AIBU to seek a good telling off/the frighteners to be put into me after this...

[Rebecca496]

Posting in AIBU for traffic. I am not seeking sympathy here, quite the opposite. I know I messed up and want to hear what an idiot I have been - mainly to deter me from doing this again.

I have just lost £166 on the Fixed Odds Betting Terminal (FOBT) playing roulette in a bookmakers. I was in there for no more than 15 mins and lost it. I kept on putting another £20 in and taking riskier bets to try and win back what I had lost. Eventually my purse emptied of cash. I am sort of glad that I didn’t have any more in it as I think I would have kept going. I have never had a 'gambling problem' before, but have noticed recently that I have been going into bookmakers and playing these machines a few times when I have been on a bit of a low ebb. I have mainly spent small amounts, and have always pretty much broke even.

I had a bit of a low ebb today, however tonight I lost way more than I intended to. I could have spent that on so much better stuff than what I did just spend it on. Sigh. I am sorry I couldn’t be stronger and stay away. Hopefully this will teach me a lesson. Those machines are lethal. I can’t get over how quick money can be lost on them. Even though the stake is only £2, the machine can be pressed every few seconds so money disappears in minutes. I only intended to play with £10, but when I lost I kept on putting more in.

I am angry at myself for even going into the bookmakers, and mores for not stopping. It is only when I ever feel down do I gamble. I used to notice this with the lottery (I would only buy tickets when I felt a bit low), however in the last two months I have been going into bookmakers when feeling a little low and I know this is not great.

I don't want sympathy. I know I messed up and hope this will teach me a very valuable lesson. If anything, I would be grateful to hear of your (or anyone you know's) experiences with these Fixed Odds Betting Terminals in the hope that what I read will give me a good old shake and scare me from going to them again.

I enjoy things like travel and could have had a couple of nights away with that money, or even a really nice day out. Instead, it went in a few minutes to a bookmakers. The worst of it is that I did it when feeling low. Please give me a good telling off, and scare me from doing this again. I am somewhat scared this may get worse otherwise. Tomorrow I intend to use the self-exclusion process these bookmakers have so that I can't go back. Hopefully that will work.

Don't hold back in telling me what an idiot I have been, or your experiences with these FOBT's.

I once managed to win about £80 on one of those machines in my lunch break. Over the next few days I went into the same bookies every lunchtime and lost the original winnings. Literally a complete waste of time and money

I don’t use those machines any more. At least at an actual roulette table you might get a bit of social interaction

As suggested make a list that you can buy or buy food instead of gambling.

Can you turn off gambling purchases through your bank? I'm with Santander and it's fairly.easy to do via the app. Might help if you can x

You need to put your phone down and step away from all this. Cant you see that you are addicted to the point of asking for stories about gambling, researching gambling indirectly through data protection and starting a thread?

You havent said you'll actually talk to someone. IMO you are feeding your addiction in this thread.

And it is an addiction. It's obvious you gamble as a coping mechanism and now you are dealing with the loss via social media.

Step away and get professional help.

All of this you are obsessed

Anyone else noticed while reading this thread that all of the ads have been for gambling websites? Well on my app anyway...Las Vegas something and monopoly. Come on mumsnet, really? Good luck OP, I hope you get some help and you manage to kick this before it gets complete out of control x

contact gamcare

Op you seem to have moved from blaming yourself to the bookmakers, they didn't claw 166 off you, you went in there and willingly handed it all over - it's on you not them. How's a dsar going to help? It's not.

@Shoxfordian Yes, I know but at least they will have to do a bit of work for the £166? Petty I know.

I am calling MOSES today, and I hope by doing the DSAR then they will certainly remember me in the shop and it will reaffirm in my mind that I cannot go in , and will be asked to leave.

I have now signed up to GAMSTOP, have installed the GAMBAN on my phone (and will do so on all my devices too...) and have signed up to the SENSE scheme, as I have noticed that I have been frequenting the 235Casino when I visit Manchester a bit too much for my liking in the last two months.

@Idtotallybangdreamoftheendlessnotgonnalie

I am with NatWest and the Halifax. Do you know if these banks have that facility? Can I ask for this online, or better to go into branch?

Yeah, it gets worse. I have been reading a lot into the industry also. I have read "Vicious Games: Capitalism and Gambling " by Rebecca Cassidy to try and understand how the industry works.

I feel the title is pretty appropriate and accurate....

OP I notice you say you go into these places when you’re feeling low. Perhaps it would be a good idea to identify something else (or a set of things) you can do when you’re feeling low.

As well as having a plan for dealing with your low feelings, addressing this aspect of the problem will give you something other than gambling to think about and focus your mind on.

@RawBloomers Agreed, and I suspect I am not the only one who does it when feeling low.

I would rather go back to comfort eating (something I have done before).

Travel is something I enjoy. I could have went away for a couple of nights with that £166...

You need proper help, OP. You're just getting your fix by talking about it instead of doing it. That won't be enough though.

I have just spoken to MOSES on the telephone and have self-excluded from 73 bookmakers in the areas where I most visit, including in my home town.

Hopefully all the banning will help.

I think I am on some sort of precipice of something a lot worse.

At the momengt I have no compulsion to gamble money away (and have access to it), but have read stories of people literally gambling their wages away on payday. I am not there yet, and hoping the measures I have put in place will rapidly arrest any decline to that point.

If you've got a problem you need help. Please stay away from these machines, they are the crack cocaine of gambling machines. I used to work for in the call centre for the company who was involved in the development of these machines. Even when the gaming machines were the old analogue ones we used to get people ringing in all the time complaining they were faulty. They're not faulty, just only programmed to a certain % out in the company's favour. I remember one lady ringing in from a casino begging for the engineer to go check the machine & give her the £2,000 she'd just ploughed into a fruit machine. She was left with no money to buy Xmas presents. Another one had no money left to feed her children. You can easily become addicted & lose a lot of money.

My sister had to leave her job in a bookies because she couldn't stand to see the people who came in every day hoping for win. She said a lot ( or most) of them looked quite scruffy, as if all their money went to the bookie, who of course was loaded!

Assuming it's not an independent tiny bookies, the dsar is likely to be processed by someone in the corporate office, not the staff who actually work there so that won't make them remember you.

They've provided the electricity, heating, venue and staff for the 166, I don't see how a dsar will help you unless watching it back will put you off

These gaming companies are the route of all evil.

Bookies are bad enough, but I genuinely believe that online gambling should be banned. It’s just far too easy to lose money, and they deliberately lure people in with so called free spins and the glitz of the alleged win.

OP are you gambling on your card? Because if so I would see if your bank offers the ability to block gambling transactions.

I work in the financial industry and I see the devastation this causes every single day in my job. People coming through to query why they’re overdrawn, to tell me that they can’t afford to feed their families and don’t have any money until payday, and when I look at their account there are pages and pages of gambling transactions sometimes hundreds and hundreds of pounds in a single day.

Don’t be one of those people OP.

The only winners are the vultures behind this industry.

Even the people who win big have lost much more before they get there.

Do you think you could look into premium bonds? Next time you feel low, buy £25 of premium bonds. You could win a big prize, but it's also still your money and you can get it back whenever you want.

Can you talk to us more about the 'low ebb' your talk about. Can you think what leads to it? Can you think of other healthy ways you can make yourself feel better? Have you thought about counselling?

You can approach your bank they might be able to put specific blocks on your account