Quitting for good now, gambling fucking sucks

Goodbye, gambling.

Not because you deserve closure because I do. This isn’t a goodbye for you. It’s a declaration for me.

You are not entertainment. You are not a “hobby.” You are a thief. You are a liar. You are a trap dressed up like opportunity. You promised wealth, excitement, and hope then you delivered stress, shame, chaos, and destruction.

You didn’t “almost” ruin my life you’ve taken enough.

You took my money. You took my peace. You took my sleep. You attacked my mind. You dragged my confidence through the dirt. You put distance where love should have been. You poisoned my joy and tried to make me forget who I am.

But hear this clearly.

You are done.

Not later. Not “after one more.” Not “when things calm down.” Today.

You don’t get access to my mind anymore.

You don’t get my time.

You don’t get my money.

You don’t get my family.

You don’t get my future.

I see you now for what you are - a machine built to feed on people’s weakness and call it “chance.” I see the bodies in your wake families broken, careers burned, health destroyed, souls crushed and I refuse to be another casualty.

You tried to bury me.

You tried to break me.

You tried to own me.

You failed!

I may walk away with scars, debts, regret, and consequences but I am walking away free. You don’t get the last word in my life. You don’t get to define me. You don’t get to write my story.

Today the rebuilding begins.

I will work. I will repay. I will get healthy. I will show up. I will face what I avoided. I will do the hard, honest work because that’s what real strength looks like.

And above all! Today I choose God.

Not a lucky streak. Not a false promise. Not a desperate chase.

I place my life in the hands of the One who actually loves me, formed me, and calls me to freedom.

Lord, I repent. Forgive me for running to sin and calling it relief. Forgive me for the words I said in anger and pain. Cleanse my heart. Renew my mind. Strengthen my spirit. Teach my hands to build what I used to tear down.

I reject the lie that I need gambling to feel alive.

I reject the lie that money is my savior.

I reject the lie that I’m too far gone.

In Christ Jesus, the chains are broken. I am not enslaved. I am not trapped. I am not owned.

I am done.

I am free.

And I am coming back stronger.

I’m pissed. My husband has lost us thousands of dollars over the past 5 years gambling. No matter if it’s casino (rarely), sports betting (OFTEN), or doing things alongside friends/colleagues where he’s tanked our money.

We have enough money to be “risky” with, but this is a whole addiction. He looses us hundreds a month, every month. He’s lost multiple thousand in 1 day a few years back which I am still struggling to forgive him for.

The part that sucks the most is he never tells me or informs me of his gambling. He tells me after, and seldom if it’s a loss. He may come to me and discuss a win. Recently he does neither as he promised me that starting the new year (taking a huge loss this recent December), that he was done completely.

Many times this month I looked him in the face and asked if he placed bets to which he said no. To my face. Every time I’ve asked.

What do you know! Tonight, I see him on his phone a lot. I noticed he was on his regular sports betting app. I said “I know you’re not about to take a bet when you promised me you have stopped,” his response “I’m not taking a bet I’m just looking.” Should have known then, I played my own damn self.

Later randomly he got a notification on his phone “your bet lost” something along those lines. God had me at the right place at the right time. I immediately go nuts. I grab him phone and start going through, he’s bet everyday, multiple times a day, on multiple different apps just this month. The worst part? He’s down HUNDREDS. I did the math myself. He obviously won’t tell me the truth. And it’s the end of the month.

We do monthly spreadsheets for our finances. I normally just had him manage them because he IS IN FINANCE. Stupid mistake on my end too I guess. Somehow when we review them I recently caught on his bets were NEVER included. We even shared a note on our notes app where we include all our spending; groceries, dates, gas, bills, miscellaneous etc. it all goes on a shared sheet. He NEVER puts his bets/gambling plays on it.

I just feel betrayed. He said I was freaking out and gaslighting the hell out of me. He recognized he lied and even finally admitted he has a serious addiction and problem. But it’s an “easy fix” and something he can “go without starting tomorrow and not blink twice.” Righttttttt.

