r/GamblingRecovery

While I am not new to recovery this is the longest I’ve gone. I don’t talk to a therapist because I can’t afford it. We don’t have GA around here so I’m raw dogging recovery so to speak.

I do love writing. I was thinking of starting a blog about my life as a gambler and recovery. Do people even blog anymore? Anyways, for those in recovery what helped you?

My (28M)husband and I(29F) have been married for 7 years, together for almost 10 and have a toddler. One week ago he came clean that he had gambled large amounts of money again (He always liked gambling but he has has 3 really big gambling episodes back to back and this was the worst one yet)

We purchased a home in May 2025, by August he had already gambled his last 4k in savings. Said he would never do it again. In November, I went to my home country for 2 weeks because my grandmother had passed away. When I got back, he confessed he had gambled the little money he had saved up again plus got a 10k loan. Imagine how upset I was. We have a new home, our toddler has needs like daycare and extracurriculars and he had got himself in a loan. Said he would never do it again.

Fast forward to last Thursday. I thought he had been paying the loan, I was happy (or at least I thought) already planning for a trip, getting an estimate to do a remodel on the home. And he comes home to tell me he had gambled again. This time, he got another 10k loan, maxed out 20k in a credit card, cleaned out his 401k, gambled the money for mortgage for July. As you can imagine I was in complete shock and I had told him that if he gambled again I was out the door.

He admitted to have a problem; started Gamblers Anonymous, did a lifetime self exclusion from the apps, installed an app to prevent him from gambling and started doing Uber Eats to make more money to pay off his debt.

On my end, I wanted to do a postnup, to protect my assets (we have separate accounts and he hadn’t touched mine. However, he wanted me to help him with the loan payments that I said no). As I was considering that, he came to me on Tuesday saying that I wanted to screw him over because I was going to put on the postnup that if he gambled again, he would have to temporarily help out with the mortgage (like 25% every month) so that I could not absorb the hit and keep our son in the home he knows. He said he would never agree to that. (A day later he said he regretted that and that he would sign if that made me stay. But by then I had already told my family)

Then Wednesday I ended up telling my family, and they all told me to get out, that a gambling issue would put my sons and I’s life at risk financially, emotionally. That if he gambled again he wouldn’t even be able to pay up child support, or help with mortgage.

My family also said that if I leave, they will put money for my house so that my mortgage pay will be lower and I can have more equity.

And that’s where I’m now, I feel stuck because I feel like he is doing changes, he is trying (even though it’s only been a week) and of course I didn’t stop loving him. But if I stay, my family would be upset and what happens if he does this again? How will that affect my son and me?

How could I live without trusting him? And I’m so so scared.

I also told him that if we get a divorce and in a year I can see that he has been consistent in recovery and I feel like I could trust him again, that if we both realize we were meant to be we could come back. And he said that why would I spend all this money in divorce, refinancing the home, paying him out, paying more every month when all that money I could use it to bail him out and start fresh.

Hey everyone, been playing for about 3 years now and trying to quit, which brings me to a question. The biggest issue I've run into is this complete dopamine burnout (sorry if I'm calling it wrong, I'm no expert). I'm so depleted that sometimes I end up playing in demo mode just to keep myself occupied—I literally don't have the energy for anything else. When I try doing something besides gambling, I just zone out and switch back within 5 minutes. And if I somehow find a tiny bit of willpower to not play, I just endlessly scroll through feeds. Right now I'm drowning in debt and have absolutely zero money for therapy, so can anyone give me some advice? Are there any self-help methods that actually worked for you in this situation?

I usually struggle to buy nice things for myself as a gambling addict from the urge of feeling like all my money has to go towards gambling. But today I had took the money I made and went to a few stores I actually wanted to.

Can’t lie the urge to be cheap to myself and go gamble was hard. But at the register checking out of a few stores felt like my old self again for a bit. Hopefully can roll this momentum into better change

So i came clear about my addiction not because i wanted but because some problems had occurred and someone knocked on my parents door asking for money i had lend from them (made 2 posts about this).

Now my mom has been telling this to my aunt and my brother has been talking about this to his wife and to his best friend.

i keep getting messages from people randomly on Whatsapp saying that my family worries about me. I mean i can understand that but the fact my brother and also my mom has been talking about this with other people is really boiling my blood.

