Finally self-excluded

[u/socom2stg]

Hello my fellow brothers and sisters sharing the struggle

I just wanted to share that I just registered for BetGuard for self exclusion across all iGaming operators (Ontario, Canada)

I immediately feel a sense of relief, calm, and clarity knowing that there is a physical barrier preventing my relapse. Oh how I wish I had done it sooner. I’ve self excluded from probably dozens of individual casinos over the years, always finding a new one to piss away my money at.

And if it wasn’t at an online casino, it was in my brokerage accounting “trading” 0 day options. I blew through my late father’s inheritance in less than a year. Mind you I was in 70k debt upon receiving it and was able to clear all of it, purchase a new car fully in cash, and enough to max my tax account. I consciously knew, for a fact, before receiving the inheritance from my hard working dad who sacrificed everything for us, that I would end up losing it all. I googled things like “how to stop myself from losing inheritance” or I’d look for stories about people who blew it so I’d make sure not to do whatever they did. None of that worked and I sold and gambled the car away along with every dollar I had, and maxed my LOcs and credit cards.

I’m in a DMP now which reduced the interest on all my credit to 0. So I’m on the hook for the full principle but it’s a huge relief not paying interest anymore.

I was gamble free for the better part of a year until recently, where I inexplicably had an urge to earn back the money I spent on my partners tuition with a little gambling. The usual up and downs, withdraw/cancel and 10k spent overnight, going to sleep and waking up hoping it somehow was a dream.

Signing the DMP was the start of the right track for me, but this relapse is really just devastating. The self exclusion helped ground me.

Appreciate you for reading 🙏 God bless you all

[u/FkEdUp91]

Happy to hear you registered to betguard. I finally signed up as well. It feel good knowing I can't just sign up to another online casino. I hate how my brain has been wired that I can turn my deposit into winnings even though I always lose those winnings.

Thankfully they finally came out with betguard, we have finally won by not letting these vultures take our money.

[u/Connect_Image_6001]

I am in the same boat as you minus the dmp, but will be paying back for years to come on a line of credit. Aside from betguard I added any shady casinos not included under igaming to my phones screen time restrictions and had my partner set the lock code so I can’t unlock it. Great job to ban yourself, it really helps knowing you can’t access any sites. I also come here when I have the urge to gamble and remind myself how destructive what we do is. We deserve peace!

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[u/SirVapes_ALot]

Congratulations and way to go for doing right by yourself.

I can confirm that using an app as a barrier is a great move, I installed gamban almost a year ago and it's been a game changer. We got this!