Hello everyone,

This is a long post! Hope you enjoy the read

To give you a bit of background: when i entered this community, i was on the verge of taking my own life because of my compulsive behaviour and addiction to trading. If you are reading this and you are in a similar situation, please seek help. You don’t have to go through this alone.

This is the longest streak i’ve had without relapsing in the 7 years since i started trading, and this time i feel like it’s real.

During those 7 years, i made amounts of money that could have allowed many people to retire. But it was never really about winning. It was just numbers on a screen, chasing that crazy rush and dopamine.
i ended up in debt more times than i can count. i would pay it off, get back into debt, and the cycle would repeat. Each relapse became harder and harder.

i nearly lost my wife and children because of my compulsive behaviour. That scared me in a way nothing else had before, because for the first time i truly felt that i could lose everything that mattered to me. But it doesn’t have to be the end of the story.

i went to my first GA meeting on 7th of July, and i still attend weekly. Honestly, it was probably one of the best decisions i’ve ever made. i met people who understand exactly what i’m going through because they’ve been there themselves.

i’ve learned a few things that help me stay clean.
They seem to work for me, so i wanted to share them:

1. Acceptance
i knew i had a problem, but accepting it was the hardest part. i had to admit to myself and to the people around me that i was sick and that i couldn’t control this behaviour on my own.

2. Honesty
You know how deceptive you can become when you have this disease. It loses a lot of its power when you start speaking openly to the right people.

For me, those people are mainly the ones i meet in GA, along with a few selected family members and friends. Sometimes the people closest to you don’t understand addiction and may judge you for things that are symptoms of the disease.

You need to talk. Just make sure you’re talking to people who can actually understand what you’re going through.

3. Finances
i still don’t have control over my finances, and i’m still in debt. i’ve had to accept that. i can’t fix everything as quickly as i would like to, and i can’t use trading to fix the financial problems that trading created.

For me, accepting that has been a huge part of staying clean.

4. i can’t fix everything
You can’t fix everything, and you definitely can’t fix everything at once. This is something i took from the GA playbook. You have to take things slowly, one day at a time.

i’ve also had to accept that i may not be able to fix some relationships. And that’s okay. i don’t blame anyone anymore.

5. Forgiveness
This has probably been the hardest one for me.
It took me almost two months to start understanding myself and forgiving myself, as well as forgiving other people.

Some people will say hurtful things to you. Sometimes that is their own pain talking. Learning to forgive them doesn’t mean that what they said or did was okay. It means you stop carrying it with you….i learned that the hard way.

How do i feel after 60 days?

Honestly… i feel free.Not financially free lol. Far from it. I’m still in debt and i still have a lot of shit to rebuild. But mentally? I feel freer than i have felt in years.

The biggest thing i notice is that i’m actually present again.

I’m more connected to my wife, my kids and my friends. When i’m with them, i’m actually there. I’m not half there while the other half of my brain is looking at charts, thinking about the next trade, calculating how much i could make or trying to figure out how to recover what i lost.That constant noise is slowly going away.

I’ve also started noticing changes in other parts of my life.

At work, i almost got promoted and received a lot of really good feedback from the people i work with. My energy levels are getting much better too. I still have shitty days, but i don’t feel like my entire life depends on whether i win or lose today.

And probably one of the biggest things i’ve learned is that i don’t have to fix everything today. I’m still in debt. Some things are still uncertain. There are problems i literally cannot solve right now and my old brain hates that…. it wants a solution. NOW.

That’s usually where the addiction would come in.
I’ve had some really strong urges during these 60 days. Strong enough that my brain started telling me things like:
“Maybe just one small trade.”
“Maybe use this bonus.”
“Maybe take a small loan and make it back.”

I know that voice now.And i know exactly where it leads.So no...I don’t trade…I don’t take loans to trade….I don’t try to win back what i lost.

And i don’t need to fix my entire life today.

Sometimes the biggest wins of the day is something incredibly boring.
Going home
Picking up my kids
Going to a GA meeting
Cooking dinner
Doing some stupid chores
Going to bed and letting the urge pass

That shit would have sounded ridiculous to me a year ago….Now it feels like freedom.

I’ve also started rediscovering who i am outside of trading.

Cooking has become a huge part of that. I love being in a kitchen, working with my hands, creating something from nothing and seeing people actually enjoy it and i realised something there….Trading gave me adrenaline…But it never gave me freedom…It gave me the feeling that i was in control while slowly taking control of my life away from me.

I’m starting to understand the difference now.