Now thanks to them people are knowing i have an addiction and to be honest addicted or not, i don't want others to know about my problem especially people i don't have anything to do with.

Like yes i can understand that they are here for me (
my family) but the fact what they did is making it worse for me to walk outside now because i know very well how people are. He will tell his spouse, my aunt will tell her daughter and there you go before you know people i don't care about will label me as something they shouldn't even know about.

I am considering taking a break from my family and not visit them for a while like i did. Maybe they will realize the damage they have done this way. Genuinely i am really pissed off for the fact they haven't shut their mouth about this.

Am i wrong in thinking the way i am? Some insight would be amazing.

Hi guys, 29 yrs old here. I was in a great spot in life, had 27k savings and started feeling optimistic. Then I went on a sports betting spree where I lost 55k and now in debt of 28k. Can't stop thinking about it and am curious if this is recoverable? I lost my job too, but all I think about is getting a loan to try and win some of this back to chip away at the debt. Please give any feedback, and share any stories on your recovery and getting out of debt. Thanks

Additional note- I’ve been doing therapy and attending GA meetings to help with the urges/ addiction but this seems like such a steep hole to climb out of.

Third day going strong and I’m going to bed because I don’t want to do anything feel the same pain as i do after a big loss and I’m wondering if I subconsciously chose to lose whenever id be “up” to allow myself to feel this way bc it’s what I’m running from when i smoke gamble or goon and it’s got me feeling hopeless and lonely because i feel like ill be like this my whole life bc i have bpd adhd and cptsd but im just clinging to the pride i get each day i don’t gamble right now, it’s a decision I still have access to the casino sites because gamban isn’t working and each day i decide to not gamble i want to gamble less and today wasn’t even hard neither was the other two really because i decided i am just done but feeling all this crap got me thinking i have been masking my feelings off self hate with gambling which made those feelings stronger and drove the cycle even more.

I’m gonna be that guy idc, has anyone ever charged back against Crowns Coins Casino? Looking to recoup some loses, I live in Canada if that helps knowing that they are based in the States

Trying something new, It lets you transfer money to it and it gives you the option to deposit it as non gambling funds. Doing this doesn’t let you deposit on gambling sites or add money on Apple Pay. But you can still purchase everyday things. This is not a fix but in the case you do want to gamble you have to wait a few days for it to transfer back to your bank account.

So maybe this extra layer could stop the urges or help me keep some money for everyday things because I gamble till I’m at 0 if it’s in my regular account. Will update to see if it helps my journey my little.

Ive struggled with gambling like im sure most people on here have, ive been up and down multiple times over the last few years. I just had my last session where I was up a lot and then lost it all and threw a bit more on there to try and chase and failed (obviously). I had a similar situation earlier this week where I went down HARD and chased it back up to almost even and told myself that was it but it wasn’t.

After this last session of chasing and going down I impulsively went and self excluded myself from the last site that I had available to me, so now that’s it… I have no more sites that I can use.

I had self excluded from 99% of the sites before this but kept this last one as a « backup » which I know was probably not the best idea but nonetheless I had it.

I don’t know if it’s because I left on a low note or if it’s just because I know that I have no other places to go play now but I have this feeling of depression where I thought I would feel relief knowing I can’t play anymore. Just wanted to reach out and see if others have felt this way before or maybe to validate others who are feeling the same.

Hi everyone , finally after multiple attempts I decide to finish this thing which has destroyed my life for 10+ years , I started gambling at 16 and I’m now 26.
First years were small bets and bank control but last 5 years it was literally rolercoaster for my life. I am tired of all this lies which I was making with my family,partner and friends. I got caught by the family or partner several times. Tried church , blocking myself but nothing works , It was working for maximum for 1 week and whenever I had money I would start playing low stakes and in a maximum hour I would end up losing everything.

Finally I joined GA and I feel really relaxed, I just had 2 sessions and I really like. I don’t wanna fell down my fellowship. I am happy to speak about my addiction finally and don’t hide any details. I really wanna attend all the times and read and follow all the materials and people also!

My 5 years of partner has fully lost trust in me and doesn’t believe that it will help me. Please advise how to regain the trust. I know that it’s not possible to get trust back in one week , even though it’s funny that I had just two sessions 😬 but I am really motivated and I will always say MY LAST BRT DATE.

