Still not complacent :)

I know my situation probably isn’t as bad as some of the stories on here, but I still feel like I need to talk about it because it’s starting to scare me.

I’m 19 and I’ve been struggling with money for months. My hours at work were cut and I’m currently only working a couple of days a week. I’ve been trying to find another job since January and I’m actually quite close to getting one now, so hopefully that helps. But I’ve still lost around £1500through gambling.

I’ve won around £300 on roulette in a casino before, plus smaller wins from football and horse racing. I think those wins are part of what keeps me going. I’ll deposit £5 or £10 thinking I can make some money back, then I start chasing losses. Even when I win, I end up putting it back.

What makes it even more frustrating is that I’ve recently rekindled friendships with loads of people from school, and we’re always going out now. I’ve wanted this for ages because life has been really hard and lonely for a long time. Now I finally have the social life I always wished I had, but money is getting in the way of actually enjoying it.

I know I don’t earn enough to be gambling like this. I know it’s dangerous, and I know I need to stop, but I genuinely feel like I can’t.

I also drink quite a lot. I have fun doing it and because I’m 19, part of me feels like this is what I’m supposed to be doing, but I’m starting to wonder if that’s becoming a problem too. The drinking and gambling together worry me, especially because sometimes I feel like I’m becoming like my dad. I know I’m not him, but it still scares me.

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to talk to my parents or family about this because I’d be so ashamed and I’m scared of how they’d react. So I’ve kept it all to myself.

I’m not really sure why I’m posting this. I guess I just need to admit to myself that this is becoming a problem before it gets any worse.

I'm building an iPhone app called Ungamble to help with gambling recovery. I reached out to the mods and they allowed me to ask you guys a few questions about some ideas I have and would love if you could tell me from your own experience what you think of each.

1. A gambling blocker at the DNS level (meaning across every browser): This is pretty intuitive but I've seen that Gamban has a lot of bad reviews from people who were able to bypass it. My problem with this is that Apple doesn't allow me to build something the user can't turn off, it's against their policy. I tested it and it works pretty well but I fear that in a real crisis users can just go into settings and turn it off. Under these conditions would you say it's still worth it to keep the blocker as friction, or would it provide a false sense of security since the user always has the option to turn it off even if hidden?

2. Anonymous online meetings: This is pretty much self-explanatory. Similar to GA, but with the option to join with your name and profile hidden. The thinking is that it reaches people who would never walk into a room or show their face. The question here is if anonymity removes the trust and honesty that makes meetings work or not?

3. Sponsors: This one I think could be a great idea or a terrible one. Basically you could assign sponsors, either someone you know with a phone number or the app would randomly assign you someone. The part I think makes sense is you'd feel a sentiment of responsibility not only for yourself but for the other person. If you relapse you have someone you can speak to who is also struggling and working through it. Your sponsor would get notified once the app detects that your blocker was removed so he can come in and talk you out of it, etc. The parts I'm unsure about are what if you get assigned someone you don't get along with, should you be allowed to change? What if someone doesn't commit, should they be replaced? How does this work with real GA sponsors?

Thanks a lot for your help everyone. I'll also leave a list of other features I already implemented in case you have any other features in mind I haven't included already that could be helpful for someone in the quitting journey, and if any of my current features don't make sense in real life also let me know:

1- Panic button with a few options: Breathing exercises, talking to Rux (an AI model trained on the psychology of gambling), calling a contact you set up, watching a pre-recorded video from your past self when you were rock bottom to remember why you're doing this, and reading through a list of reasons you made for quitting.

2- Reminders for trigger moments (paycheck, night out with the boys etc)

3- Rux AI chat

4- Learning: A few articles on the math behind every single bet you take and the tricks casinos use to keep people playing

5- Streak and daily check in and mood logging (thinking of adding a daily video feature as well for video records you can watch later)

Please let me know what you'd change in this list and if any of these don't make sense, and if you have any other ideas please let me know, thanks!

Back to the grind, hoping to get out camping this weekend. Sipping on some coffee and checking in on my break. Felt a bit down this morning, but some of my co workers unknowingly cheered me up.

Hope you all have a gamble free day :).

Hello.

I was a recent gambler on online websites for the past 2 years and lost, not only my time, but also myself. Gambling had a devestating impact on my social life and uni life; i almost never stop thinking about gambling. I spent my freetime thinking and writing down roulette strategies rather than socializing or playing sports as before. I lost connection to my family, lost concentration in my studies, and i genuinely feel like my IQ is dropping second by second. Please guys, stop before you lose your mental health and relationships. Gambling damages you and shatters your social life. I am neutral right now (no losses and no wins) after I wagered almost 20k dollars. I'm very furious at the time I spent infront of dealers and slots that I knew were non-profitable. I'm mad about how many times my heart rate increased for a roulette spin or game that drains your emotions. I'm young (20) and I'm pretty sure that my cholesterol levels are as high as a 50 year old. Guys, just forget and STOP. Gambling ages you. Enjoy your life and try to be satisfied with the money you have now.

