Obviously, I live in PA, and just recently the Skill Machines that were placed practically everywhere were made illegal without a license.

And honestly? I'm glad, for my own benefit. I work at a gas station, 3rd shift, and would often get bored at night and play on the machines. It got so bad that I'd blow through my whole paycheck (after paying bills) immediately after getting paid.

I was so addicted that, when I'd get to work, I'd check the machines to see if someone had left a bonus on the next spin. I would keep telling myself to leave it, but wouldn't. I pretty much lost thousands playing those machines and I'm glad they were removed from my store. Sucks for others, but not my problem, many of them were addicted to them as well.

Can I remove all payment methods and will that remove the option of the casino taking their winnings (my losses). Don’t care if I ever gamble with them again as it’s become an issue and I’ve put limits and self exclusion on everything at this point.

Guys I’m addicted , I’m depositing money like crazy . It doesn’t matter if I win , if i lose , if I win big . In the end I will lose everything . If someone ask me what gambling took from me I would say everything . By this I mean if I had 10k more , I would lose it all . It doesn’t matter if I lose today or in one week . I will lose it all . The last days , I have crazy bad luck . It always fucking lands , near my number when I do all in . I want to puke , I want hurt my self . I don’t know what to do . I want to play , it’s like a habit . It’s like waking up intl the morning and first thing to do is coffe . I can’t stand losing my money to fkn nothing , the crazy part is that 70/100 of the times I WIN THE FIRST SPINS and then lose all . When I lose my deposit quick , it’s so much better . I can’t standing winning and losing all .I don’t know how many times , I won 700€ and said in 1000 or 900 I stop and then lose everything . Guys right now I fell like shit , I know maybe this post isn’t easy to read , but this my pure fellings right now . When you win you are fkn god , u are invincible .You feel like you are king and then the fairytale gets destroyed and now you don’t have money for gas . I cant STAND THE MORNING HAVING 2-3K IN MY BANKING AND THE EVENING BE LIKE -100. ( sorry for bad English , it’s like 4:30 in the mirning and I don’t have sleep ) . If someone really read it all , thank you from my hurt . I don’t want to tell my friends , tomorrow I will mask the money from my family and I hope that they don’t see the loss .

Still feels weird accepting the fact that I must not gamble again, It's been a big part of my last 9 years, but I need to change for me and for my closest ones, I don't deserve the pain that gamble offers and neither do them. Today I will not gamble, ODAAT.

Days until debt free 548 - 22.

I lost $4,000 on the Rams game. It was do or die for me: I told myself this bet would get my money back. It didn't. I'm now $8K down this year.
I keep quitting and then going back. I've wasted countless hours on this, and I don't know how I'm supposed to focus at work anymore. I'm exhausted and my mental health is wrecked. I'm done with this cycle, but I clearly can't do it on willpower alone. If you've got out of this, what actually worked for you? Self-exclusion, blocking apps, tell someone, groups? I'm ready to try anything.

I feel like I had it so much easier as a woman because not a single person in three years has ever commented on my habits no matter how many times I went back to the ATM in a night. No one suspected me.

I don’t have women friends that gamble, but they would sit by me, they would watch me lose and I’d play it off so they’d do the same. I managed our finances so even my husband never noticed too much. We go out weekly for trivia and other events and if I give him a $20 note for beer he wouldn’t notice whether I got $20 or $100 out for myself, sometimes more.

Bills were always paid so what did it matter?

It started after my dad passed away because he enjoyed a bit of a gamble but he also told me ‘don’t gamble’ (funny that). I kept thinking ‘dad’s going to give me a big win from heaven I can feel it’ - but no… 3 years on there’s been no such thing.

It literally took Jesus to break me down - no one else was going to stop me. Literally no one else. I don’t expect everybody to believe the same as me, but there are biblical principles about trusting God to provide and not trying to take it into your own hands. And you can’t expect to be given more if you can’t even do the right thing with the little you have.

I found myself in tears alone just crying and praying to God that I can be done with this. Then I later saw a gambling phone game ad and felt like puking (actually gagged) and that made me happy. I felt disgusted by it which was exactly what I prayed for.

I then had to tell my husband. Thank goodness I haven’t ‘ruined’ our finance by any means but I had to tell him there is a significant amount we could have had that we don’t have. He wasn’t angry he hugged me and said he loves me.