I don’t even know why I’m writing this, maybe I just need to get it out. I started sports betting with around $5,000. At first it was just something fun, but somehow I got on a crazy run. Bet after bet kept hitting, and before I realized it I had turned that $5k into around $400,000 I was really lucky , and I didn't realize howuch money I had made , until I lost it all,having that much money felt unreal. I started thinking differently, like I had figured something out that most people couldn’t. I thought I was smarter, that I had control, and that I could keep growing it, even I reached a point I thought turning it to 1M$ is nor that much so I kept betting, but i slowly started taking bigger risk and the money stoped feeling real , even a 100k win wasn't exiting anymore I kept pushing because I thought I was close making 1M+ and I will be Financially free for my whole live before finish university that was my main goal , until I lost 4 bets in a row I thought betting all my money on 1 bet will guarantee fixing it all so I did bet all .

IT Didn't now the 400k is gone that I turned it 5k to 400k is just insane I realized how lucky I was than how a loser I was after it , life feels pointless honestly nothing really matter anymore

The hardest part isn’t only losing the money. It’s losing the future I imagined. I went from thinking I was about to be financially free to feeling like I’m back at the beginning and a absolutely loser nothing really get me sad or happy or excited iam dead inside

I know people will say “you should have cashed out” or “it was gambling,” and I understand that. Looking back, I know I made mistakes. But when you experience going from $5k to $400k, it messes with your head in a way that’s hard to explain honestly it ruined my life,

life is not worth living anymore. I feel numb not really happy, not really sad, not excited about things the same way. Like I’m just walking around empty.

Please don’t get into sports betting. I’m begging you. I thought I was different. I thought I could control it. You might winyou might get luckylike I did but it can change the way you think and turn you into a different person (absolutely negative way I mean)

Has anyone here gone from being massively up to losing everything? How did you mentally recover and move forwad

I can only make it two days at most without relapsing. Today I almost didn’t make it out alive. I don’t know how to stop for good. My brain just forgets how bad it felt the last time and does it again

Gambling 4 years definitely lost over 125k. Fiancé thinks it’s closer to 20k and would leave me if she found out the truth. Set up my direct deposit to her so my access to gambling is dwindling but I always seem to find a way. Last night lied that I needed 500 to send friends for recent wedding gifts but lost it immediately. 5k in credit card, -400 in chase account keep thinking I can make enough to pay that back and get a clean slate on new accounts she has visibility on. Trying to self ban, Robin Hood prediction market doesn’t seem to let me. Plan now is to have her set it up that I need her pin to download apps on my phone. Will say it’s so I spend more time learning Spanish(wedding In Mexico October 2027) and less time doomscrolling Told my brother I plan to screen shot and send credit card transactions and send them to my brother everyday until I’m out of debt and can put my fiancé on all my accounts without the shame of it all

My husband has gambled, mostly sports bets, over $200k. He has lied then apologized, then love bombed me into believing him and lie again. The level of hurt is unbelievable. I work so much overtime for years. I have begged him to get help. Now, for the first time ever, he has zero access to his phone and has gone a week with no compulsive gambling but oh my god he is so short and mean. I work long shifts at the hospital and when I come home and finally wind down, I will tear up and cry because I'm so exhausted from everything. We are negative in the bank, he's active duty and his job is at risk, I have a mass on my breast that's schedule a biopsy. So yes, his last week I was tearful. The minute a tear fell or he heard a sniffle, he would make mean comments and leave the room. I feel so alone and I just really needed him. I'm scared. He goes to one mandated meeting with some sudcc counselor on base. That's it. Won't go to meetings, nothing. I get majority of the blame. I just want this to end and him be nice again. I feel so alone. I don't know how to help him but I also need some support. We have no friends or family by us.

Been gambling for way too long now and it’s only on sports and my whole pay check goes onto it. I’ve taken out credit cards etc and could’ve paid it all off but I keep relapsing and end up betting every month and losing thousands. I can’t go a day without gambling. Any advice or tips I’m 26 male and earn a good bit of money per month in sales but gambling has taken over my life and left me losing so much money

It’s not easy, in fact the hardest thing I have ever done. Lost my job probably losing my wife. I refuse to lose more to this disease.

I need tips.

I keep struggling with debt. When I'm not gambling I feel like I'm just lagging behind even further.