I don’t know what the next year will look like.I still have debt. I still have things to repair. I still have bad days. I still get urges….But for the first time in a very long time, i’m not trying to escape my life.

I’m actually starting to live it.

60 days clean.

That’s it. ODAAT!
Today i’m not trading.
Tomorrow we’ll deal with tomorrow.

Felt withdrawals today and urges but didn’t react, I can’t any ways money is locked away from me

I am a compulsive gambler since my undergrad 2nd year. I am now 25M, and still gamble.

Tonight, I lost all my savings so far and my net worth is -10k. I had taken loan of 10k to fund the gambling and I lost it too.

It sucks to start again, and my aim now is to get to whole number before even thinking of natural numbers from here on. From my last setback I was finally doing better in life and financially but now this has resulted in a huge setback of almost 2 years of my income and savings.

From someone who has gone through this, and worse, I need serious advice. I need someone to tell me if I don’t stop here, it will ruin me further. And also, I see dead end for me right now but if I dont save next 1 year, missing out on vacations I had planned, all the experiences at 25 that I had planned due to my bank balance in negative, tell me it will be alright

I am 34- young to some, old to others- and interestingly enough, I’ve never liked gambling. Seriously. I rarely would go to the casino, I don’t do sports betting, etc. Well, about six months ago, I learned my state started offering online slots and games through the state lottery that was super easy to play. For some reason, this version of gambling really, REALLY appealed to me, and I was depositing $20 here, $40 there, “just for fun” I told myself. A few months in, I started to use every last dollar that didn’t go to bills or household expenses to gamble.

Well, reality came down on me like a load of bricks this weekend. I had a slightly bigger check than normal, with a few extra hundred dollars I could have used towards debts and other expenses… nope. Not only did I gamble it away on the state lottery app, I managed to turn my $300 into $1,500 and despite constantly telling myself “OK, I need to stop and withdraw at least $1,000, this is great,” I never actually did. I just kept hitting the shiny button in the app until my $1,500 turned to $800, then $500, then $300, then $0.

I have no idea why I didn’t withdraw the money when it could have made such a huge difference AND I could have still had some money leftover in the account to gamble with without feeling guilty. Nope, I just threw it all away, and ever since then (Friday night) I’ve been sick to my stomach thinking about the money and the kind of trance I was in.

I made the decision this morning to self exclude for a year from online and in-person gambling. And in the back of my mind I already feel the “itch” to go back in and try to get that money back again, but thankfully, I literally can’t.

I’m hoping this year will help me build a healthy relationship with the occasional social gambling like I did before I learned of the state lottery app, but right now, I feel like I’ve dug myself so far underground I can’t see the sun. 💔

Hi all,

I’ve been quite a heavy gambler since I was young, and as a result, it has completely distorted my view of money. For example, I’ll think, “Oh, it’s only this much… I’d bet that on one thing”.

Does it ever get better? I hate the feeling of knowing I’m doing the wrong thing and still doing it. I’m chasing losses from literally years ago, and I can’t seem to get rid of this distorted view I have of money.

Gambling has hurt my sleep, health, and relationships. I have made amends for the harm it has caused, but the ability to forget or forgive what I have lost never comes.

I also go through cycles where I comfortably won’t gamble, but then I relapse because of boredom, depression, thoughts of chasing losses, or simply thinking, “If I just win this amount, I can pay for this.” It makes no logical sense because I will inevitably lose. I can rationalise that I will lose, but for some reason, I just cannot break the cycle.

I had a big loss tonight. I feel sick and exhausted.

Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Beautiful day out today. I managed to get out for a walk on my morning break and grab a coffee. I basically just sat by the water and listened to the birds. I feel a lot more calm than I was last week. I managed to pay for my car repair after grinding at work most of the weekend and had an extra $40 leftover. I ended up treating myself to a ticket to see the new Spider-Man movie before it left theatres with a friend. Funny how expensive the movies are now, I spent almost all of the $40 getting the ticket, popcorn, and a drink. It was a great movie and I don't regret treating myself on the one day off I had last week.

Hope you all have a gamble free day today, cheers.

✨

Today is Day 16. Not a lot of updates. Unfortunately I get paid every 6 weeks so this has been a hard time for me. I think ill get a paycheck sooner this time though. I have 3 weeks off coming up. Instead of gambling, I am going to do something that brings me meaningful joy. I have been at work now for 13 days with 8 to go. I am going to do my best to continue. I have debts to pay first but ill be okay. I have a lot of catching up to do now.