I am NOT trying to blame anyone else, but it is very wild how a woman can go under the radar in front of friends and family for years whilst I have seen men be pulled up and corrected. It’s ultimately my fault at the end of the day but it really got me thinking about the masculinisation of addictions. It’s exactly the same with pornography for example. We all know women can be addicted but the push to ‘get help’ is very rarely targeted towards women. I’m not saying men cannot fly under the radar they certainly can and do go undetected. I just feel when a man confesses he is taken quite serious but I think if I confessed to a female friend they would genuinely be confused. This is just my local lived experience I’m not trying to generalise the whole world.

Finally feel the weight come off my shoulders but it felt like it required divine intervention. I think in the future I’d like to contribute to conversations helping other women through this so that they don’t feel embarrassed or alone.

I realize that I'm living the best days of my life, with all of people I love still around. I must treasure it by not wasting it on gambling and other meaningless causes.

I will not gamble today!

I saved over years, blew all emergency and was clean for a little over a month. Having a difficult time and this weekend blew nearly every remaining dollar i had on online casino. Feel so stupid. But also numb and just a shell of myself

As a sports bettor, everytime I take a break and come back to betting it seems like they gift me wins on purpose so they know I’ll keep playing (I know this isn’t the case) but it damn sure feels like it.

I go up thousands in a couple months just for me to have one bad loss and then it causes to me to go on a tilt, which then I end up losing all the profit and I made in that couple of months, and then I start losing even more than my actual profit in one night.

It’s like they know no matter how much I win, I’ll eventually crack on go on full tilt mode, which then.. I’m guaranteed to lose.

Nah it’s crazy because I really thought I was some genius sports bettor who knew the scripts but that’s exactly what the books want you to think. They want you to have an ego so they can humble you REAL FAST.

There’s legit no winning if you’re a compulsive gambler and if you aren’t a compulsive gambler, the books will bank on you becoming one in the long run.

Celebrating 90 days gamble free today. ✨

Was scheduled to lead my first gambling annonymous meeting tonight, but I am unfortunately sick with the flu so instead I want to post my topic here if anyone has thoughts they would like to share!

Learning to feel again 🌱

How has gambling affected our ability to enjoy every day life?
And if in active recovery, how do moments in life feel now today now that you are gamble free?

I’ve tried almost everything I could think of to quit like deleting apps, getting rid of bank cards, taking cash out and storing it away but I keep going back to gambling and wasting it. I don’t know what else to do, maybe give the money to a family member or create a separate account

I’m not trying to bother anyone and hopefully I’m not. I’m just posting one day at a time that I haven’t gambled. Today is day 3. I haven’t made a bet since 10/09/2026.

I just wanna disappear....idk what to do lost $15k or more of family money trading gambling.....got caught today idk what to feel what to dodm a s

It is atleast better than time wasted gambling and losing paychecks, going in debt, skipping social events/family gathering.

I gambled from feb 1st, 2018-feb 24th,2026. Lost over 500k, could've bought a luxury car and a condo. Instead, I'm eating 70k debt that own and I only stopped because I didnt socialize and skipped all family gatherings. My elderly family members died and I wasn't there to celebrate their last years when they invited me over. Instead, I was punching my face, crying and in depression after losses all these years.

I feel like a prisoner even though I quit in feb of this year. Sad emotions are all over now for being lonely.

I’m am grateful for today, to breathe and enjoy life, can’t get much better in my opinion, I will continue to not gamble ever again and lead a happy life which I will enjoy, it’s within yourself to defeat this demon, life will be so much better and I am grateful for that and the chance I have to lead a life full of possibilities and joy, and leave this all behind…. Goodluck to you all fighting this disease, I’ve been so hurt by it in the past and will keep fighting also. 🙏

21M, graduating soon, but I have zero funds because of online gambling. I got influenced by my ex and friends, and now I can’t seem to stop. Every time I tell myself I’ll quit, the urge comes back.
I lost all my savings and ended up borrowing from OLAs (Peramoo, Cashify, PXT, Agila Cash, and Peso.ph). Almost ₱15k in debt, and I’m scared of what will happen when I go overdue. I can’t ask my family for help, and I honestly don’t know what to do anymore. I know I messed up, but I really want to stop gambling and fix my situation. For those who have experienced gambling addiction, how did you stop? And for those familiar with these OLAs in the Philippines, what should I expect if I can’t pay on time? Any advice would be appreciated.

