous, reconnected with my family after years apart and started rebuilding a life that I no longer feel the need to escape from.

I’m also hopeful that I’ll finally be moving into more stable accommodation within the next four weeks.

There have been difficult moments. My sleep and emotions have been all over the place at times, and stopping gambling hasn’t magically solved every problem in my life. But it has given me the chance to start solving them.

The greatest difference is that my life now feels like it is moving forward rather than repeating the same cycle.
I know 50 days is still early, and I don’t want to become complacent. This is something I’ll have to keep working at one day at a time.

But to anyone who is currently on Day 1 and cannot imagine reaching Day 50: neither could I.

Don’t worry about the next year today. Just don’t place the next bet.

Here’s to Day 51.

Hi everyone. I would like to share my situation with you, I am not an addict but someone very close to me is.

From the beginning I knew about his addiction, I lent him money and swallowed his lies even though I knew he was lying to me. This has been going on for more than a year. In the meantime he was left without friends, without a job and without money. I stayed with him through all the ups and downs, lending money that I never got back.

This month there was a collapse. I lent him over 3k within 20 days. I don't regret the money, I am not an addict and I will earn that money again. I regret the idea of what he could be, I regret his previous life that he lived before he fell into that black hole of 'the next win and I stop'.

Today I ended things with him, I put an end to the relationship with him because he gambled away my money for renting an apartment. First I lent him the money, because he sold me a story about something else, we went to dinner and after dinner he gambled away all that money in front of me, while I was begging him not to do it.

I'm scared of what will happen to him, my soul hurts because I know he has no one sincere around him, that everyone has given up on him. I am scared that he will hurt himself after me ending things with him, but if he is destroying his life I cannot let him destroy mine too. I have been crying all day, not because of the money, I will manage. I am crying because I am scared of what will happen to him next.

Conversations, promises, lies, I endured everything, hoping that he would move from the spot and that he would start doing something about his situation. Unfortunately, all the conversations and promises about stopping gambling, about self-exclusion from gambling were just a facade and manipulation to keep me in a vacuum and hope that my effort would pay off.

I am crying because for a year I tried to help someone who does not want help, someone who does not see the casino as a problem but as a solution.

The point of my post is, if you are an addict, take a good look at what you are doing to the people you love, who are there for you. One day you will lose even the last person who has patience, love, and the desire to help.

So for the last 5 to 6 years I have have been sports gambling. What once was a fun way to add some interest to a sports match has become a tiresome exercise of chasing past losses

Over the last 2 - 3 years something changed in my betting where my bets have got larger and larger and I literally can't accept any loss on a bet

Just hit me today the fact I literally no longer get any enjoyment from betting (even when I win) and has become an exercise of just simply chasing losses

Day 1

Trying to reinforce this message to myself. Especially that there's no shame in not gambling. I'm not giving up anything aside from losing money, time and dignity.

Trying to focus on how this is a good thing, not something to be upset about.

New day. Beautiful day! I'll be productive and take care of my family and myself. The loss, the relarpse is nothing but a minor setback. I need to move on, I need to continue fighting.

I will not gamble today!

How can we band together and expose the dark science and psychological manipulation that the online gambling industry has inflicted upon millions of us?

It is a good day without gambling. Lots of urges that I did not succumb into. Hopefully I get into 2 weeks without gambling. Let's go!!

Today was a reminder that the addiction is still very much there.

My work situation is a bit complicated at the moment. I’m going back to a full-time job on Monday, but I’ve also been doing some part-time sales work that I had to step away from due to going back full time. Today I sent them an invoice for the hours I’d worked.

I had two choices: give them my own bank account details or my joint account with my partner.

The addiction immediately started doing mental gymnastics. It was telling me, “Just send it to your own account. It’s only £100. You could gamble it. No one needs to know. It might turn into £500 or even more”

That was the urge.

Instead, I put down the joint account details.

I’ve also given my new full-time employer the joint account for my salary going forward.
I know myself well enough to realise that I can’t trust myself with unrestricted access to money right now.

I’m proud that I didn’t listen to the addiction today, It’s about making the right decision before the opportunity even exists.