I know Ive been here before. Many times actually. This is the first time I have truly eliminated all ways to play. I cant even go online and play. Truly a huge relief. I know I'll have urges, but I think this will be the time I actually beat this. Ive given up 8 years of my life to gambling. Time to take control again.

31(M), 7 days ago or so I gambled my entire paycheck so I was screwed to pay bills. I had to finally come clean to my dad about it after 2 - 3 years of doing it in secret and ask for his help. he thought i'd be saving this whole time, but i've lost everything i'd ever earned - only keeping just enough to get by.

i really thought that was the turning point being completely broke, missing bills, and confessing to my parents. we even made an agreement that my next paycheck i'd send him everything and i would just keep enough to pay bills and a little for spending.

7 days later and in between those days, i managed to turn a free $300 into $10k. i'd been playing for hours every day. i thought fuck yeah, that means i just recovered my last month or so of gambling losses. divvied up all the funds into my buckets for bills, savings (travel end of this year, hobby costs, emergency fund). then today i spiralled and nearly lost all of it, luckily on the last few bets, it took me back to $12k. i cashed that out about 6 hours ago, went home, and within 2 hours, i was back on the site thinking yeah i'm a little bored, why not just do $500? well that turned into the entire $12k and i'm back to where i was a week ago.

im absolutely numb (shocked?) to the fact that i just wasted a free head start on recovery financially, but i guess thats not how recovery from gambling works. after any wins ever for me, ill always end up putting it back. no matter how gargantuan the win ive had, it always ended in losing everything due to sheer greediness and detachment to the money won. even now im still thinking in the back of my mind how im going to win it back. i know i wont get my $200k back from all the years, but maybe just something decent.

idk i just wanted to vent a bit. i've been working extremely hard the last few months, so i hope it all pays off and as i start building my finances again and the last 2 - 3 years of losses seem like nothing but a few mishaps. moving forward i plan to give my funds over to my dad since ill likely just find another site and another way to gamble again at a moments notice. really hoping i can get over this quickly and take the drive to earn into work and build wealth the real way.

i just hope its not too late and that i dont take more than 5 years to truly enjoy my life and make real progress.

I’m in search of a community. Today is day 0, and I’m going to take this each day at a time. If anyone wants to message me id love to have people I can talk to.

For anyone who is feeling hopeless, this helped me a lot:

The future is not set in stone

I did the thing I said I wouldn’t do anymore. Justified gambling when I got paid because I wanted to pay a few things off. Made some cash on Friday, only to proceed to lose it all + everything I had the following 2 days. Back at nothing for another two weeks. Another house payment missed, another car payment missed. Bills & debt continuing to pile up.
The shame of doing this again is tearing me apart. I’ve self excluded myself from yet another app/website. Probably at 10 of those by now but inevitably another one will pop up that I can use. I truly don’t know what to do. I’ve tried Gambler’s Anonymous and it didn’t feel helpful. I don’t have the extra money for therapy. Spoke with friends, family, God. Only time I don’t fall victim is when I don’t have any money to do so. I have to stop this, but realizing I can’t on my own.

Had a bit of a relapse last Wednesday in regards to slots after staying away for a year. Won in and around 1700 but threw it away and ended up 100 up. Was annoyed at myself but took it on the chin. Fast forward yesterday today where I deposited 1000 and somehow managed to get it up to 8500. Woke up this morning and proceeded to spin it all away and end up withdrawing at 3000. Yes I know I'm up 2000 dollars. I'm left the house to clear the head and I'm at a coffee shop and going to purchase a book titled 'Dopamine Nation' to hopefully gain some insight into why I'm actually doing this and how to stop.

I want you think about that I'm here buying a self help book after still winning 2000. That's how this shit messes with your head. I would advise anyone reading this regardless of how strong you think you are mentally you will fall into the trap of pressing that button until your balance keeps dropping and dropping. The casino sites give you a taste and a good run sometimes. It's all a trap so you keep going and deposit more trying to chase those losses. Ever click into that game and win the 'free spin' feature? Then the next game you pick you've somehow managed to get the free spin feature again? Suddenly your on cloud 9 watching all that balance rise... The whole thing is designed to give you an injection of dopamine that we can't cope with, I know that, I'm literally typing it and making sense I know yet I still can't fully walk away and gave them back the money they 'loaned' me to the tune of 5500. It hurts bad I know and you feel like scumbag degenerate. Look you can either wallow in self pity or just realise that even if you cleared some debt or done whatever with the money you will be depositing again soon enough and find yourself in the exact same position and most likely even worse debt.

