Stories of Hope

My gambling started over 20yrs ago with a simple church bingo. Then our state brought the lottery in 5 days a week once a day Then came the casinos, my husband of 30 yrs took me there for my birthday it was FUN, nice lunch, won a couple of dollars, but I got to like it a really lot. I continued to go and play the slots and of course with the mind set of a slot player the more MONEY you put into it, it has to hit right! Well I ran out of money and my friend an neighbor who introduced me to the casino was going on vacation and asked if I would watch her house. I said of course never with the intention of doing…

I had my first win in 1963 when I was just 8 years old on a one armed bandit, it paid out a jackpot of £5 in sixpenny pieces. Instead of walking away I played all of it back. I didn’t gamble again until 1995 when a Bingo Hall opened in my home town, even then it was just a once a week night out with my friends.

In 2001 my partner was diagnosed with a secondary cancer, he was terminal, it was then that things got out of control, he…

I am a recovering compulsive gambler … My last bet was Jan. 29th, 2007 which was also my court and sentencing date from a crime I committed. Crazy thing was? I wasn’t even gambling at this time. Lesson learned? I learned I had more work to do on my “financial inventory” and recovery as I committed the crime due to financial stress still from my past gambling addiction as I felt I needed to start over again even though I had not gambled. If we don’t work all areas of maintaining recovery and have balance? The diseased thinking can still get us into troubled waters and that to me is still being in the “disease” of…

My story began with escaping in my early teens with drugs, alcohol, and gambling. Backrooms, home games, and pool halls where I could gamble eventually diminished my cravings for drugs and alcohol. Not necessarily because I didn’t want to get drunk or high…I wanted to have money to gamble. I began working at 15 and would spend every dime I made. I began borrowing money or asking for “credit” around that time as well. I couldn’t get the games off my mind and racing thoughts were the norm by age 17. I knew I had a problem by the time I was 19 and had gotten into numerous “unsolvable” financial…

Hello. Many of you know me but some don’t so I wanted to share a more detailed report of my journey. I may not include all the dates but I will include as much information as I can without getting too lengthy. I’m Bernie and I am a Compulsive Gambler. My Last bet was November 21, 2007. I grew up on a farm not too far from what is now known as Soaring Eagle Casino. I was not attracted to casinos because to me they were represented by a pole barn. The reason I say that, is because growing up that is what Soaring Eagle was. It wasn’t until much later that it became the place it is now. I found myself being a…

I am a recovering Compulsive Gambler who placed my last bet April 10,1968.

I started gambling at about age 7 or 8 as a kid in Brooklyn, NY. It started with flipping baseball cards, pitching pennies, shooting marbles and playing pinball machines. That kind of gambling continued until about age 14. At that point I started to bet on sporting events with a bookmaker and I got into the stock market…

I was introduced to Gambling by my ex Husband and in order to be with him I went to where he was. After we split, I kept going for familarity sake and to escape the lonliness. Then when my life became stressful it was to hide from the stress. After it was to escape my anxiety and my mind from over thinking. After awhile I spent all my savings and I am now in debt . Everyday I am ashamed for spending all my hard earned money and I am now trying to rebuild my life back and to stay ahead…

The Heart Of The Matter

First of all I want to thank you for taking the time to read my story. Honestly, I’ve never thought I’d write a story like this, and was contemplating whether to share or not, and even how to put it into words. Everything I’m writing is my opinion, and what I believe to be true through personal experience. After countless hours of preparing this, I hope you are encouraged, and get something out of reading it…

Growing up in Lebanon in the sixties, the “norm” for kids was to play marbles to win and keep the winnings. If you lost, you’d buy from someone who still had marbles; and if you won, you’d sell to the loser. I got my first gambling “high” around age seven. I had won 25 cents. When the cake merchant came around, I bought a piece for 15 cents and was still up 10 cents. I felt so happy. I loved gambling. I developed dreams of getting my own house and future wife from gambling with marbles…

My name is Lola and I am a compulsive gambler addicted to vlts. It all started 10 years ago. I am somewhat of a computer geek and love video games. So, when I was introduced to vlts I fell in love. It was all downhill from there. Looking back now I can see the hell that I was in from my gambling. I was isolated, lonely, afraid, ashamed.

