Gambling Addiction & Recovery Support Group
Compulsive gambling is an urge or addiction to gamble despite harmful negative consequences or a desire to stop. A preferred term among many professionals is problem gambling, as few people described by the term experience true compulsions in the clinical sense of the word. Problem gambling often is defined by whether harm is experienced by the gambler or others rather...
Hi all i think i may need help i started going to bingo a bit of harmless fun then i started online bingo and i am not happy until i have spent all my money. I am lying to my partner about how much i am spending and even started spending the rent money cuz i think i might win to put it back i am such a mess at the moment and owe so much money to credit cards and parents no one knows about this my partner has an inkling but prob doesn't except its this bad i dont go to bookies but am scared it might lead in that direction.
You will not win back what you have lost. Despite the little winnings here and there, bingo is not developed to make churchgoers and other players rich. Bingo is designed to make the church or host profits.
You must except that the more times and the longer you play, the more you will lose. It is not someone being cynical. It is fact. It is mathematical probability. Throw in addiction, which it sounds like you may have, and it is absolute certainty.
The first help you need is from you, to absolutely decide you have a problem, you need help and then go get help and then put in effort to build a support and utilize every tool that will work for you.
Most of us that get to spending the rent money need some help to quit. There is no shame in needing help, the only shame is knowing you need help and not getting it. Would you be ashamed to go to the doctor if you started fainting? Or would you just try to ignore the fainting spells, they aren't that bad, they only take a few minutes out of your day.
This addiction leads nowhere but downhill once you are able to stop yourself from spending the bill money.
GA has the 20 questions to help you decide if you are a compulsive gambler here's a link to a posting of the questions: http://www.dailystrength.org/c/Gambling_Addiction/forum/20018553-20-questions
I answered yes to all 20.
GA is a good start for help in most cities of any size there are GA meetings 5-7 days per week. Many states have free counseling for problem/compulsive gamblers.
Even before that you can get Gamblock which is software that blocks gambling from your computer or phone or other device. It costs about $100, but in the throes of my gambling that was only about 20 minutes of gambling.
There are books about gambling addiction and a few videos on You Tube, educating yourself about this addiction can help you face it.
Getting help from partner or someone else you trust with handling your money for a while until you get over initial withdrawals. But putting barriers between you and your money is the quickest way to stop. We can't gamble without money. You could have someone else hold your cards and cash, cut up credit cards, tell people not to loan you any more money, ask someone to be someone you go over your budget with you regularly to make yourself accountable for all that you spend.
Keep coming back here and reading and posting - everyone on this board has pretty much been where you are.
I would advise you stop. As other have said, you will only dig the hole deeper. Is it possible to set up some barriers for yourself? Maybe have a trusted person keep your bank info or prevent you from using the computer. I gave my bank cards to my significant other and sometimes my mom when he was out of town. I stopped drinking because that was a major trigger to want to gamble. Figure out what your triggers are and get some barriers in your path. Quit now before it gets worse.
I haven't gone to GA but I'm sure it would help, and this forum helped and still helps me a lot.
Good luck to you and keep us posted. :)