To summarise over the last 7 days I've won a total sum of 2100 dollars and my head is a mess. You know what I mean, the thoughts of clearing some minor debt perhaps, what you could of spent the money on, how much of an idiot you are, ignoring friends and family etc the list goes on and on. What I'm getting at is the whole thing is so layered and we as people just aren't designed to comprehend it all and you can bet your last dollar *excuse the pun* that the casino knows all this and hoping you just keep chasing and chasing forever.

Stay away from slots everybody. They will honestly change your personality and leave you with a constant negative mindset even if you win, that's not me talking shit you know secretly that's how they make you feel. Now I'm off to buy that book folks. Just wanted to share this incase your struggling and needed a kick up the ass!

End the game now and turn your focus back on the real game which is fucking life folks. The chances of you been even born was like 4 billion to 1. We already won mate, we can scramble around at the bottom, collecting your monopoly coins and losing them and repeating the cycle over and over or you can wake up and go to work or if your unemployed get a job. 1 day at a time okay. Fuck the negativity, it's your brain and your in control. Remember that! Be kind to people and be positive. We have this okay.

Hope I helped someone who's feeling messed up and gave them some positivity. Let's the change the mindset folks🙂

P. S any other book recommendations are highly recommended because now I want educate myself so this never happens again.

Today i made 60k from just just 4k and then i applied for withdrawal …but they rejected my withdrawal request saying that there are some issue for withdrawal going on …i controlled my self from gambling that money even after 8 to 9 hours but they still says withdrawal issue ….but then i lost my control and lost all the money i won ..at the last i left with just 1k then i withdrew it .it was a instant withdrawal without any issue ,that means thay wanted me to loose all that money ….in frustration i even lost that 1k what i withdraw…such a dumb ass of me …..i want a strong help so i can stop gambling asap….

Hello r/problemgambling community,

This is a weekly reminder on behalf of our friends from Very Ape films who are working on a documentary on problem gambling. They are looking for people who are willing to share their story on film for their doc. Details can be found on this post.

So why are we reminding you? Because this project aligns with r/problemgambling's mission and purpose as established at the very beginning: To raise awareness of gambling disorder as a significant and growing public health threat. The time to raise awareness is more important now than it ever was.

I think all know what's happening nowadays. The gambling industry is growing bolder and more pervasive in our daily lives. The ads are everywhere. The problem is growing. People need to understand this and take action before it's too late.

So we want this community to have the opportunity to contribute to this project directly. Your voice must not be stifled. Please consider [reaching out](mailto:chasingtheloss@gmail.com) and letting your story be told.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and for your consideration.

Best always,

-Mod Team

I haven’t posted in a long time. And a lot has happened. I spiraled again around Christmas time and finally landed myself in the psych ward because gambling had literally brought me to the point where I lost all will to live and planned to take my life. The 90day mark was always about the time when I would relapse, and it would get worse every single time.

After the stint in the ward, getting honest with the people around me, making some life changes and starting medications, I only had one minor slip up in April but quickly told on myself and snapped back on track immediately.

For the first time ever I have 130 days 100% clean from all gambling activity. I can’t believe it. As painful as it was, honesty truly helped to set me free. Being consistent in therapy, med compliance, and being fully transparent with my loved ones has done wonders. I’ve also been on naltrexone for gambling addiction and I’m certain that has made a huge impact as well. There is hope for freedom from hell of gambling addiction afterall.

Hello! I have posted before and deleted the post due to feeling embarrassed because I did not stick to my original plan… this time I HAVE to make changes, got a huge 6$ raise and have lost ALL of the checks with the raise in it the last month I got it… I work a 1099 job so now I’m drowning in debt with the IRS that’s my only debt, I owe 34k and make only roughly 65k a year, going to try to start another payment plan, has anyone else been this down bad in debt with the IRS due to gambling ? What steps did you take, anything helps I’m struggling so bad mentally and it’s been effecting my life at home.

I see the same 2 accounts constantly advertising an bank site/app thing on this sub and another gambling sub. One account says he is a gambler himself and the other says her husband is the gambler, but 2 seperate scenarios.

Are these 2 people married and the creators of the apps just trying to make a quick buck?

Also, I dived further into the app and found a couple facebook shorts of a man talking about duece recovery and a woman in one of them

https://www.facebook.com/share/1Bq4t5fUDH/

This morning was just like any other. My alarm clock goes off at 5:30am sharp. It pulls me out of an immersive dream. One that I was completely entranced by, but immediately starts to fade from memory as my brain slowly adjusts to reality and transitions back to my waking life.

