betting on sports from 14 years and stop for good

I have paid down another 2000 $.I am now at 13300 $ debt.I hope until the end of 2019 to pay all debt.God help us all
It is real hard to pay with real cash money when you played with numbers ( online sports ).

Feels good to watch that number shrink , doesn't it ?

What's you plan once the debt is gone ? Do you have a financial goal in mind ?

Thank for being supportive NSR, much appreciated !!! My plan it is to stay gamble free all my life and my goal it is to regain financial security.I’m 42 years old, so I have some time to make it up I hope...)))
In fact I’m not so bad financially right now( I still have 100.000 $ in retirement founds, my mortgage house is paid half until now, I have another 100.000 in savings account ) and I can pay down debt right away in totality but I don’t want my family to know my problem ( maybe I m to scared of their judgement)I KNOW I HAVE A COMPULSIVE GAMLING PROBLEM and often the frustration doesn’t let me STOP. And I realize this situation could degenerate quickly and I can lose fast all that I accumulate in 20 years of hard work.
I must admit that I m very scared of my family and friends judgements ( I can see them saying to themselves “ how come an engineer with post university degree can became sa stopid and doesn’t have self control to stop when things degenerate “). I mean some of them they know I’m gambling but they don’t know I lost control....and I lose control all the time I ‘m gambling sooner or later.

I do understand the fear of the addiction being brought to light . Throughout the entire time I was actively gambling , there was always one constant and underlying thought - No one must ever know about this . The shame was overwhelming and the fear of being found out was paralyzing at times .

While I did eventually come clean to a few close friends , my family still doesn't know that I was trapped in my gambling addiction for so long . Now 3 years into recovery , I don't feel the need to confess but I have found ways to make amends for the money I " borrowed " ( always for some BS reason , but actually for gambling and/or gambling debt ) . My folks are elderly and sharing the horrible details of my struggle would only cause them unnecessary distress .

I have no problem talking about my addiction to others who I know are still active gambling addicts . I live in a small community ( far from my family ) and a few of the people I used to gamble with on an almost daily basis have made comments to me since I stopped . To them , I can honestly say " I've had to accept that I have an addiction . Gambling took control of my life and it very nearly ruined me . " I almost always see that " click " of recognition in their eyes . Then I drop the subject and let them decided if they want to persue it further . Sadly , none of them have ( that I know of ) but I have hope for them still .

I feel exactly the same NSR, I have no problem telling to the people who are still involved or already recovered because they understand you, they don't judge you and they are supportive .By the way, today I found a BAD surprise in my mail when I find out that last year I forgot to pay a big part of taxes for my house of course because I was too busy with gambling.
At the beginning I was very sad because of almost 4000 $ amount that " I forgot" to pay , who will slow me down with futures payments of gambling debt but after I said to myself that the most important thing it is that I stop gambling and a new sun was rising for me when I decided to stop gambling and stay gamble free.
Be well !!!

Ouch ... that's definitely an unpleasant surprise . But one thing I can say - the day I paid my last debt and said out loud " I don't owe any money to anybody ! " was one of the happiest days of my life . The sense of freedom , accomplishment and peace of mind was incredible .
'
You'll get there and we'll be here to celebrate that with you .

Gabone25 wrote:the most important thing it is that I stop gambling and a new sun was rising for me when I decided to stop gambling and stay gamble free.

You are right Gabone.

As I read your post, it reminded me of the lies of addiction. Automatically my mind would be thinking "Oh man. This is unfortunate, but if I place bet here, I can win and pay it all back and I'll be back to where I was", but I now know that they are lies and once we recognize them as lies, we do the right thing and ignore them.

Gabone25 wrote:I have a very good friend who is living from betting on sports from 25 years but he bet one game a day ,never more and if he loses ,he doesn't chase it.Of course he is good at making between 60-64 % a month with substantial amount of money per bet. Maybe sound very simple but it is very hard to respect this strategy and to have this mental control.I'm not able to do this long term.At some point the Emotion take control and I feel OVERCONFIDENTand that's it...., you fall apart.

Hi Gabone,

I'm new to this forum and one of the main reasons I signed up is because of the quoted text that I just quoted.

Your friend might not give you the full picture, the fact you talk about him and not about yourself shows that no one has the full picture of what is really going on behind close doors.


Gambling has nothing but a bad ending, however you try to approach it.

Please don't think your friend is "lucky" or he has some ability to do something other people can't - he is in a sinking ship just like everybody else who is gambling. And gambling is a sinking ship, it's the reality ...

Besides that - great post and thanks for sharing!

NewSunRising wrote:I understand what you're saying but there is a world of difference between people who gamble and people who are addicted to gambling , just like there are people who can drink socially and there are people who are alcoholics .

I cannot fully agree with this.
Like the OP and like Aries my main "trouble" is sports betting.

If I will go to the casino I have no problem betting $25 on a Roulette, and whatever happens happens, I am not attached nor feeling attracted to Casino games - does it mean I am not a gambling addict? Why with sports it's all of a sudden feeling different?

The point is not looking down upon gamblers who like Roulette or Slots and feel like they are not smart enough to try sports betting - ALL forms of gambling are bad.

Justyn Larcombe started with a simple 5 GBP Rugby bet - ended up ruining his lives.
Graham Calvert was a greyhound trainer, made good bets in greyhound races, but lost all of his money by and even ended up with a failed lawsuit against William Hill.

Gambling is not just bad for YOU, it's bad by nature ... its nature is about taking money from someone else who doesn't want this money to be taken - is it fair? Does it contribute to society? Is it really fun and glamorous as some people wish and want to portray? I don't think so, and that is generic, not specific to me.

Gambling is bad, period.
It's bad for everyone but unfortunately it is something that had been created a long time ago, and it's difficult to stop it ... just like cigarettes it contributes nothing to society ... Alcohol is different, you can drink for celebration from time to time and you do get some value for your money ... gambling and cigarettes destroy you physically and financially that in my opinion there is no form of trying them even "in moderation" unlike Alcohol where "giving it a shot" can be okay.

Thanks for reply NoMoreBetsPlease,
You are possibly right about my friend who supposely makes a living from sports betting, but I know he is doing this from a very long time and what I admire the most is that discipline that I'm missing...I assume he is making profit because all his plays are documented and posted on a site , so last year if I was following him ( which I did for couple of weeks but my lack of discipline,chasing etc...makes me lose at the end) it was 61.4 % overall in MLB and 60.8 % in NFL.
But anyway, I'm not looking down the people who play at casinos roullette or slots, etc...I was just thinking that is more easy to lose more money in a short period and I consider myself a bit "Lucky" I'm not addicted to this.In fact is the same gambling addiction, just different for money perspective I suppose. Maybe I'm wrong about my thinking but in no way I'm loking down...
Be Well and thanks again for sharing your opinion