Anybody here with a gambling problem?

[Bachelors Hall]

Did you ever lose time from work or school due to gambling?
Has gambling ever made your home life unhappy?
Did gambling affect your reputation?
Have you ever felt remorse after gambling?
Did you ever gamble to get money with which to pay debts or otherwise solve financial difficulties?
Did gambling cause a decrease in your ambition or efficiency?
After losing did you feel you must return as soon as possible and win back your losses?
After a win did you have a strong urge to return and win more?
Did you often gamble until your last dollar was gone?
Did you ever borrow to finance your gambling?
Have you ever sold anything to finance gambling?
Were you reluctant to use "gambling money" for normal expenditures?
Did gambling make you careless of the welfare of yourself or your family?
Did you ever gamble longer than you had planned?
Have you ever gambled to escape worry, trouble, boredom, loneliness, grief or loss?
Have you ever committed, or considered committing, an illegal act to finance gambling?
Did gambling cause you to have difficulty in sleeping?
Do arguments, disappointments or frustrations create within you an urge to gamble?
Did you ever have an urge to celebrate any good fortune by a few hours of gambling?
Have you ever considered self-destruction or suicide as a result of your gambling?

I've abandoned the Juvenile thread, and prospectively sizing up all sports, for the time being until I'm happy that I'm not gambling. Hopefully, I'll pick up interest again in the weeks leading up to Cheltenham but in the meantime, I shouldn't do anything too risky as I do have issues with gambling which bubbled to the surface over the festive period.

The above quote, for those unfamiliar, contains the twenty questions Gamblers Anonymous encourage people who think they may be compulsive gamblers to ask themselves. Throughout the twenty years of my gambling life, I'd have been able to have said yes to 13 of those questions. These days, due largely to having responsibilities that affect people other than myself, I'm considerably better and even after losing a fair amount of money in a bout of irrational impulsiveness, it was nowhere near enough to put my lifestyle and immediate future in danger. Nevertheless, I have to not gamble again because for one, I simply do not have the requisite discipline to gamble and for another, I know that because of how I act when I gamble, there's always a chance that it can escalate and it isn't worth the risk.

For the record, I'm not a fan of GA for a variety of reasons - not least because they are viciously opposed to horse racing and refuse to believe that anybody can enjoy racing without a bet (which from personal experience is complete and utter codswallop).

Anyways, whilst I'm not wanting anybody to pour their hearts out and bare the darkest recesses of their souls (although you can if you want - why not), I am curious if there's anybody else on here willing to admit to having a gambling problem

 

[clivex]

I hate to be boring or goody goody but my answer to every single one of them would be no and always has been. I would worry about a yes to any one single question but I'm nowhere near that

i mean suicide? What's all that about ? Watching the 2.30 from Lingfield standing on a chair with a rope round your neck?

 

[clivex]

And here's the result of the photo . First number 3 .. Chair goes flying.

Oh sorry. I'll read that again.

 

[Bachelors Hall]

Then you haven't lived

In truth, the majority of punters can go through life without answering yes to a single one of the above questions. Doesn't make one boring or goody goody, just you're psychologically normal when it comes to betting on things.

As for suicide, it happens quite a lot. People unable to go a moment without thinking of gambling. People who lose their savings, jobs, homes families. People who get utterly buried in debt. A quick google search of 'gambling' and 'suicide' will be able to elaborate better than I if one is so inclined to find an answer to your question.

The saturation of all weather racing is enough to provoke many into fashioning a noose out of one's bedsheets although that isn't strictly a gambling issue...

 

[harry]

Good that you can recognise your issues BH. Lots can't
I pity the poor souls who use FOBTs

 

[Bachelors Hall]

Given the way I spent much of my twenties, it was difficult not to notice.

I never for the life of me understood those FOBT machines and accordingly, never fed a penny into them. At least with horses and other sports, you have a fighting chance with enough knowledge, judgement, basic grasp of mathematics and a solid disposition. But those machines are literally designed to take money. My last GA meeting was well over a year ago but the vast majority of the younger attendees were victims of those hideous contraptions. High street bookies are worse than heroin dealers for the damage they do to communities and their cynicism would be hilarious were it not real life.

 

[Tanlic]

I only ever bet on horses..no racing no betting but I doubt if anyone who bets could honestly answer no to all those questions

Have you ever felt remorse after gambling? every time I change my mind and the fooker I was going to back wins

Did gambling affect your reputation? I'd have to say yes to that I was what they call a "Face" which I didn't particularly like and Corals Hills and Ladbrokes all had the same handle for me, which will not be revealed

Not going to start name dropping but I was friendly with a lot of jockeys a few of which now train. What people said behind my back I don't know and cared even less as I knew a lot were overly friendly because they wanted to know what I knew. Guess I must have been very unpopular with some people because what I was told never went any further and if I backed a winner heavily they must have thought I was a bit of a c*** for not telling them. That did embarrass me on more than a few occasions and even found myself apologising to people I had spoken to before a race and they had actually asked me about a horse and I had to lie and say I didn't know....but you could see they hated me for it.

After losing did you feel you must return as soon as possible and win back your losses? Of course that's all part of the game...but soon as possible would be when the right horse was running.......had a few times when I have overdone it an chased losses only to lose more but they are few and far between these days.......I avoid day time drinking when I can as drinking and gambling is a big no no.

After a win did you have a strong urge to return and win more? Only on one horse. Recently I have been on a roll and everyday whether I win 1 pound or 100 pounds I have this urge to stick it on Sprinter Scare for next weeks big race or the QMCC...............I have gone way over the top and should stop but I know I won't. I have convinced myself what the hell it's the bookies money which is kinda stupid thing compulsive gamblers say to themselves. The weird thing is the money is not important it's more like an urge to support him more.......I stand to win a lot but without checking which I haven't done for over a week I have no idea what the exact figure is now............Just love the horse to bits and want to see him come back to his best, he gives me the buzz I used to get in the old days when Arkle Pendil and the likes were around.

Were you reluctant to use "gambling money" for normal expenditures? Absolutely! and still am. I keep my bank for betting totally separate.

Did you ever gamble longer than you had planned? Hell yes!!! lots of times when I was young. Seen me go on back a winner leave but go back on later and lose the lot. But you live and learn. What I do now if I have a big win is play with the odds...........by that I mean if my account has jumped up to say whatever and 5.25p I will play with the 5.25p......I think nothing of having a 2 pound bet or even a 50p bet on the machine just for the fun of it. I will keep going until that money has either turned into 30 or 40 pounds or I have lost it

The rest def No.

As far as suicide goes I did think of drowning myself once but I can't swim :lol:

Never entered my mind......young guy just hung himself here the other day...Think he was 26 years old poor bastid. If it came to giving up my life or giving up betting then the answer is simple......give up betting problem solved. The problem I have with suicide is it kills you....betting I could easily live without thankfully.