Adonai, my Lord, I surrender my struggles, my debts, my regrets, and my fears to You. Give me the strength to resist temptation, the courage to face my losses, and the wisdom to rebuild my life one day at a time. When I feel weak, remind me that I can begin again with Your help. Lead me away from gambling and toward peace, honesty, and freedom. Amen.

Long time lurker on here, it's been nice not to feel alone in this. Been a gambler for years, swapped it for collecting trading cards and getting involved in breaks on WhatNot etc thinking gambling that way was better. Used Gamstop years ago, ironically at least when I was using legit casinos I was sometimes withdrawing. For years I've been using dodgy casinos, knowing it was too much effort to authenticate so pumping all the money back in.

It's been exhausting, a neverending spiral and addiction that I would find myself in the moment I have any time to unwind. I've not borrowed money but I've definitely lied about my financial position.

My "fuck this" moment was a few months ago I signed up to one of those financial services that put a claim against your bank for letting you gamble when you've selected to ban yourself. It didn't go anywhere, but they sent a report that told me how much I'd spent. That was the reality moment, I deleted the e-mail immediately when I saw that number. I was so ashamed. I don't think I need to post it'll mean different things to certain people, but it was enough for a 20% house deposit where I live now. In that moment how I viewed what I do online changed completely, it wasn't cold turkey, I think it was a punch in the gut and a slap in the face.

Anyway, I'm 3 weeks off gambling today. And I'm celebrating not just because of the days gone so far, but I don't miss it. It's just one day at a time and filling the time you would usually be sat on your phone watching highlights on YouTube that made me want to go back to it.

My heart goes out to everyone in here, I know a lot of us are suffering in solitary with just this sub to turn to. I'm 21 days in and the rest of my life to go, I hope you can all share this feeling of relief too.

I have been addicted to sports betting for a year & was down 3.5k for the longest, and it’s creep up a bit with 25$ long shot parlays, but then to recoup the money I started betting 500$ on 3-4 legs to win 2-3k & ended up losing 8k in total. This is about 2 months of salary for me, and being in NYC with cheap rent I plan to get a fast food job to rapidly pay this down.

I have been doing really well, and was wondering if it’s okay to not be open about this to my employer or gf. I’d rather they don’t know, I only told 1 friend. I can clean this up in a few months and sweep it as an expensive lesson

It’s my 5th day of quitting online gambling today! Mobile games have been keeping me entertained a lot. The only downside is that my eyes hurt from staring at my phone screen for too long haha. 😂 But this is way better than hurting my wallet by giving away free money to online casinos. LOL! 🤣💸

Days until debt free: 262 days

I started gambling when i was 13yo online with the skins i had on Steam, buying first paysafecards with cash so i could buy skins and then betting them. Then (15yo)i started telling myself and my parents that i was "investing my money" to gamble as an excuse and the addiction kept on growing. Now that i am 19yo in university the addiction is at it's peak. This month, the first day i received money from my parents is gambled everything and won 10k . Right now i just exited the casino and lost 2k i cannot live with this addiction if i want to achieve something in life. I want to make my parents proud as i am the first one in my family that gets the opportunity to go to a good university. My friends at school are studying and i can only think about gambling, btw i smoke a pack of cigaretts almost a day. I used to train thai box and had dreams, now everything is so so so so strange and my life is getting darker and darker. I NEED YOU to tell me, I NEED someone to speak to.

One day at a time. F*ck fast money

I lost 10k from last thursday to today. On Thursday I placed a few bets before my surgery. I had been on a heater and won 4k through 3 weeks. Then hit on that Thursday for 6k. After surgery I proceeded to break all my rules while recovering on pain killers. And increased my unit sizes and chased losses. What started by chasing 1k, turned into 10k in a week. Hook after hook I kept thinking I’m one away and will get it back. Lost it. Anyway I’ve self excluded my self for a full year. The worst part is my gf is on a leave of absence and her insurance isn’t paying her. This money would have kept us comfortable for months. I feel like an idiot. I’m in utter shock. At least I self excluded and made the right first step but it’s gut renching.