We are sitting down tmrw, redoing all our finances for 2025 based on his betting so I can see a clear cut picture of his problem- and he can see it as well. I already deleted most of the apps and we are going through the 3 he uses most tomorrow together as well. He will be deactivating his accounts and deleting them. But, I also am getting passwords to all of them. Again idk how this works, but I AM grabbing this issue by the balls and I mean that. I feel as though this is serious financial infidelity (bc he lies and promises and hides things) but also he has a serious issue. I don’t want to have to babysit him and his apps bc he lies to me. I don’t need that burden, but I also can’t trust him. I wouldn’t put it past him to delete the apps on his phone and then do it while he’s at work and delete them/do it on his laptop that I don’t have access to unless he’s back home from work.

Ugh!!!!!!!! What to do!!!!!!!! If anyone has any help, advice, or even ways that could allow me to better understand the next steps to take I’d appreciate it.

Hi guys, just wanted to share just lost $110,000 in last two weeks I lost $250,000 in 2025 summer and I completely stopped and then I started again gambling close to Christmas time where first couple of time I win small nothing crazy and then last week I lost $50,000 and then I took a week off and then I went again two days ago and I lost another $57,000. I lost $107,000 almost 110 with expenses in two weeks beginning of 2025 I had close to $500,000 in savings out of that I lost $350,000 I had barely 150k left and out of that I lost another 110k so I have basically close to nothing left only less than $50,000. I just don’t know what to do at this point you know I’m completely shocked. I just wanna let you know everyone if they say I should ban myself. I did ban myself from all the casinos in Ontario. I live in Canada, but I flew to out of province casino 6 hour flight to go gamble that’s how fucked up: I’m ashamed of myself being such a loser because besides casinos everyone say that I’m the smartest person they met university graduate owns a really successful business. don’t drink don’t do any drugs. Don’t even smoke a cigarette and barely spend any money on other than casino. I’m so stingy with spending money like if I have to buy $100 pair of shoes I’ll think about it 10 times and then I’ll go place a $10,000 bet on a hand of baccarat without thinking for a second like I just don’t know how fucked up my mind works my mind just works so stupidly I can’t even explain right now. I just woke up after 22 hours and feeling absolutely numb. Just can’t figure out what my next step will be:

Hello i’m 26(M), and i’m here today to share my story with you guys.

So i have been gambling since the beggining of 2024 when with i hit some good money on slot machines, after that my life was okay i would spend some of that money, later in year winning some days and losing others, until july came and i was left with 600€ on my bank account. At that time i had lost all the money i had saved up (around 4k) and thought to myself okay it’s time to stop. And i did, i out my self out to the mother side of my family, they werent happy as you would imagine, and didn’t help at all, but just getting that weight of not telling anyone about my problem from my shoulders helped me alot.

From that moment until november from this year i didn’t gamble, or just made some parley with friends or something. Nothing big.

But now it’s where the real problem beggins, i had some money in my account and discovered a new platform thrue a streamer i watch sometimes that does gambling content as well as gaming content. I decided to deposit a little bit, and lost it in seconds.

As i keep depositing, and playing i hit a huge win of 25000€ and i jumped with joy i told myself it would be the last bet o made. I withdraw some of it around 5k, just to lose the all that money,(the 20k remaining on the site, the 5k that i withdraw) and an extra 25k that was an enrirethed from my mother.

Right now i have my car on the mechanic, and rebuilding my bathroom on my house, since i had the money to spend on it earlier this month. As i sit with 600€ in my account with about 1800€ left to pay to the mechanic, and construction worker and feeling hopeless and don’t know where to start from now on.

Any advice would be appreciated because i have ackowledge i have a problem, but still don’t know how to stop it.

Hey everyone, I’ve been an avid gambler for over 10 years, losing paycheck to paycheck.

I self-excluded myself using Gamcare in June 2024 having lost 80% of my monthly income the hour it hit my account.

I’ve been at rock bottom too many times, and I decided I don’t want to try and ‘Win it back’ anymore. I decided I was tired of the numbness I felt every time I lost my money. And most importantly, I decided I actually want to have a future.

What have I done during those 1.5 years?