I made another day bet free, I had urges today and it’s probably been the strongest since I went clean. It kinda reminded me of the feeling of when I tried to quit nicotine, I didn’t expect to have this feeling from gambling, I had triggers today from an argument with a family member, this made me want to gamble, but I did not. I have a joint account with my fiancée since I came clean and it is helping me a lot to have accountability as I want us to grow our savings and have a good future. This sub Reddit helping a lot and I pray for each and every one of you that you can find solace and peace from this addiction.

God bless you all

I got a 1k check today. Lost it all while sitting next to all of my co workers at a work retreat in 30 minutes. I fucking hate this shit and now I have to act normal around all of them like I don't have 0 in my account again.

After spending years slowly saving and being careful not to risk too much in the stock market I slowly scaled into individual stocks this year and had made some large gain at the start of the year (about 100k) and proceeded to loose it all plus another -100k, swore that if I got back up there I would sell everything, and not only did I, I blew right passed it and ended up at +200k for about a week, at that point I felt like I couldn't loose and instead of following my plan to sell everything, I thought I was so clever I added leverage and then oh boy I lossed the gain, and am once again 100k in the hole. And for the first time all year the reality of the situation is setting in, I'm not a high earner (50k/yr) and in my 30's. My initial plan was to just see if I could make a little extra and beat the market but now I'm left with a constant sense of guilt and anxiety, I'm so mad at myself I just don't know where to start to heal, I just finally sold everything this morning and am realizing it might be a gambling problem, it feels like the whole thing developed this year in a span of months and I never thought it would be me, this has to be pretty textbook I would imagine and I just don't know how I'm ever going to forgive myself. I had the thought while I was up to sell everything and I just let the greed get the better of me.

Sorry if this comes across as rambling but I just needed to get the words out somewhere as I don't really have anyone I can talk to this about in person.

just lost 16k in fcking gambling 🤬🤯

Hello r/problemgambling community,

This is a weekly reminder on behalf of our friends from Very Ape films who are working on a documentary on problem gambling. They are looking for people who are willing to share their story on film for their doc. Details can be found on this post.

So why are we reminding you? Because this project aligns with r/problemgambling's mission and purpose as established at the very beginning: To raise awareness of gambling disorder as a significant and growing public health threat. The time to raise awareness is more important now than it ever was.

I think all know what's happening nowadays. The gambling industry is growing bolder and more pervasive in our daily lives. The ads are everywhere. The problem is growing. People need to understand this and take action before it's too late.

So we want this community to have the opportunity to contribute to this project directly. Your voice must not be stifled. Please consider [reaching out](mailto:[email protected]) and letting your story be told.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and for your consideration.

Best always,

-Mod Team

A big thing for me is looking at my bank account and having it in the positive. Having money for bills, when so many times I was overdrafted due to gambling.

2 months & 25 days today. The thing that I have been reminding myself of anytime I get the urge to gamble… is how proud my grandparents have been of me staying clean. I don’t want to have to tell them I relapsed.
And remembering that no matter HOW MUCH I won… I always gave it back anyways. I talked to my therapist about it some today. It’s truly a sickness!

i just lost my 16k savings guys!

The urges strong today, but didn't gamble, moved money to mine and my partners joint account and also used money for a birthday gift for my mom for next week. I was restless today and spent time on demo slots, this is unhealthy and I need to stop doing that, even if im not losing money, a normal person doesnt sit there on a demo slot machine, so I need to work on that. Felt tired today and probably some withdrawals, need to keep going strong and remeber ill never win, if im up itll go back, if i lose ill chase losses.

If you told me back in 2023 that I’d end up with a gambling addiction and over $6,000 in debt, I would’ve laughed at you.

I hated gambling. I never gambled in real life because I knew how destructive it could be. We were taught growing up that too much of anything is bad, and I’ve seen enough stories about gambling ruining people’s lives.

Ironically, gambling humbled me.

Back in 2023, my sister was offered an opportunity to become an agent for an online casino. I was actually against it because I was scared it would ruin our lives. Somehow, I ended up creating an account and depositing around 500php (9usd) I was nervous the entire time because I knew addiction was a possibility.

That $9 became around 1.5kphp ($25). Back then, that amount meant a lot to me. I kept playing until I lost it all. I only played for about a week, lost around $45 in total, and immediately stopped because I was scared of where it could lead. I uninstalled the app and didn’t touch it again.

Last year, I tried again and lost around $50-$90 before stopping once more.

Then January came.

I wanted to upgrade my phone after using my old one for five years. So, I thought, “Maybe this time I’ll win.”

