Hi, I see you haven't updated recently but I was browsing the web in relation to gambling issues and came across this and thought I would reply.
The main thing I wanted to say was to treat this stuff seriously. Just for an indication of how these things can go, let me tell you where gambling has taken me:
I am 29 now and have been gambling for over ten years and have made a real mess of my life. At my worst, I have been waiting outside the bookies at 8:30am; stayed till 9:30pm then gone to the casino till silly o'clock for days on end.
I've just lost my girlfriend and been kicked out of the house (not the first time I have been made or made myself homeless) and have also just been bankrupted with debts totalling just over £60,000.
I am nearing thirty years of age, have no job, am crashing in my mums spare room (and VERY lucky that she is letting me stay) and don't have a penny in the world.
When I got thrown out of my flat, all of my possessions fit into a small holdall - I have sold/pawned all my possessions to the extent that I was selling my clothes by weight for a mere couple of quid to gamble.
I have barely any friends left and am depressed to the extent that I have attempted and been on the verge of doing very stupid and very irreversible things. Only a few weeks ago, I pawned something that didn't belong to me and then walked into a bookies with a claw hammer and chisel determined to crack open a FOBT and take the cash box in the event that I didn't make the money to do the buyback. In my sick mind at the time I was kidding myself that it wasn't armed robbery and would just be classed as theft and vandalism if it all went tits up. I am not a violent man but gambling addiction can really take you as far as alcohol, gear, crack and other addictions. I have stolen, lied and committed various fraudulent acts. I come from a good home too but have seen first hand that it is possible to go totally off the rails without needing anything to prompt you into it. In my more desperate moments I don't fear prison or homelessness any more yet when I get moments of clarity - my own attitude to such things frightens me.
I don't know your situation and how you are doing now but if you think you still have a problem, get in touch with Gamcare or go to a GA (Gambler's Anonymous) meeting.
Even if your situation isn't that desperate or you aren't sure how addicted you are, it may be worth going to a GA meeting or two just to see where gambling has taken people to see if it helps give you resolve to deal with your own problem. Maybe my story would alarm a lot of straight, honest folk who lead a normal honest life but in GA they barely bat an eyelid because you hear a lot worse.
At the moment I am just a week off a bet and hopefully I will stick with GA and try to rebuild a life but I wish I had understood when I was at the stage of just doing in the odd £50-£100 what the path I was choosing was going to end up leading me to.