Once the memory and experience of the dream have been erased from my awareness entirely, it starts being replaced by real memories. I start to remember where I am, who I am, and, eventually, what I did last night.

I experience a slight sense of "dread" or "impending doom" as I begin to remember what I did last night. Did I impulsively lose control at an online casino again? Did I open a crazy leverage position without a stop-loss again? Did I get drunk and do or say something stupid to anyone? Before my brain has even had the chance to wake up and answer these questions, I'm already on my phone, checking for any notifications.

Then, I remember... No, I did not gamble at an online casino. No, I do not have any high-risk positions open at an exchange. No, I didn't drink, smoke weed or use any other drugs last night. No, I didn't completely stuff myself with fast food and sugar. I am actually okay.

---

I have been clean from alcohol and drugs for over 5 years. I have been mostly clean from gambling for the past year, although I still struggle with it sometimes. I have completely changed my physical health around, going from an alcoholic drug user who binged on fast food and sugar all night, every night, to someone who hits the gym every day, is very focused on his health and making all the right choices in an extremely disciplined manner.

Yet still, I wake up every morning with a sense of dread as I try to remember who I am and what I did last night, because after all of these years of abusing myself, my brain is so used to waking up disappointed in myself. I genuinely wonder if that will ever go away or stay with me forever.

I just felt this really strongly today and wanted to get it off my chest. And I'm wondering if any of you experience the exact same thing, whether you're already clean/recovering or not. Peace and love.

Hello everyone, I made this post some time ago https://www.reddit.com/r/problemgambling/comments/1thvs2s/again_and_again_and_again/

TLDR: I lost everything I had earned in 2025, saved up, paid off my debts. By March/April 2026, I had lost everything and had several thousand GBP in debt.

How's it been so far?

Not amazing, to be honest...

I am fortunate enough that I didn't keep digging my hole back in April, as I could have easily reached 5 figures in debt. Fortunately, I capped out at £5.5k. This second climb out of my hole is much easier than the first.

I would say I truly started to battle this issue 3 months ago, when I decided to send about 80% of my salary to a family member. To this day, my situation looks like this:

£10k savings

£5k debt

The other 20% I have gambled like clockwork. The only reason why I have £10k set aside is because I don't have access to it. I've taken out payday loans (nothing huge, approximately £300), and I've taken loans from friends just to keep going a little bit more.

I would like to leave some important, self-learned advice to help everyone here. My situation is improving only because of these rules. This has nothing to do with my willpower being strong enough to stop, because I haven't.

Rule 1: Send the majority of what you make to someone you trust. This has to be non-negotiable.

Money is the substance; the casino is the syringe. Unfortunately, the syringe is digital and in your pocket at all times.

Rule 2: If you have debts, make sure your credit cards are not able to make deposits.

If you have an overdraft that can be utilised once you pay some of it off, set up a repayment plan that reduces the overdraft limit as you pay it down.

The goal here is to be able to pay your debts off slowly, while also making sure you can't use these cards to spend on bullshit as you pay them off.

Rule 3: Forget your losses, your close wins, and your wins. Forget it all. Thinking about the past is a common route into relapsing.

Rule 4: Self-exclude from everything. Disable your cards from making payments to crypto sites, casinos, etc. Any physical barrier you can create will make a difference.

Rule 5: Relapses will probably happen. Make sure they aren't painful. Learn to recognise what's happening. Remember what happened when you lost it all last time. If you're able to stop halfway through a deposit, you're making the right step forward.

But do not use the excuse of "oh my bad I relapsed" as a reason to gamble.

I hope you're able to implement some of these rules into your own path. Wishing everyone the best!

I’ve been (if I’m being honest with myself) probably compulsive gambling since 2022, highs mixed with lows, does this happen to anybody else.

I work on the road and there’s lay-bys I associate with “I won/lost this amount here” . Your toilet reminds you the time you lost or won.

You associate places with gambling, it just totally takes over your life. And you never actually get anywhere with it , there’s sometimes brief periods of being flush with winnings and never lasts more than a month, and this cycle just goes on and on and on.

Sorry for the rant gambling just sucks

It crossed my mind again today to gamble. But I didn’t let myself lose to it. This addiction sucks, honestly. You’d think that after being clean for a while, the thought just stops coming altogether. Turns out that’s not true.

But thankfully I stopped and really thought through what could happen, even when part of me tried to convince myself “it’s just a small amount, maybe it’ll grow.” I hope you’re able to fight it too whenever it comes for you. ODAAT and God bless us all.