Well done on self excluding Lauren.
You are a swift learner.
It took me much much longer before I banned myself from my favourite land based haunts.
When I first came here in 2008 there was a lady called Linnie (Hi Linnie if you’re still around!) who haunted me, kept pestering me to self exclude. I can still recall the posts she wrote to me but I would literally cover my ears…..I didn’t want to hear! Then one night I was sitting in a casino at closing time. It was December 8th @01:30hrs. I had €34 left in credits out of €600 and I was exhausted from playing the same machine for 13hrs without a break. Like a dog chasing its tail! I suddenly realized they were calling Time Up. I had been in a trance for hours. I jumped up, pressed “collect” and joined the long queue of “winners”, all congratulating each other on their “luck”! When my turn came to collect the “crumbs from the rich man’s table” I told the woman behind the desk (She knew me well) that I wanted to “ban myself” . There is no Self Exclusion Policy in Ireland but I made a “contract” with her and never set my foot in that or its two “sister” casinos since.
Pride is really what kept me away. I would never lose face by being refused entry or being asked to leave!
Self Exclusion is really A Mental Exclusion, Lauren. You will learn (after your initial relief and jubilation) that you will gradually be presented with new opportunities to gamble. After 14 months I returned to the “scene of the crime” in several new hellholes and everything began to go downhill again. Fast forward to March 2015,- having lost enormous sums and creating huge debt and serious health issues, and being forced to take early retirement on ill health grounds and securing a decent Lump Sum which I swore I would never use to gamble- I discovered online gambling and in less than a week my Retirement Fund was cleaned out. I think I will never recover from the shock. Two and a half months later, I still check my accounts online to see if it was all a terrible dream. Sadly , it is true!
Immediately, by the grace of God, I took action and my Online Gambling came to a sudden end! Its over now but it almost killed me!
Didn’t mean to whinge on your thread Lauren, and I congratulate you warmly for having the courage to take action and I think it is wonderful that you self excluded, just be warned that” just because the monkey has jumped off your shoulder, the circus still hasn’t left town”!
Its great that you are going to GMA.
Stay focused.
Keep posting.