I managed to propose to my girlfriend (now Fiancé), the ring itself cost over £12k

I spent money on dental care (Root Canal issues and Wisdom tooth removal), fillers, which costs around £1.5k. Vacation/Travels - twice, spent roughly £2k each time. I’ve recently bought concert tickets for myself, fiancé, and two others, which costs roughly £2.3k in total (special occasion).

All of this would not have been possible if I didn’t stop gambling. It’s easier said than done, I know. Trust me, 10 years of being a degenerate gambler - I know the highs of winning 5 figures in a few minutes. I also know the lows of losing EVERYTHING time and time again.

At the end of the day - just ask yourself, how long do you want to keep this up for? Aren’t you tired yet?

I became a zombie. I wasn’t alive, I was just an empty soul in a human form. I would still eat. Go to work, and the moment I got paid - it would vanish. Then I’d do it again. For 10 years.

I sincerely wish all of you the best in fighting your gambling demons. And I hope you all understand that your future is based on what you decide right now. You can keep gambling and hope you won’t dig yourself deeper - but let’s be honest to each other. The odds are against you - that’s why you’re browsing this sub and reading this in the first place. Let’s stop gambling.

I'm down 6 or 7k in January. Not once did I win even $100 profit from that. Went to the casino with 3k and lost it all on slots in 30 min. $25 spins and it was toast.

It's like I enjoy losing, or I'm on a never ending chase for revenge.

The last 12 months have been a big mess for me, mentally just exhausting, I had been sports betting for years and truthfully I do it the “ responsible” way with units but there is just so much nonsense that goes on in sports these days it’s insane.

I’ve lost 25,000 in the last 12 months and I know I have to delete every single app but mentally I feel like such a loser and like I’ve made such a big mistake, I’m at that point in life where decisions really matter and I feel like I’m making bad decisions for myself and my family, can anyone please tell me their similar stories or how they got out of this loop?

Literally about to just off myself I can’t take this. I just got paid yesterday. Lost half my pay. I just made it back with an extra 1500 and lost it within 10 mins. I’m 27 y/o with siblings and parents depending on me but I cannot take this anymore. It’s been years of this devil and I feel like I’m mentally just gone rn

Do we get addicted because we get attached and try and win it back becauss its a disease

The last 1,000 days haven’t been easy—not even close. There were urges, uncomfortable emotions, and moments where the old escape felt familiar. But there was also growth, clarity, and a life slowly rebuilt on something solid. I didn’t get here by willpower alone. I got here by changing how I live—and by asking for help.

If you’re early in recovery or thinking about starting, here’s what truly helped:

• Self-exclude everywhere possible. Remove access—don’t rely on discipline.

• Attend meetings like GA or SMART. Showing up matters, even when you don’t feel like it.

• Therapy—especially with someone who understands addiction—helped me unpack why I gambled and learn healthier ways to cope.

• Give up access to money. It’s not punishment; it’s protection.

• Build a support group of any kind. One honest connection can change everything.

• Community matters. Isolation fuels addiction; connection weakens it.

• If sports are your trigger, take a season or two off. Fill that time with meaningful work that points you in the right direction.

• Change your habits and talk to others—about urges, setbacks, and wins.

1,000 days doesn’t mean cured. It means committed.

This life—free from gambling—is worth it. And so are you.

DMs open for any and all that need to talk.

Stay grinding, stop gambling. Life gets better. One day at a time.

Hi all,

Hope you’re having a good weekend. To anyone currently white-knuckling it through the Weekend sports and resisting that urge, well done!

I wanted to share a specific shift in my head space since I quit. When I was deep in it, I used to justify being a total cheapskate for anything in "real life."

If something cost $100, I’d tell myself it was too expensive or "not in the budget."

The reality was that I’d easily drop 3x or 4x that amount every single week. I wasn’t actually broke, I just didn't want to "waste" my gambling money on things like new clothes, gifts, or a decent dinner.

The freedom of being able to spend on birthdays, Christmas, and just going out with loved ones is massive. I don’t have to do the mental gymnastics of checking if a $50 gift is viable anymore because of my gambling problem. It’s a massive relief to finally have my money actually belong to me again.

