Our stories are very similar.
I love poker, I’ve played since I was 18 and got a £10k win when I turned 23.
My problem only started this year. I lost my £40k savings when I discovered online blackjack. I just kept piling money into the site in some strange desperate attempt to win back ‘my’ money.
The unbelievable thing is that using the last of my money I actually won back £35k over a two week period. I then lost it all in one night trying to reach that ‘break even’ mark. Whether I would have stopped at £40k I will never know.
It is horrible having to face family and friends the days after losing that much money. Ive done it twice now and I wasnt myself for a good month while this was going on.
This all happened at the same time I got a new job in London. For the last 4 months I have been working hard to make sure I can pay my rent (which is nearly 4 times what I used to pay) and not get into debt.
I have no savings and cannot do the things I want to because online gambling as crippled me. I still play poker, maybe once or twice a week but I stay well away from blackjack and I think you should do the same before you get into the same mess.
Please dont kid yourself into thinking that you wont lose all your money, I am the most financially aware person and its a disease that grabs hold of you. Before I knew it I had nothing left. Stop now and live a normal life, dont get into a position where you cant enjoy things in life. Even though you have lost a lot, you still have plenty left to do what you wish with. Dont do what I did. Dont wait until you cant afford to gamble to realise that it is a problem.
Smee