two sides to every coin
Good thread. I was hesitating to post this, but what the hell, here goes. I've gambled online and offline for 2 years and last New Year's I realized it's taking up too much of my time. I've found that my work and social life have been suffering. I've got a fairly well paying job and still somehow I'm always nearly broke. I didn't quite realize how much money I've spent on gambling until I did a serious review of my accounts. So I took about 1 month off gambling, then started again with smaller bets, thinking maybe I should quit altogether, but I didn't really want to - I loved gambling too much.
Well as some of you might know I was then blessed with some incredible luck at Cherry. Vowing I'd never gamble my winnings again, I soon realized that the money was going back to the casinos, and fast. I had the good sense to pay off my biggest debts, buy a car and a new computer, but I gambled the rest of the winnings, not even realizing it until the money was gone. It's happened to me before: It's like not knowing what hit you and then the money is gone. All rational thinking is thrown to the wind. It's like waking up from the dream and saying, I can't possibly have done that! There's got to be some mistake..
But it was all too true, and in a way it's good because I finally awakened from this 2-year dream. I quit. I realized it's the only way for me to go because I only got one life and it seems I've got a problem gambler inside me and there's just no way I can enjoy gambling in moderation. I still didn't want to quit because it's such a big rush. But it's just something I can't have in this life and I've got to give it up whether I want it or not.
The most important realization: There is no "exit" win. I'll always come back for more, for bigger wins. The only way for me to quit is while losing. It was impossible to quit when winning. Sure, I hit 50K, and it helped a lot with the debts and such, but I was well on my way back to zero. In fact, I was back to zero, again waiting for next month's paycheck.
So that's what I did. I wrote to all the casinos and had myself excluded forever, and shut down my Neteller account. Some casinos seemed to be hell bent on getting just a few more deposits out of me and wouldn't close my account permanently, others complied immediately. 32Red was again the exemplary casino - I got a courteous letter from management assuring that they have banned me forever at my request and offered to help me out in any way they could. I also had myself excluded forever from the local brick-n-mortar.
Well, I'm off it now, and what a summer it's turning out to be. It only took about a month but now I'm thinking of gambling less and less frequently. Almost never now. During this month I've had a massive increase in social life, work efficiency, and I've even started a small internet business for the fun of it, which has started off pretty well and already earning a little bit of extra money, and I'm directing my addictive potential to doing creative and productive things now.
I'm not saying everyone's a problem gambler and wish happy gambling for those who can do it in moderation, but while I' consider myself generally a fairly strong person, this is my weakness and cold turkey is the only way for me.
Wishing everybody here all the best, I'll log in now and then to see what's going on with you guys.
If there's anybody here who needs to talk to someone or has found himself in a similar situation, or needs help in any way, please feel free to PM me, I'll be more than happy to share and to offer whatever support I can. I've thought and read about this so much that I've gained some insight regarding strategies to regain control, financial recovery, and so on and I'm willing to share. I'll always make time to help out a fellow gambler. For the rest of you, good luck at the tables, stay smart!
Cheers,
SM
At least when I play there, whether I win or lose, I feel as if they appreciate me (re:my money) and want me to come back. 