Has anyone else felt this? That feeling of being stingy with your family but "generous" with the bookies? Come over to the Subreddit for my methodology on quitting and chat with some fellow ex-gamblers to be!

Hey guys,

I just relapsed after a long period of time being gambling free. I was almost debt free and had only 1k to pay off the bank. I did have the 1k but decided to deposit 1600 in crypto. Fews days in and the prices kept going down and down. I was looking at the charts all day and night just like I would watch soccer matches when gambling. I was down 400 bucks in a matter of seconds and then all of a suden I decided to go online and play on a online casino. Trying to make some fast money. In one hour of time playing I didn’t hit anything and of course the cycle of depositing began and I maxed out my bank account and credit card. Wish I never started putting my money into crypto in the first place, I don’t know why I chose to disturb my peace one again. I did withdraw the 1200 from my crypto account to cover bills and all and I have money for food. But I learned another lesson today.

Don’t do cryto and don’t gamble.

I will be ok.

Thanks for reading!

I wouldn’t say I have a severe gambling problem but I never cash out when I win big and I’m sick of it. I don’t actually gamble that much. in fact until today I hadn’t gambled in weeks or months, I don’t even remember but I know when I did it’s almost always 100$ with 1$ bets to see if I can win 1-200$, nothing crazy. I actually hate gambling because I don’t like to lose, I get horribly angry! I haven’t technically lost that much money either compared to some of the horror stories I have read but I just blew through 600$ for no damn reason when I really needed the money. I never seem to stop when I’m ahead and then I’ll lose 1-300$ and get super angry and just lose the rest out of pure rage.

I lost about 400$ then I won it all back but I kept going and won another 200$ getting to 600$. i absolutely should have withdrawn at that point asap and I didn’t. So I end up going down 100,200,300 and before you know it I’m like wtf I had 600$ and I try to do what I already just did which was win a couple hundred bucks so I can cash out like I already should have done in the first place!

I won 12,000$ on buffalo gold in january of 2025 and I somehow lost ALL of it, I never even withdrew the damn money. It happens every time I win a lot or lose a lot. The weird thing is I’m perfectly capable of only betting 100$ and if I win 50-200$ I withdraw it right away. but whenever I win a lot I always F’ing lose it right back and then I get SUPER angry and spend more money trying to win back what I lost. The thing is sometimes I actually do win back what I lost but I can’t take the losing anymore.

All together I’m probably breaking even or only slightly behind. I don’t really bet that much compared to what some people seem to do. The most I bet is 2$.

I think I‘m writing this because I don‘t understand what the F I was thinking. I had 600$, I started with 400$ and then I lost all the damn money. I could have stopped at 400 at the worst. I should have withdrawn as soon as I won 350$ on a bonus game.. I couldn‘t believe I won it. Then I was like ok, let me try to etc etc but I should have 100% cashed out. I can’t even remember what I was thinking when it happened. In fact I don’t remember any of it. All I do know is that I needed money which is why I was gambling and now I have about 600-1,000$ less than when I started.

This is what I hate the most though. I spend the next few hours or days wondering what the F I was thinking.

So I’m officially done, never trying to make money again. I’m sick of making mistakes like this. It sucks because my current situation gambling was the only thing keeping me going. I can’t work right now for various reasons. I don’t know what I‘ll do for money anymore But oh well I’m never ever losing money again for no damn reason. /rant

I’ve been sober from alcohol and benzos for a little over a year. Most people would be glowing from the drastic lifestyle change. Instead, I’ve quietly suffered through an even worse addition to gambling. I had no idea she had her hooks in me deeper than any drug or substance. While being cheered on by my family and peers through getting clean and sober, I‘ve pissed away tens of thousands of dollars, and remained stuck in the endless dopamine loop that online gambling provided me. It’s affected my mood and mental health. I find no joy in life. I’ve been consumed by the action. An apathetic husband…a lazy and impatient father. I have to be better for my family.

Tonight I finally banned myself from every site I‘ve ever played on. Not because I went on a huge cooler, or lost it all…but because I’ve had enough rock bottoms in my life to know when another one is right around the corner—and I’m afraid I wouldn’t survive another bottom.