Back at the end of June, I was watching a video about Alkali Lake, the story of a First Nations Community who came to know…

I stopped gambling in august of 2005. it wasn’t easy. I enjoyed gambling, and stopping was a real sadness to me, a huge loss and a hole in my life.

At the beginning i decided to stop gambling in all forms – including buying raffle tickets. Now almost 6 years later i would rather not gamble – i cant really see the point of it any more. If i am pressed into buying raffle tickets i generally donate to the good cause, and don’t bother with the ticket…

Here is a little of my story that I made public in Nov of 2011 during addictions awareness week. I have gambled across Canada and in the United States. This is some of my story of gambling and recovery. Along the way I have led a life of secrecy and anguish. Two and a half years ago in the fall of 2009 after many years of depression/ addiction I left The Pas, MB, and all of MB without warning to anyone. I lived Terri Clarks song “A million ways to run”.  I was reported as a missing person across Canada. I had held an important position at  the  United Steelworkers Local 1-324 at the time helping to  represent workers…

Well here I go. I did not want to talk about the things that I did to others as we all know about thing we did to hurt people and we all talk about the things that have happened when things go wrong and it’s not our fault, when all the time we say it’s because of the gambling. Yet I now come to realize that I had the choices and I made the wrong ones at times, well most times. So I would like to talk about how I thought I was feeling and how with the help of GA and family and friends my life changed, from being a un-liked person, to someone people some times look up to for help and advice that I try to gave back to GA. 10/12/99 was the day I realized that something had to change. What that was, I was not sure at that time. But life was…

I started to gamble a lot in 1995. It seemed every time I had a little money I would go to the casino. My Mother and I would go on trips to Las Vegas and to California to gamble. For her it was just for fun. Not for me though. She would give me a little money to play and share some of her winnings with me, but I always took money with me. I always bet the max on the machines. The only way to win I told myself. I had some big wins over the years that I gambled. It never seemed enough for me. I’d lost a lot more than those wins, and most of that money went right back to the casino over time. I realized in 1995 that I had a problem with gambling. I started to look for help. I went to GA meetings every day for 75 days straight, but honestly I…

Today if you will allow me, I will share a portion of my gambling story. I must admit I will redact some things that could be incriminating or that I don’t feel comfortable sharing in an on-line forum. I will start in 1979 my first encounter with GA, I had already been gambling approx. 22 yrs compulsively for 20 yrs, I was 34 yrs old. My father passed away in April of that year, and thankfully the funeral was short and my late mother had the wherewithal to pay, cause I didn’t have two cents to rub together. I had gone through one marriage (high school sweetheart), one child, one car, one boat and numerous other crap…

My gambling started in 2005. I innocently went to an American casino with my husband.  We laughed and thought it very boring.  Now that I think about it, there were previous life crushing events that occurred over a period of years before I ever gambled.  I lost my brother through colon cancer, lost my step father and basically took my mother under my wing.  I remember the…

I never knew how gambling made my life unmanageable. Things were stressful with work and in my personal life. Gambling was my escape. It gave me a connectedness to my mom and brother who have both passed away now. I enjoyed going gambling with them. My dad says that my mom taught my brother and I bad habits: gambling and shopping. From July 2008…

My name is Raymond I am a grateful recovering compulsive gambler. My last bet was on the 24th January 2009. I had tried many times to stop before that date, but always ending up in the same situation, cause stopping gambling without working hard on my own I always somehow ended gambling…

