this is for you newbies who have just discovered that gambling has a stranglehold on you. if you can't stop, divorce your wife and children and spare them the anguish and soon-to-come poverty of your addiction.it is inhuman to make them suffer with you because your downfall is inevitable.

now for the bad news, if you don't get help from someone or take evasive actions to mitigate your compulsive activity, it could destroy you - literally. so be afraid, yes be very afraid. the beginning of a gambling addiction is like the first drop of a roller coaster ride, it goes fast and deep and if it doesn't discourage you altogether it will just become one harrowing turn after another until you are desperate to get off but can't.

so if you are dreaming (day or night) about the reels going around and the songs are playing in your head and the animal that is your addiction is staring you in the face with it's teeth bared, run don't walk to nearest casino security office and tell them that you have a gambling problem and need some help. self exclusion is just the first step to becoming a half-normal person again but it doesn't end there. you won't know that you're making any progress until you stop thinking about gambling all the time. and be sure that even at that point your addiction is like a shadowy figure waiting to emerge from your closet at a moments notice.

just a sober warning: there are people who were at the place that you are and didn't survive to read this. please take this warning seriously and save yourself. I'm not a glowing testimony of recovery but I have somehow managed to mitigate the overall damage - at least for now. This is a warning for those who don't realize what they're in for. Many gambler testimonies are stated very well when they say;"it destroyed my life". It can and it will if you let it.