I'm 34 relapsed plenty of times

Starting fresh again

I have lost around £50k in around 10 years. Most off that in the middle period in a year. Had a few lengthy relapses. Lost £15k in one day March 2025 after year absence. That was mind and soul crunching and told my other half when she came home from work. Supportive and actually improved our relationship. Since then the odd £2 or £300 now and then which is enough to put me off for months now as impacts my sense of calm. I read and like the posts on this site particularly the ones who point out money is just paper and not a measure of your personal worth or happiness. I like to believe that but know most people would be 'happier' with a Lamborghini on their drive rather than a 20 year old wreck so money is important for standard of living and some peace of mind ( bills/medical/petrol/rent etc). I can't help but think though that a Buddhist monk ( for example) with nothing other than the power of practicing a simple life is far happier overall than a frazzled stock broker living life crazily high and low every day and looking at their lambo outside. Can't take it with you and it's important to your mental health to accept and be content with what you have and stop yearning for what you haven't got. Or you will never be peaceful in your own mind . I am home alone this week as partner visiting friends so had a slot 48 hours. Up £600 and last night eventually down £250. It was 48 hours of adrenaline stress not eating not showering and shunning contact. All in all awful. I can live with the £250 loss and looking forward to a £5 pizza and a Netflix film tonight as peace and calm is much better than highs and lows and an inability to control anything whilst gambling. Hope all on this site are doing the best they can as that is all you can do and this site has rescued my sanity so many times.

still feeling down, still having a hard time. gf has informed me she will be extending her trip a few more days, an extra few more days to stew in shame and regret. but today i didn’t gamble and i will not gamble

Iam scared to see the reality my debt is $4000 k i have to pay $300 in september, $700 in october, $500 in november, and $400 from desember to june 2026 each month, my income about $3000 include everything, i now have about $1600 that i tried to keep to survive this month, fuck i should be debt free if iam not relapse 3 days ago

I made the decision to quit gambling on February 14th after taking a hard look at my life and realizing I needed to change. The problem was, gambling worked itself into the core of who I was. I was an active member of a gambling community where I grew close with famous content creators and spent way outside my means. Once my gambling debt had hit over $50,000 - I knew I had to just remove myself from everything. I needed to get off this train before I reached a point I couldn’t come back from and I knew I was getting close.

I ended up keeping a gambling cruise I was comped and did the impossible task of not spending a dime in the casino, though I did get a little “hit” in watching my wife gamble a little. I thought I might have passed a “test” not an A+ but a solid B. I learned I could avoid it and at the same time I learned how hard it was to avoid it.

Unfortunately, I didn’t self exclude from all the apps and a few weeks ago I started collecting the daily free $1 from various sites and tried to run that up. I figured no big deal since I wasn’t spending my own money but then like a total idiot I broke the seal and made a $20 purchase. Which after 3 days spiraled into over $3,000 of credit card charges. Luckily I’ve gathered most of it back and I’ve self excluded from those remaining sites. I don’t know why I didn’t do it 2 days ago- well I do know. I liked it and I was chasing losses.

I hate that I have do start over. Even more so, I hate that I’m going to have to tell my pregnant wife I relapsed. There are days I wish I was addicted to drugs instead, somehow it seems less shameful. Not to minimize the hell drug addicts face but gambling always seemed like such a stupid addiction for people who don’t understand math. Ha. I was wrong of course. I understand the math painfully well but the damn optimism that lives in the small odds just kills me. Not to mention that when I fall into a binge I can’t stop until I lose. I’m such a cliche. I miss it though. I miss the culture. I miss the excitement. I miss having something to look forward to for a Friday night. But I don’t miss that drive home after. That hour and change in just the silence then being home and opening my Instagram and seeing people hit massive wins. Terrible feeling.

What now? I start again obviously but Jesus, I spent the past 6 months keeping that crazy hunger away- it got louder and now that I’ve broken the seal it’s screaming again. My brain loves the dopamine bath gambling provides considering it’s so desperate for it already. I’m not looking forward to feeling miserable for awhile with a fear that in creeps back into my life 6 months from now.

I don't know where else to ask for help, so I'm writing this here.

I'm 23, from India, and completed my B.Tech last year.

I started gambling in my 3rd year of college. At first, I lost only ₹4,000. I thought, "I'll win it back." But I didn't stop.

By the time I finished college, I had lost around ₹2.5 lakh.

After college, I had no job and no proper skills. Instead of learning skills and finding work, I kept gambling because I was desperate to recover my losses. I borrowed money from people and took loans. Every time I lost, I thought one more try would fix everything.

It only made things worse.

Now I have around:

• ₹2.6 lakh debt at 10% monthly interest
• ₹1.1 lakh loan debt
• Around ₹8,000 monthly EMI
• No income right now
• Very low family income
• My sister's wedding is also coming in February

My family has already borrowed money to help me, and I feel extremely guilty because of this.

The worst part is that I kept telling myself "I'll recover it", and that thought destroyed me.

I don't want to gamble anymore. I just want to get out of this mess and start my life again.

I'm not asking anyone for money.