I want to share this – because it has been a Miracle for me. I can’t tell you how badly gambling (slots) have destroyed and consumed my life for about 15 years. There was NEVER any winning, because it would all go back in as fast as I can shove it. I won 5k one night, stuck it all back in and then another 3500 in cash advances, draining checking, cashing checks…this was the norm…always. I would stand in line at the atm, almost shaking to get up there, like a junkie. Sat waiting until 12:01 am for my check to be deposited into my account, so i could atm it all out, leaving me nearly nothing to live on. I worked a lot and…

I gambled everyday for years without realising that I was a compulsive gambler. I lost everything or so I thought until my wife died. I was 49 years old. Only then did I truly realise that I had lost the best person in my life but she had come second to gambling, I had taken her love for granted. We went without everything for years, I gave it all to a roulette wheel, my children had grown up and left while I watched the wheel spin, I even infected my disease onto them whenever I wanted company…

I made my last bet February 3, 2018. I will forever be thankful as well as grateful to God for his grace and mercy on this day. For this would be the beginning of my recovery and the ending of a long abusive and compulsive relationship. My story: His name was Gambling Addiction or GA for short! He was born November 1990. He became compulsive by nature! We had been in a 1-way relationship for over 28 years! In the beginning, he introduced me to the Lottery, with a meager $5.00 every weekend on lottery tickets. Then in 1995, during a visit home to visit family in Louisiana he introduced me to casino slot…

Here is my story I have been a gambler since I was 16 yrs. old I am not 72 yrs . old now I stopped gambling and joined Gamblers Anonymous in 1982 I was clean for 20 Yrs. till 2002 I always planned to go back I have relapsed many times. Clean for 1-2 yrs. at a time in and out of the Gamblers Anonymous program I just recently stopped and closed al of my gambling…

I have been gambling over 20 years now. Looking back, I think I escalated into a compulsive gambler very quickly, after my third trip to the casinos. In the beginning, I would only bring a little money, $100 tops. An amount I could afford to use. An amount that I would have no problem spending for a night of dinner and movies. But at the casino, I hated losing it. No matter what. I couldn’t chalk up the loss to the cost of entertainment. I always wanted it back. If I go to the movies or dinner and spent the money, I can consider it an expense and know I’m not getting it back. But with gambling, I always chased my…

Hello, my name is Lisajo and I am a compulsive gambler.  A little bit about my background. My mother passed away when I was 8 years old. It turned my whole world upside down in an instant. I was separated from my family and was sent to live with my father whom I did not know, down in Georgia. I went to live at a children’s home when I was 11. Looking back it was the best thing that could have happened to me. Went through routine teenager stuff for the most part. Met my now ex-husband and we were married for 26 years. I have twin boys who will soon be 30 and a beautiful granddaughter. I should mention here…

I’m a recovered compulsive gambler and I placed my last bet on Sept 23rd 2009. I am also a recovered alcoholic and my dry date is November 6th 2009. I grew up gambling with my family, mostly cards and the occasional trip to the track and it was a blast, I had loads of fun a knew gambling was something I was always going to do. When I turned 18 and was legal to gamble anywhere in ontario my gambling really took off, first at the off track, than sports betting and then card tables and slots ……to be honest just, I’d bet on just about anything. To make it really clear, none of what I just wrote makes me a compulsive…

My name is Ken and I am a Compulsive Gambler. I would like to share as we say in Gamblers Anonymous my

Experience Strength and Hope in the event that it may help someone out there struggling with the pain and misery our illness brings us.

I was born in Montreal Quebec in 1950 and grew up with one brother and four sisters. My Dad was a hard worker but could be a hard drinker as well. Usually when he came home after a drunk he was very abusive towards my Mom and when a fight…

I was born the product of an alcoholic & compulsive gambling, Irish Catholic, father & a strong, courageous French Catholic mother. I grew up in a large family with 2 sisters and 6 brothers. My home life was chaotic & dysfunctional with no apparent loving intimacy between our parents. In our home, gambling was a way of life; my father, along with his mother, held frequent weekend poker sessions. My childhood was affected by my father’s alcoholic rages. This caused me to experience shame, fear, guilt & low self-esteem amongst my peers…

I recently made it to one year in recovery. A lot of “one day a time” has brought me to where I am now. And what a feeling it is! I am in a much better place now. Mind you, I still have some work to do on the reasons why I gambled and of course there is the “staying stopped”, but for the most part life is good and I am much happier.

