Having A Word With Myself

[TheKingInTheNorth]

As part of my “sabbatical” I announced I thought I’d do an actual analysis of my spending for the last two month where I know I have at times bee “out of control”, so I went through my bank transactions for the last 2 months (I can do this as I have any halfway decent win return to my card even if I didn’t deposit using it), I also know in my own mind that a withdrawal from an ATM over £100 is almost certainly for gambling. It’s not exact as there will be times I have also walked out with cash and used that money for something (i.e filling my car up and I bought some new golf clubs at one point).

Anyway with the data at hand I’ve had a real eye opener and now know for a fact I need to “take a break”....

Ready for this......

Total amount of withdrawals/ transactions attributable to gambling in last 60 days = £16,410 🙈😮😬

Total amount of gambling returns in last 60 days = £15,305....

Total loss = £1,105

Highest point in front £981.20

Furthest behind deficit -£3839.80 😱😱😱

 

Now as I said I spent £400 on golf gear and filled the motor a couple of times so let’s call that £500 which reduced the deficit to -£605.

The point is this, can I afford to lose £300 a month gambling, yes I can but the really galling part is I was prepared to go nearly £4K down at one point in pursuit of wins and that was totally reckless and irresponsible, I’m not a poor man but I can’t afford to risk £2k a month on average and that made my jaw drop I can tell you.

The “headline” figure of £16k deposits in that time frame is also off the charts and tells me it’s time to step back and really ease off or it’ll end in disaster at some point.

I like “high rolling” but there’s high rolling and there’s being a fucking idiot, recently I have become the latter and if I’m honest I’ve probably dodged a few bullets here and got away with a flesh wound.

[StopandStep]

Thanks for the honesty, those Ultra spins are incredibly dangerous. Before the stake change they weren't in arcades, and now they are, and none of them display the odds. Many of us know it's £20, £30 and £50 on average, but it's intentionally not made clear and your average arcade punter has no clue. 

Enjoy your golf!

 

[TheKingInTheNorth]

21 minutes ago, StopandStep said:

Thanks for the honesty, those Ultra spins are incredibly dangerous. Before the stake change they weren't in arcades, and now they are, and none of them display the odds. Many of us know it's £20, £30 and £50 on average, but it's intentionally not made clear and your average arcade punter has no clue. 

Enjoy your golf!

 

Cheers!

Its important that ppl realise watching uploads of others who appear to be high rollers that there is another side to this, part of the reason I like your uploads is you show the losses as well.

Some players who are heavy hitters sneer at those playing 25/50p stakes, I don’t as everyone should enjoy their sessions at a level they are comfortable with and kudos to those who do just that, go in with say the £30 they can afford and play it through on 25p stakes, have their entertainment and leave win or lose.

My sessions at times are zero fun as there is no fun in watching pound after pound disappear down the rabbit hole for no game. Then again there’s a huge rush when you hit 5 jackpots in an afternoon as happened the other week!

you’re right though Ultra play is high volatility roller coaster stuff and at times you need deep pockets to ride it out.

[BlindHaze]

Good on you for being honest, I meet so many people in bookies that are adamant they never lose. And if they’re playing FOBTs then it’s a statistical improbability at best....

I had a few wake up calls in my past, that feeling when you’ve played through £500 without even getting a feature. Like a lot of people, I like the game rather than kidding myself that I’m going to make a profit, and when you play and play and get nothing.... well, it’s sickening. 

I still play the things from time to time but only on 20p stakes now. And if I lose £20 I just say to myself ‘that would’ve been £200 if I were still playing max stakes!’.

It’s meant to be fun, and when it no longer is then it’s time to call it a day. I can afford to lose £20 but £200 is a lot of money to me, maybe some folks can but I’m not the richest guy in the world!

[TheKingInTheNorth]

And that’s the point Blind, is people over extend themselves and there’s where problems begin and “the chase is on”... I know, I’ve been there and it generally only ends one way, badly!

Good on you for playing within your own means, there’s times I definitely go too far.

[TheKingInTheNorth]

This little exercise has got me thinking back to the really bad old roulette days for me and if it’s that the £2 cap had made the difference or not?

I don’t think it is really as when playing on mega/ultra mode you can tear through money almost as quickly anyway, spin every 2 seconds on auto say? That’s 30 spins a minute or £60 which in ten minutes is £600!

So it got me thinking, what has changed? Why have I escaped with just a “flesh wound” this time?

The thing I have got very good at is utilising my debit card to ‘bank’ a win, so a normal starting point for me will be a £300 cash withdrawal from the ATM, now let’s say within £100 I get a win of £300-£500, I will almost always stop playing and ‘cash out’ that win and have it refunded to my card and then play on with the remainder of the cash stake, get a good balance again and I’ll repeat this, keeping a decent stake to carry on. Rinse and repeat until I get beat 🤣.

Of course it’s a double edged sword as if I go in with the £300 and get rinsed it’s highly likely that a sizeable deposit will be made from the card of anything from £300-£500 but it’s very rare for me to go beyond that even if I lose again as I do seem to have point where I’ll just give up.

The thing is if I don’t bank the wins it’s likely I’ll just keep ploughing on in pursuit of more wins until it turns me over and I think I would be far more behind if it wasn’t for this “tactic”.

Its purely anecdotal evidence of course but I do think there’s something in it.

[Cheekydme]

42 minutes ago, TheKingInTheNorth said:

This little exercise has got me thinking back to the really bad old roulette days for me and if it’s that the £2 cap had made the difference or not?

I don’t think it is really as when playing on mega/ultra mode you can tear through money almost as quickly anyway, spin every 2 seconds on auto say? That’s 30 spins a minute or £60 which in ten minutes is £600!

