Warning to Others (Another Epic Red Mist Thread)

[lotte]

Everybody else has said all that can be said in regards to the bad luck you encountered. All I can add is basically best of luck. Go away and live your life. You are 21, your life is there to live. Losing £14k is nothing compared to the experiences you will have in the future. Money means nothing. The richest person is the one who has his friends and family around him. Nothing else really matters, certainly not a couple of quid.

[dark_knight]

The lovely folk at William Hill just gave me a complimentary £96 bonus as a thank you for playing, no strings attached!!! How selfless

[sportster]

I hope you withdrew it without playing it through?

Some of us are more susceptible to this than others: I'd second the suggestion to visit gamcare and/or a therapist if you can't stay away under your own steam. You have my very best wishes.

[dark_knight]

Firstly, my apologies for still not replying to all the PMs I've received. Life is a bit of a mess.

Okay, firstly, I think it's fair to say I'm pretty damn sick. I thought I had it under control and carried on with +EV offers, making £2k. I then managed to lose this £2k + a further £1k after some red mist when I lost £40 (was trying to chase it back). So in my eyes that made a total loss through compulsive gambling of £17k. I literally spent today curled up in bed trying desperately to resist the temptation to chase this amount. However, I failed.

Good news is I am (financially) in a better position than I was earlier on. I deposited £20k into William Hill (yes £20k), my intention was to do a £20k roulette spin to win back the £17k... and since a loss would be catastrophic anyway I figured the extra £3k may as well be bet to gain something extra. Shows how utterly screwed in the head I am. Anyhow, tried betting the £20000 on live french roulette and couldn't as the limit was £6k on red. Switched to VIP roulette (same table though) just in time to see it would have been black. Phew. Tried £20k again, but limited to £12k max. So did £12k and won (landed in zero and bounced out into 32 red). Funny that rather than being delighted at this, I was pissed at "losing the £8k I should have won".

Anyway, I've withdrawn the money and have handed control of my bank accounts to family (they've changed passwords). I no longer have access to cash (other than a couple hundred for living), so literally cannot throw money away. I don't want to lose access to this forum though, since I do enjoy reading the posts and banter on here.

Once again I lost control again when I was having a really bad day. I feel my depression has really caused me to lose rational thought. Whether I'll be able to do this again with control if/when I recover, I don't know. I did do this for 3 years previously without issue, so it seems odd I've now become a compulsive gambler. But so be it.

[Digi]

You should seek professional help as soon as possible.

Also have all the casinos ban you for at least 6 months from their casinos, especially those with big table limits. Temporarily close your ewallets and every other method allowing you to deposit big sums of money. I don't know if banks can do that but ask them to lower the amount you can transfer in a day to a minimum and for every transfer above it you need a second approval (if you have a bad day again you could be capable of everything to gamble your roll).


I ones talked about compulsive gambling with a psychiatrist I know and he said, as you might know, that most of the time compulsive gamblers just want to lose it all, its the only way for them to actually feel something.

[bella]

Happy you are in a better position, but total madness to get there.. wtf were you thinking?????? 20k!

[dark_knight]

Yep, I know. Totally insane. But tbh I feel that describes me atm. I am going to be seeing a counsellor soon, I am taking steps and have family support, am fairly hopeful now actually :-)

And also, no longer in control of finances. Don't actually have access to cash to throw away. Although I feel a loss of independence and a bit of a baby, I realise I'm no longer responsible enough and feel quite relieved about it.

I agree Digi. Mostly I feel empty, dead inside. Although the absolute terror and dread of watching the ball going round was definitely not pleasant, it was a rare moment I felt alive. I can see why that could get appealing in the absence of anything else.

[munk]

At least you sound as though you know what the problem is and accept it's a problem, I think that's half the battle. I have a family member who has an 'emotional' problem shall we say (ok anger management) but he refuses to accept it as a problem and blames other people as a result and it's a totally screwed up situation for me because I want to help him more than anything in the world but as it is it the problem just drives us apart completely.

Hopefully one or more of your family members will take control and sort out closing accounts / handling money and all that, crappy situation to be in but hopefully you can get it sorted out and eventually be in a position to take some control back.

It is tempting to speculate here on what gambling addiction is and what you can do to control it (control I imagine plays the largest part) because I find it quite interesting personally, but already what I've said is probably incredibly patronizing and so to say anything more on what gambling addiction is about would just make things worse no doubt and I am not an expert in any sense of the word. Hopefully you and your family/friends can check out Gamcare and the like (I know when I've browsed their forums some of the information there was very useful/interesting so definitely worth checking as hopefully you have already) and take control for you whilst you get back on your feet.

Good luck and all the best for 2012 onwards.

[sportster]

The fact that you have had the strength to admit it to someone and have no access to easy funds should make your task a lot more achievable.

[Diamondgeezer]

Just read this - all very distressing.

DK you were a great poster so very sad to hear. Personally I think it might be better to suspend your account while you get help. I guess that is what you don't want to hear but I don't think it will aid your recovery coming and chatting here. The point is you need to go in a new direction and a clean break could be a big help.

Thanks for posting it up and get well soon DK.