I hope this inspires others who are early in their recovery. It may seem like a daunting task but just take it one day at a time. Replace your “old habit” with new and healthy ones, get counselling, read literature, and go to meetings…

Hello, I have been to this site a few times and I felt that if I put up my story it would help me, as well as others, who could potentially use the strategies I used to combat the temptation to gamble. So here goes, I am 25 and female. What you are about to read is entirely true. I may have eliminated some details primarily to keep mine and others’ identities concealed. Lets start at the very beginning. The first time I went to a casino, I had no idea what it was all about. I wasn’t a big risk taker…

My story? Well it started in 93 where I became addicted to Bingo within 3 months. It came upon me slowly, when I wanted to go out and just have a bit of fun and quiet time for myself. Sadly, I did not know how subtle this addiction would lead to my escape from all my problems. By three months into Bingo I realized I was hooked. I knew it, but I did not care . The first lie to myself and others I knew, but I continued. I denied what was happening. Honestly, I did not want to stop. Over four years of daily gambling, the money I had was gone. I had been involved in other areas in my life going to Al Anon years before, so I…

That afternoon, July 2nd 2010, I still don’t really know all that happened. Brazil had been knocked out of the soccer World Cup and I considered myself an expert on international soccer betting. I’d originally selected two teams but under pressure had dumped Spain, who would go on to win the tournament, but by then I’d stopped betting. The betting shop was full of the usual punters. The cacophony of virtual races, tannoy announcements and horse racing commentary was making my tinitus worse, when an acquaintance came by my seat and tried offering me some advice about a horse. I waited without really…

This is hard for me. It’s been suggested to me several times to share my story, but I have always hesitated. Not certain why I haven’t done so, one reason could be that in the past, showing my vulnerabilities lead to ridicule and humiliation as a teenager, emotional, verbal and physical abuse, combined with guilt and shame in my early adult years. I swore I would never put myself in a vulnerable position again. To my mind, vulnerability was a sign of weakness. If you didn’t let anyone in – to see the real person inside – you couldn’t get hurt. I believe the driving thought in this process was my upbringing; secrets stayed in the home, one never exposed their personal issues in public. So telling my story has always been difficult for me. However…

Hi everyone, my name is Aaron and I`m a compulsive gambler. I`ve gambled off and on for a number of years, and each time I`ve tried to stop on my own it seemed the lies and the amount of money I would take with me just progressed. March the 6th 2014 was the last day that I gambled, and it feels great, but I know that I`m only a loonie away from losing…

I did not start gambling until 2005. When I was in New York, I went to Atlantic City with a few friends when I was in my 30’s and I hated it there. I lost all the money I brought and was shocked that the money was gone. I was also feeling sick that day and the bus ride home was horrendous. I moved to Tucson, AZ in 1995 and then moved to Green Valley, AZ in 2002. In 2005, I went to the casino 15 minutes from my home on and off, but I did not have an issue with either and did not think about the casino until my husband and I decided to go, or if I went with a friend. In 2007, I won about $5,000, and that was the most I…

My gambling problems started 8 years ago. I was going through work and family problems and found gambling was my only form of escapism. When the world was getting me down it was the one thing i could do where I was in control and had nobody telling me what to do. Over a three year period the addiction got worse and worse and my debts got bigger and bigger, i became depressed and had anxiety attacks every time a credit card statement arrived…

I started gambling, at the early age of 13, at a racetrack near my home. It was owned by friends of my father and it was my summer job. It was here that I gambled for the first time, placing a bet on a race. Little did I know  that it was the beginning of 40 years of gambling, that went from being fun to being a major problem in my life…