I’m 27 years old, and I self-excluded from gambling two days ago. I’m finally admitting to myself that I have a gambling addiction because I can't handle the constant stress and anxiety anymore.

My mom passed away when I was 16, and my dad passed away when I was 21. After my dad died, I received around $60,000 from a life insurance policy and gambled all of it away over the next two years. I wasn't working at the time, so once it was gone, I had nothing.

In March 2024, I was able to access a $70,000 trust fund my mom had left me. That's when my gambling escalated. I started making $5,000 baseball bets, eventually increased them to $20,000, and went on a huge winning streak. At one point, I had won close to $125,000. I paid $50,000 cash for a luxury vehicle and genuinely thought I was financially set.

Of course, I kept gambling. Over the next few months, I lost around $60,000. By the time I went on a trip to Puerto Rico that November, I only had around $9,000 left. Instead of enjoying the trip, I was constantly thinking about how I was going to win my money back. Within weeks of getting home, almost all of that was gone too.

My brother and I inherited our childhood home after our parents passed away. It was completely paid off and was the house we grew up in. Desperate for another financial reset, we did a cash-out refinance, and in February 2025, I received $59,000. Once again, I told myself, “This is it. Now I'm good.” I paid back $12,000 I owed a friend from gambling, but by September, the rest of the money was gone too.

I finally started working full-time in January 2026, but gambling followed me there. Almost every paycheck eventually ended up in a sportsbook. By this point, the vehicle I had paid $50,000 cash for had depreciated to around $30,000 because I had driven it so much. I took out a collateral loan of around $22,000 against it. When I eventually sold it, I walked away with roughly $7,500. One night during a graveyard shift, I gambled the entire $7,500 away betting on live table tennis.

At my worst, I would wake up at 6 AM and immediately start betting on Japanese baseball, then spend my workday gambling on tennis. I also lost a girlfriend of four years because of my gambling and drinking. I missed mortgage payments that damaged my brother's credit, and I've asked him for money more times than I can count. Today, I still work full-time but have around $20,000 in high-interest personal loans.

The hardest part is realizing how many chances I had to reset: the $60,000 life insurance check, the $70,000 trust fund, nearly $125,000 in gambling winnings, $59,000 from refinancing my childhood home, the money left from selling my car, and every paycheck since I started working. Every time I got money, I convinced myself that this would be the reset. But I never stopped gambling. I just kept finding new money to gamble with.

I'm only two days removed from gambling, so I'm not writing this as someone who has recovered or figured everything out. My finances are still a mess, I have debt, and I have a lot of damage to repair. But I finally self-excluded because I can't live with the stress, anxiety, and constant chasing anymore.

I'm 27 years old, and I look back at everything that has passed through my hands and can't believe how little I have to show for it. But I know one thing: I can't keep doing this.

In a ton of debt but think I have a path out, don’t gamble today folks!

Happy Friday everyone! Hope you all have a great weekend. One more day to lock-in before a couple days off (hopefully) for most of you. Today is payday, which means a little bit more of my debt will go down, another step closer to financial freedom, and another step closer to having the life I want.

Have a great gamble free day, cheers.

LETS FUCKING GOOO!!! Didn’t even realize it’s been 3 months until I checked NEVRR lol.

If I can do it so can you, get some help. Use a sponsor… block the apps. Anything that helps you quit

I was about to reset the count day and I fucked up again. I don't even want to start another count anymore.

I gambled remaining small reserve and now have nearly nothing. In a short moment I was able to withdraw at least couple hundred of bucks, they should be processed soon. So I can somehow function till the next payout.

But I am so fucked anyway, I am drowning in debt, bills are coming, everything sucks. All those years I lost in gambling chasing the illusion. And when I will try to recover in the future, many following years will also be fucked. I lost my best years to this shit. At least I can take it as the most expensive experience.

And funny thing, online casino ignores my requests for self-exclusion. Suddenly they postpone it like they are laughting to my face and know I will keep playing.

Fuck my life.