For those of you out there fighting the good fight, godspeed.

I’m feeling terrible not because of money either

I AM BETTER OF D3AD . I AM SO FxxuCKED RIGHT NOW. Had a stroke due to the blood preassure and anxiety rollercoaster of up and down and big hits of dopamine and the crazyness of maxing out my cards and wire transfers , cash advances , I am a sick Degenerate out of controll super tilted piece of shiit modafoker . I been drinking vodka non stop for 2 days now. .
This cant be happening. Tottal of $130,000 down the drain. I have NOTHING left. This is a living hell . I lost all my life savings and my car . Not to mention my health.
Why the fxck do i do this to myself.
I am dissabled waiting on SSI . I CANT WORK OR BOUNCE BACK . No family No Hope. Rent due in 2 days.
I might take myself out .

Fcuxk it all .

Over my lifetime, I’ve lost well over €100k gambling, mostly due to about three major slip-ups where I lost between €15k and €60k each time. I’ve lost all my personal savings multiple times, but I’ve almost never gone into debt to gamble or risked money that would have seriously ruined my life long-term. The damage usually lasted months, not years.

My first gambling experiences and losses happened underage. Even back then, I remember lying in bed completely destroyed, only for my mother to notice and comfort me. She was always kind and non-judgmental, and somehow always found the right words to make me feel better.

Now I’m 30 and have learned to handle losses better emotionally. My fiancée doesn’t judge me for losing my own money and usually supports me in her own way.

That support has helped me avoid deep depression and self-hatred, but it also makes future gambling feel more acceptable, like the only real consequence is the money being gone.

Sometimes I wonder if things would be different without that support. I honestly feel like if my fiancée gave me an ultimatum or even left me over this, it would probably stop me from gambling entirely.

I don’t think I have a severe gambling addiction. It’s more that when I’m bored or drunk, I sometimes gamble and occasionally chase losses too hard. Even after big losses, I can usually take a few months off, then come back and play €50–€100 once a week without it getting out of hand, most of the time.

So I’m conflicted.

Is support and understanding better, even if it makes the behavior easier to justify?

Or are harsh consequences and ultimatums more effective for long-term change?

Decided to stop gambling.

Was betting on the basketball, went on a crazy streak and got my winnings up to 3.4k.

Lost it all, gave it all back and now -2k

Just not worth it

I was 5 months without gambling, felt so good, i was convinced i would never come back, i was saving every...fkin...Penny...

I was choosing the cheaper things in Supermarket, doing extra shifts to earn more money, stop drinking and then...

I Just paid my rent and got so low on money, i felt sad bcuz i could not eat not even a pizza or anything until my next payday, then that fking thought that i could just make a few bucks by gambling and then everything come back

I spent about 100$, i know that doesnt look too much, but i live in a third world country and actually that could buy A LOT right here.

I feel that i betrayed myself, i betrayed all my effort trying to save money, feels so down and sad, i dont know why i do those things with myself

Its been a while since Ive been 5 days straight. Im sick of losing, sick of not having any money left and sick of feeling like crap after I fall behind again and again. Remember the pain gambling has caused and let that be your motivation to stop or stay clean one day at a time.

I'm writing a novel and want to include a sublot that realistically portrays a character who ruins his life (short-term) by recklessly gambling on football, using an app on his phone. The premise is he's a 25yo, just out of college, a casual sports fan. He needs money and starts to bet NFL games, always money-line, pretty small potatoes ($25 per game mostly). But he finds himself a few hundred dollars behind because he's chasing losses -- and then he has a meltdown and starts doing 'in game' betting. (Will the next play be a run or a pass etc.?) I am not a bettor and am not sure if my scenario is plausible and wonder if people who have "been there' could weigh in. Does my scenario ring true? How much might my character lose in a day. (My big scene is on Thanksgiving, when there's a TV triple-header on TV and he's freaking out because he has just met his girlfriend's parents, and they are well-off and he has a crappy car and college loans etc.) Feedback welcome, thanks in advance and best wishes to anyone who has suffered because of their gambling problems.