[Chaser]

Hello,

I am fairly young at only 25 years old and I do understand that my losses may not quite be to the level of others but relatively speaking to my situation they are quite daunting. I am just positing today in hopes that venting about my situation could maybe help me in an attempt to stop. 

I am an avid sports fan, and when I say this I really do mean it. They consume my life outside of work and I know the ins and outs of more sports than virtually anyone I know – this creates a false sense of confidence when betting and success in the past definitely does me a disservice. I am not addicted to the casino but strictly sports betting. I originally thought that I just couldn’t enjoy the games without money on them but have come to the realization that its strictly because I can’t cope with the losses and keep chasing.

I have found myself down about 12k all together over the last short while but the more concerning thing is that I recently worked my way out of debt and dove back in + some. I just need help with a way to forget what I have lost. I don’t have the highest paying job in the world but I get paid pretty well and know that I can dig out of debt in just a few months – however the idea that I went into that debt in a week is a feeling I just can’t shed.

Any tips? I thought about sitting down with an advisor at the bank to help build a plan towards paying these things off so I can be held accountable but the shame has kept me from walking in. Maybe I just need to hear from others dealing with a similar situation that can help. Its tearing me up.

Thanks,

[MurrS7]

I just posted her the other day for the first time also. And I feel your pain. We always chase our losses in hopes that we will get our next big win again but most of the time
It never comes, and when it does, we lose it eventually anyways. that’s what I’ve come to realize. We will always give the money we won back from greed of wanting more, but I think it’s the rush we like more than the money. I’ve been in and off from casinos since 18, 28 now. I stopped for years and start up from triggers in my life. In the past 60 days I’ve won and lost over 50 thousand, after taking a trip to Vegas and losing 15 thousand in a weekend, came back to my
City chasing that loss. I actually broke even about 3 times in the past 60 days, every time I broke even I thought oh great m back at square one, I’ll be smarter now and treat this like a job and go make a couple hundred a day.. then I find myself firing 500-1000$ hands of blackjack in a matter of 20-30 minutes of being there. Sometimes I will lose, run it up to 10-15-29j and lose it all again, I never know when to walk and I then hate myself for days and weeks following asking why couldn’t
I have left when up/even. This is a serious illness that we have and gambling has no bottom, just when you think it’s rock bottom, it can get worse with this sickness, there is always another loan or credit card you can get to gamble with and my friend you don’t want to let it get there.Last Thursday I broke even again from my 60 day binge, was so happy on cloud 9 and had no urge to go back. Till Saturday. Told myself have better bankroll management , leave with couple hundred profit. Well you know what happens next. Lost over 12000 in a matter of 2 days, in less than one hour per trip. Have now banned myself from both casinos and am faced with line of credit debt now. Everything was all good 48 hours ago. This is the problem with our minds. It is never enough. There is no such thing as a winner at a casino or sports betting in your case, if wr win big, we will gamble more, and eventually lose everything . Be happy you are aware this is a problem at your age. Not when you are 40 years old, married, successful, kids , family, business. People lose everything bro. And most of all, lose their self respect, dignity, mental health all in the process. It’s a vicious cycle. We win, we feel like god, we think we will win again, we lose.. then self hate and depression comes, week goes by we feel like we can gamble again, we win big, we are on top of the world again, lose because we won now we have income to gamble again, lose it.. depression.. self hate, all over again. This is a dark world and it will be a sad ling lonely life if we continue. We will never enjoy the important things in life . Please take care of yourself and ban yourself from sports sites, bookies, go to counselling like I will do this week. You are 25, imagine 5 years of working hard? Making even 40-50k a year, you can have 300,000 dollars or more by the time you are a young 30 years old. But I will promise you one thing. Keep going and betting, and that 12000 you have just lost will have a couple more 0’s at the end of it. God bless bro we are in this together and there is hope for us.

[Chaser]

Thanks a lot for your response! I guess the part that’s hardest is that right now I can’t be honest with the people closest to me because they have witnessed my recent success at work and I can’t come clean in a scenario where one day I’ll have money, be comfortable, supportive and the next I’m struggling. These losses that happen in just a few days change your lifestyle so drastically that when you’re with someone (in my case I live with my girlfriend) it’s just so difficult. When I did well at work I bought a car, and now that this happened I can hardly afford to make the payment. But I can’t tell anyone.

I just want to have my head over water. I keep fishing for a way to get back on my feet without anyone knowing of my struggles but I feel myself getting pinned between a rock and a hard place. This is so, so difficult.

I believe that I’ve hit the point where I won’t do it again. But I don’t know how I keep my head above water long enough to dig my way out of debt. It’ll have to be a slow and rigorous process. I can hardly sleep.

[MurrS7]

I really do feel you on this man. It’s exam week for me and I can’t focus on my Stidies, I’m a walking zombie. Last week at this time I was in a good place , had savings again. Broke even. and had some profits too. I knew the demon would come out again. I keep beating myself up for this! Why didn’t I stop while I was up. Why did I repeat the same mistake again when I said I wouldn’t. Because the addiction was stronger than my willpower. This is a real illness man. we need to stop it before it gets out of hand. I really believe in the reading ”this too shall pass” time will heal us, and we need to appreciate the small things. Before I lost my last 2000 on Monday I received a call from the doctor as I have had the flu for 6 weeks(never happened before) I gotta. Call before class telling me to come in ASAP after recievibg my blood work. At that moment my world stopped.. I completely forgot about the 12k I had just lost to make me in debt, I thought wiw what if there is something really bad happening to me with my health  and I rushed to the doc … only for him to tell me I am fine and might have had strep throat but my body fought it off by itself. I then went to the casino and lost a couple more thousand in a half hour . im Having trouble sleeping this week too and cannot even focus on my studies.. I have lost way more in the past and I dunno why I can’t shake this loss off also, keep replaying it in my head. I will be going to speak with a gambling councellor this week. I do suggest you open up to someone, maybe your best friend, family member or gf.. you cannot keep this inside of you man, it will eat you alive. It will feel good to talk about it, and know you are not alone. The magnitude of our losses are nowhere compared to some… with working for a couple of months we can make our loss back, and will realize it takes hard work to make money. “I believe in hard work, not luck”. Never look back once you beat this.. let’s get our lives back.. our happiness… I know we can do it. 

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