Several months ago I took the life-changing decision to do one of the most difficult things you will ever do. If you’re a gambler that is. If you gamble frequently and without control you will know only too well how hard it is to quit – if you even want to in the first place.
If you read my previous article on the topic a few months ago you will know that during the course of my gambling life I lost an estimated £100,000. No small amount. In fact, it’s frightening to think of that in actual figures. While in the midst of the addiction you don’t stop to think though. If you did it would certainly terrify you so it was head in sand and ignore the reality.
After a string of extremely bad losses and becoming unbothered by the ridiculous amounts I was losing, I had had enough. I made the very difficult decision to stop and stop for good.
Installing a few quit gambling blocks was vital and has proved vital in my bid to stay gamble-free. One such block was GamBan.
The main objective of Gamban is to block access to gambling-related websites/apps on all devices. It works so well. I currently cannot access betting sites – or even what they regard as gambling sites – on my desktop, phone or ipad. Obviously I had to make the decision to install it on everything myself, but from there the software takes over and is a godsend.
By and large I have coped very well with not gambling. I’ve found it much easier than I expected. Not easy as such, but I thought it would be impossible. However, there have been once or twice recently where my mood has been so low that I could – and probably would – have started up again if it hadn’t been for Gamban. It has provided a block to stop me from any immediate urges. I have no doubt I’d have given in had I had the ability to login and gamble. That’s why it is so important to take measures to stop those urges when you’re quitting.
Along with that main utility of blocking gambling sites, it also has other features such as counting how long you have been gamble-free and how much you’ve saved during that period.
As of today I am currently 5 months 14 days free of gambling and I cannot tell you how incredible that feels. This may just be the biggest achievement of my life. I have quit smoking years ago and this is way bigger. I would just like the powers that be to consider that point for a second. Cigarettes and smoking quite rightly get a lot of regulations, banning tec to protect the public health. However, gambling is largely encouraged. Why is that? Take it from someone who has had both inflictions, gambling was a HARDER one to get out of.
Which tools are available to quit gambling?
There’s some really good tools which will help you. The two I did immediately were signing up for
- GamStop; A self exclusion scheme. When you sign up here they take your details and exclude you from every single gambling-based website on your behalf. Now I haven’t checked if this has worked but I have received emails from quite a few sites telling me i’m self-excluded. So I take that as a positive.
- GamBan; Blocking software. This service will block all gambling-based websites on your devices. Best of all, it’s free. It’s a fantastic service. Years ago, I purchased a similar software for actual money which never did the job as I always found a way round it. I think there may be a way round this one too but I haven’t tried it. I think the fact it provides an immediate block prevents you if you have an urge to gamble. They also have a number of excellent features such as tracking how long you’ve been gamble-free for.
- GamCare; Support to quit. This is an excellent service who provide a telephone helpline for those in desperate need. There is also a supportive peer-to-peer community for you to get help from others or post your diary of quitting.