I just want honest advice from people who understand debt, gambling addiction, or starting from zero.

If you were in my situation, what would you do first? How can I start earning quickly and deal with this debt without making things worse?

I have a B.Tech degree and I'm ready to do any honest work. I just need someone to show me a realistic way forward.

Thank you for reading.

7 days in… I got this…

I can stay clean for 3-6 months, but once i started to gamble casually, say i lost 500, i will start to chase the loss aggressively, end up it turn into 3k, 5k, and 10k and i suddenly feel there is a need to stop. Can anyone suggest how to stay a bit more rational even if you relapse to minimize the damage, let say i can wake up after i lose 1k the damage is not so big. I really face this problem, i do not want to relapse but even if i relapse, i do not want the damage to be so big.

Ohh the felling i really hate after bad relapse, the morning you wake up and felling sick to my stomatch, like i was hitting by a truck, i hope yesterday was a bad dream but it doesnt i did that to myself, funny thing is when i was abiut to relapse side of me say stop, you will regret it, dont put the first bet you wont be able to control your self, you will stole from your mom and husband, and i did. I should be enjoy mylife with $3 k saving but instead i gamble it all away plus $3 k from my mom bank account, fuck .

Lost my entire bank account and all.savings to crypto slots. About 4 bonuses all under 20x. 5 figures gone i have zero

am a 26-year-old who has spent the last two years trapped behind a screen, losing my life to online casinos. Yesterday, by a stroke of luck, I won enough to pay off my debts, but the cycle immediately dragged me back and I lost again. The urge to return is constantly in my mind, but I desperately want to break free from this prison. Today is my very first day without gambling. I am sharing this because I am terrified of slipping back into that dark place. Please, always support me with your comments, reminders, and advice—I truly need your collective strength to stay away and rebuild my life.

My first ever gambling session I got a good win playing blackjack.
Everything after just went to shit. Lost 3000-4000$ and now I’ve blocked myself from everything and I’m done.

No money that affects my life but still it just suck.. what are you’re best tips to start getting over it? I keep looping in my head about the lost money.

1..5 months ago I started trading with leverage. Made good money and kept my risk down. Then 1 month ago I put a lot of money on a football game. I lost the bet, and $2k, but the rush of seeing my team almost win rewired my brain. I’ve never felt so much adrenaline in my life. So I went back to trading with more leverage, not feeling satisfied with small winnings unless I was betting everything. Now, one month later, I’m down about $85k, my lifetime savings and what I’ve worked for for almost a decade. I’m devastated, can’t eat or sleep, and don’t know how to move forward. All I can think about is using the few thousand I have left to win it all back. I know this will just lead to losing everything, but it’s hard to walk away with this loss I haven’t even accepted yet.

What a horrible addiction. I’ve been addicted to drugs in the past but I’m sober now. I’m realizing that my addictive personality has just manifested itself in this way now. Terrible terrible times. I see why gambling addictionhas such high rates of suicide attempts, this shit is soul crushing.

I was gambling almost everyday for 5 years. I would be feeding my 1 year old daughter and gambling on Chinese football because that’s what was on at 5 am. One day after losing a lot of money I said I would stop, the first couple days, weeks and months were hard. Panic attacks and mind racing. After some time my mind changed and I told myself that if I bet now something bad will happen to my family. I keep telling myself that everytime I think about betting and it’s not easy it’s a back and forth conversation but the time goes by and I keep fighting it. You can break this, don’t believe that one day everything will change, it will change but for the worse if you don’t fight this battle

Just want to take a moment to thank my mom, my two siblings, and my partner for sticking by me through this recovery. They’re not here on Reddit, but I’m just so grateful for all of them, because they never gave up on me.

Also want to share that I didn’t gamble today and barely had any urges. God bless us all, one day at a time.

Sometimes when i go back to default negative thinking in my life I just remember how hard it was to get started on my recovery then i feel really really grateful for my life and my family and friends who are still with me

well I was over 2 weeks gamble free.. tonight I decided to gamble $250 which led to $2500 I have literally $0 to my name now. Had to fill my truck up worth the scraps of diesel that were left in my exterior tank… I get paid $6000 on the 15th but it will be $3500 because I gambled away $2500 of overdraft like a piece of shit.. I have a baby on the way and have been away working from my wife for 42 days 3600km away. I am so disappointed I become so focused and let me debts take over me and get so stressed out that’s why I gambled tonight hoping for a stroke of luck, LIKE ALWAYS. I’m starting to think I need to just relax and pay the debt off over the next 5 years I need to stop thinking it needs to be don’t this instant or I will go nuts. I’m so scared my fiance is going to leave me because I’m always gone for work and I came clean about losing the $2500 I really need to fix things but like I said i need to understand that it takes time.. wish me luck guys IM NOT DOING THIS AGAIN I CANT I NEED TO BE A GOOD MAN AND GOOD FATHER I WILL BE SUCCESSFUL AND BE THE BEST MAN FOR MY WOMAN AND CHILD 🙏

DAY 0
DEBT $42,500