That was the beginning of my addiction.

I made a dummy account to join gambling groups online and that’s when everything got worse. I started winning. I was using my cc to place bets, taking loans from different lending apps, I was winning, and I was able to pay my debts. I felt like I had figured out the system.

Debt -> Win -> Pay debt -> Repeat.

In March, I hit what felt like the jackpot. I won around 105,000php ($1,700) without spending any of my own money. I bought my dream iPhone, a laptop, new shoes, and treated my family to nice meals.

I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep for almost two days before telling my family where the money came from. They were happy for me, but they were worried too. They kept telling me to stop while I was ahead.
I told them I had already uninstalled the apps and that I was done gambling. I even joked that I had “milked the casinos and got my losses back.”

I really believed that.

I thought my story would end there.

It didn’t.

The truth is, I fell in love with instant money. I loved being able to buy things for the people I love. I loved treating them to nice restaurants. I became greedy and lost all sense of contentment.

I started borrowing money again. Credit cards. Loans. Lending apps.

The scary part was that I kept winning enough to pay them back, which made me believe I was in control.
Until I wasn’t.

There were nights when I barely slept because of my debts. I lost weight, felt dizzy at work, and my mental health slowly got worse. At some point, I wasn’t gambling to win anymore, I was gambling just to survive and chase my losses.

Last month, my debts reached over 400,000 ($6,000.)

June 12 was the day I completely broke down.

For the first time in my life, I admitted everything to my family and my partner. Seeing my mom cry because of what happened to me hurt more than losing any amount of money ever could.

I deleted everything and promised to stop.

I stayed sober for three weeks.

Then I relapsed in July because I convinced myself that one big win could fix everything. It didn’t. I borrowed money again and made things even worse.

Five days ago, I relapsed one last time. It wasn’t a huge amount this time, but losing it made me realize something.

I have a gambling addiction.

This isn’t about money anymore. It’s about my mindset. It’s about believing that the next bet will save me when it’s actually destroying me.

I’ve also realized that I’ve become too comfortable knowing that people would help me whenever I messed up. That’s unfair to the people who love me.

Before I completely lose my family’s and my partner’s trust, I’ve decided to stop for good.

Finding this community has helped me more than I can explain. Reading everyone’s stories makes me feel less alone and reminds me that recovery is possible.

If you’re struggling like I am, please don’t do this alone. Be accountable. Admit that something is wrong and ask for help.

We’re not bad people. We’re sick people trying to get better.

One day at a time. We’ll get through this.

Does connecting to WiFi on flights not work for anyone else after installing Gamban lite? It hasn’t for me the last few United flights I’ve been on

Guys we are approaching pay day this week for many of us. Please don’t gamble. Please if it is a big temptation as a family member or partner to hold the finances from you.

Save ourselves from another month of not being able to afford decent food or some new clothes or shoes or even underwear and socks.

Save ourselves from another month of high blood pressure and stress and late payments.

If you get your salary I encourage you to ask for someone you trust to manage it for you but I also encourage you to get a really nice meal for yourself. A really nice hearty meal that you earned from hard work.

A warm meal and cold juice or soda from money you earned on a hot day is the sweetest food in my opinion.

For the last 5 years of my life, I have just been addicted to gambling. Losing almost $300k and currently in $150k debt. I recently came across gamban and I’m proud to say that I’ve installed it on all my devices. This is the first time I’ve done something like that so hopefully this is the missing piece in my recovery journey (for good). There has been so many instances in the past 5 years where I tried to quit but always ended up relapsing. I’m only 25 and I really want to get my life back. Any tips and advice would be appreciated.

Hi everyone,

I've been struggling with a gambling addiction for years. I've managed to stop for a few weeks at a time, but I always seem to relapse.

Next month I'm thinking about paying around £400 for a therapist who offers hypnosis/"coding" for gambling addiction. I know it's a controversial approach, but at this point I'm willing to try almost anything.

Has anyone here actually tried hypnosis or "coding" for gambling addiction?

Did it help in the long term?

Was it worth the money?

If not, what finally helped you quit for good?

I've already self-excluded from gambling and blocked access to many sites, but the urges still come back eventually.

I'd really appreciate hearing real experiences rather than just opinions.

Thanks.

Share some ways that helped u on your journey to stop gambling.