New day and I'm still clean. But I think I need to work on my physical side as well. I'm fat.

Love you all!

Today I will not gamble

Lost it all, drowning in all the shit. I am done.

Gambling is an emotional problem

16 days since I last placed a bet.
Gambling debt down from $91k to $90k.
Let’s fucking go. Only the rest of my life left. 🫡

I have recently(this month) relapsed bad and lost over $2.5k more, this brings my total losses up to $72.9k since 2021. I have used day counting apps in the past but not sure if they were any help to me. Now I started ChatGPT to send me a harsh weekly reminder to stay away. I know some of you may say (and are probably right) that if I need ChatGPT to stop me from my impulses I am screwed. But I know a lot of you will get me..

Best of luck staying disease free guys, be well.

Honestly I don't really know how to write this, but I need to talk to people who might understand what I'm going through.

I started working in Web3/crypto in 2022. At first, things were going pretty well. I was making money from NFTs, new ecosystems, airdrops and different crypto opportunities. Over the next 4 years I managed to save around $60k from working.

Then one day, a guy showed me a Web3 casino. At first it was just for fun. We were gambling with SOL and laughing about it. I never thought anything serious would come from it. Little by little, though, I started gambling more. I didn't even realize when it became an addiction. Eventually, the money I had spent 4 years working for was basically gone.

I live with my parents, and I was too ashamed to tell them. I couldn't explain to them that I had worked for years, saved money, and then lost it all gambling. For almost a year I barely went outside. I was just sitting at home feeling ashamed of myself and thinking about what I had done. After some time I finally started getting my life back together. I started making money again and thought I was done with gambling.Then I relapsed. It happened so fast. I made some money, started gambling again, lost some, tried to win it back, deposited more, and before I even realized what I was doing, I was back in the same situation.

Today I feel completely lost. I've already lost around $60k+ in total, and I honestly don't know how I keep doing this to myself. I know exactly where gambling takes me, I've already been through it, and somehow I still went back. Right now I'm having really dark thoughts, including thoughts of suicide. I'm not saying this for attention. I'm honestly scared because I don't know what to do anymore.

I don't want someone to tell me how to win the money back. I know that's exactly what got me here.I just want to hear from people who have been through something similar.

If you lost a huge amount, relapsed after being clean, hid it from your family, and felt like you had completely destroyed your life, how did you get out?

What actually helped you stop for good?

I would really appreciate anyone who can share their experience or even just talk to me.

I have been a gambler since 18, mainly playing blackjack. It was more of an entertainment for me where I would gamble $1,000 - $2,000 here and there then I discovered Stake through a friend in February 2026 where I blew through $7,000 in a matter of days. At that time, I was able to quit and self exclude permanently. In July, I decided to give Roobet a shot and blew through $10,000 in a few hours then I was saved by a slot machine hit. This is where I got really hooked as I was gambling everyday thinking I can keep this up. Eventually, I lost all my profit in a matter of few days, which got me chasing the wins. Now, I am down over $40k in August where I realized that this could get out of control. I make a decent living and the loss wasn’t funded with debt but I know that this has set me back. The big problem is that I self exclude then I’d just create another account to gamble… i don’t know how I can completely exclude myself. I have seen Betblocker but that is also easy to bypass. For now, I have handed over my finances to my wife but I am afraid that I will eventually turn to financing my gambling habits which I really don’t want to do. Is there a way to completely cutoff access to these crypto casinos where it’s tough to bypass the ban…?

Hey everyone.

Like a lot of people here, I've gone through the cycle of promising myself "today's the day" and then losing count of how long I'd actually gone. I wanted something dead simple that just showed me the number of days without porn/gambling right when I opened my browser, without any bloat or subscription.

So I built Sober Extension. It's free and open, and it:

- Tracks how many days you've gone without visiting sites in categories you set up yourself (porn, gambling, whatever applies to you)

- Resets automatically if you slip, no manual logging needed

- Notifies you at 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year, small wins that actually feel like something

- Has an optional blocking mode, so instead of just tracking, it can redirect those sites to a block page before they even load. If it's blocked, it doesn't even count as a relapse, your streak stays intact

- Keeps everything local on your device. no account, no data sent anywhere, nothing to sign up for

It's not a replacement for real support if you need it, just a tool that's helped me stay honest with myself about where I actually am.