So it got me thinking, what has changed? Why have I escaped with just a “flesh wound” this time?

The thing I have got very good at is utilising my debit card to ‘bank’ a win, so a normal starting point for me will be a £300 cash withdrawal from the ATM, now let’s say within £100 I get a win of £300-£500, I will almost always stop playing and ‘cash out’ that win and have it refunded to my card and then play on with the remainder of the cash stake, get a good balance again and I’ll repeat this, keeping a decent stake to carry on. Rinse and repeat until I get beat 🤣.

Of course it’s a double edged sword as if I go in with the £300 and get rinsed it’s highly likely that a sizeable deposit will be made from the card of anything from £300-£500 but it’s very rare for me to go beyond that even if I lose again as I do seem to have point where I’ll just give up.

The thing is if I don’t bank the wins it’s likely I’ll just keep ploughing on in pursuit of more wins until it turns me over and I think I would be far more behind if it wasn’t for this “tactic”.

Its purely anecdotal evidence of course but I do think there’s something in it

I have a gambling addiction an have had to start putting measures in place, it had got completely out of control so what I do now is pay all my bills an then withdraw all my money out my bank an I know when I go out what ever I take with me I have to be prepared to loose,an at the moment it's working,I was fed up with being broke an haven't nothing I have accumulated debts by getting Loans out to gamble, the loans won't be paid off until January next year this has happened chasing losses.Please I don't want any abusive comments I know I've been a idiot, gambling has gripped me like nothing else I smoked for 20 years an managed to quit 15 years ago an would never smoke again but this is the hardest habbit to quit for me anyway. I just wanted to share this on the forum even typing this on my phone has kind of made me feel better as strange as that may sound.

[BlindHaze]

2 minutes ago, Cheekydme said:

I have a gambling addiction an have had to start putting measures in place, it had got completely out of control so what I do now is pay all my bills an then withdraw all my money out my bank an I know when I go out what ever I take with me I have to be prepared to loose,an at the moment it's working,I was fed up with being broke an haven't nothing I have accumulated debts by getting Loans out to gamble, the loans won't be paid off until January next year this has happened chasing losses.Please I don't want any abusive comments I know I've been a idiot, gambling has gripped me like nothing else I smoked for 20 years an managed to quit 15 years ago an would never smoke again but this is the hardest habbit to quit for me anyway. I just wanted to share this on the forum even typing this on my phone has kind of made me feel better as strange as that may sound.

No judgment here Cheeky, I can only guess how hard life is for you and how difficult it must have been to even post this.

Is there anyone you know personally that you can confide in? I only ask because it’s easier if you can have a trusted friend or even partner to keep hold of your bank cards. If you only have £20 in your pocket at any one time, then the chances of you gambling will drop drastically. 

You've given up smoking, I know from experience that’s a hell of an achievement, I’ve never managed it! Just be strong again, look forward to 19th August 2020 when you can say to yourself you’ve not lost a penny in a year. Set targets and hopefully the strength and euphoria you get from reaching them will be enough of a carrot. 

[Cheekydme]

Unfortunately I haven't got anyone,but I'm really trying to stop I believe that if I want  to quit that badly I will hopefully  manage to stop I will never ever gamble again when that day comes it's ruined my life, thank you for being so understanding.

[TheKingInTheNorth]

10 hours ago, Cheekydme said:

Unfortunately I haven't got anyone,but I'm really trying to stop I believe that if I want  to quit that badly I will hopefully  manage to stop I will never ever gamble again when that day comes it's ruined my life, thank you for being so understanding.

No judgement here either, far from it in fact, I’ve done serious damage a couple of times and at times like the point of this thread I need to give myself a shake and realise I’m at risk of sliding down a slippery slope!

Hence the break!

I wish you all the best

[Seaton-slots]

11 hours ago, Cheekydme said:

I have a gambling addiction an have had to start putting measures in place, it had got completely out of control so what I do now is pay all my bills an then withdraw all my money out my bank an I know when I go out what ever I take with me I have to be prepared to loose,an at the moment it's working,I was fed up with being broke an haven't nothing I have accumulated debts by getting Loans out to gamble, the loans won't be paid off until January next year this has happened chasing losses.Please I don't want any abusive comments I know I've been a idiot, gambling has gripped me like nothing else I smoked for 20 years an managed to quit 15 years ago an would never smoke again but this is the hardest habbit to quit for me anyway. I just wanted to share this on the forum even typing this on my phone has kind of made me feel better as strange as that may sound.

I would like to think nobody would judge... Takes a lot of balls to admit to having a problem. I'm sure you will win in the end and maximum respect for taking on the challenge... I have said it many times before "There but for the grace of god go I" 

[Stepandstop]

11 hours ago, Cheekydme said:

Unfortunately I haven't got anyone,but I'm really trying to stop I believe that if I want  to quit that badly I will hopefully  manage to stop I will never ever gamble again when that day comes it's ruined my life, thank you for being so understanding.

Cheekydme I must say how much I admire you for coming on this forum and admitting you have a problem 

I hope you beat your demons all the best sir 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[Cheekydme]

Thank you for that but I'm a lady lol.😀

[Stepandstop]

My apologies 😢

[Pete Tranter's Sister]

That's actually a 93% return, so you're in profit by about 1-3%.  Hmm, maybe that's not the right viewpoint. 

Just kidding, having been gambling since pre-decimalisation I sympathise and empathise with your honesty and information, as I'm sure every contributor to this forum does, I have been in some pretty dark places over the course of the last 40-50 years.  I have certainly cut down since the FOBT changes, those £20 fortune spins on Spartacus and Mighty Black Knight would have finished me off by now.  One day at a time, with the odd slip up.......