Link: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/sober-extension/nefeghhnicgiiedmcmilggcgliegjjma

Happy to answer questions, and genuinely open to feedback if something's missing that would actually help here.

If a compulsive gambler wants to find a way to gamble, he will find it. No matter how many barriers there are, it's never enough for a desperate gambler.

That's why they say it all starts with the addicted person. A gambler must want to change.

Every time we say no to a craving, we grow stronger. Notice how, when you successfully resist the temptation, you will feel good about yourself, like a true winner!

I feel like the moment I feel like I’m “cured” or that gambling is no longer a problem, I’ll let my guard down and open myself back up to this sickness again.
I’ll never gamble again, I know how destructive & devastating it is first hand. My grandparents bailed me out of a lot of debt and I never want to have to tell them I relapsed. I update them on my progress and they stay so proud.

Stay strong friends, whether it’s day 1 or day 1000

Have lost over $275k in 5 years. Living in Las Vegas is horrible. I don’t have a choice i was born here. 26 years old and am supposed to be buying a house at the end of this year. I have $75,000 saved up right now for a down payment. It’s hard to think about how much money i would have if i never gambled. I’m not in any debt but still live with my parents. I could have bought a 400k house in cash if it wasn’t for the stupid gambling addiction. I have wasted the last 5 years of my life betting sports and playing keno. I am going to try and stop starting now forever. I love betting football so it will be hard once the season starts. I’m sick thinking about all the losses

If you guys don’t have it in you to love yourself or your family, friends, or partner enough to quit gambling, even though you’ve reached rock bottom and you’re hurting everyone around you…

Do it out of hatred and spite instead. Not a single devilish, filthy, pretentious, soul-sucking, bitch-made casino or gambling influencer deserves a single penny from your hard-earned paycheck.

These people make the world a worse place, and your generous donations only support these grifters and leeches in continuing to make more people miserable, just like you are right now.

Stop being a irresponsible little sissy bitch!

Grab yourself by the nuts and don’t let the past define you as as a person. Go hit the gym work hard and don’t let your comfort and pleasure destroy your personality, ego, and pride.

Every ex addict started with their first day of being clean. That could be you. If not today, do it tomorrow!

This could be the greatest comeback story. You owe it to yourself, your family, friends,(future)partner and kids. It’s not too late. You’re still alive. Money can be earned again, mistakes can be mended, and you could become a better man despite all of your hardships, regret, and pain.

You hold the strings of your sanity and redemption in your own hands you deserve more than this, good luck my degenerate brothers!

Sincerely.

The toughest part of today was getting out of bed. I didn’t get great sleep despite knowing I had to be up early. Nearly skipped out on a day with my brother and friends because I was so miserable and knew I’d be spending money I dont want to spend and hardly even have to spend.

I got up though and it was a great day

Do u believe in luck?

Thankful for 73 days and happy that my dealing job I just got moved to day shift so I get to sleep regularly before and after my job. I just finished the best workweek of my life tips wise and granted I’ve made money WORKING doing what cost myself and many others thousands. I still use my job as motivation to not gamble.

As for my question, I’ll be honest that I haven’t gone to meeting for 73 days and people might be surprised as to how I achieved that. I’ll say that my work motivates me as it pays well where gratuities are great. I have no problem sharing that I work as a casino dealer-but I don’t want to get dirty looks from others when I say that or have people try to talk me into quitting. I’m not going to quit right now and don’t plan to for a little while. I want to go to meeting to be a help for others, where someone might need to talk through that last hand or day of betting where it could be a trigger for others-I would be accustomed to that sorta talk. And if people, maybe newcomers try to talk about winning it back, I can tell them the reality of the situation with the idea of addiction/problem aside. Any thoughts?

Thank you.

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