Overcoming Gambling Addiction is Possible

I’ve always wanted to share my story of how I overcame gambling addiction. The truth is it took some doing to claw my way back to sanity after I nearly went off the rails. You see I was the type of gambler who went all in. If I was confident that my hand would be a good one – especially in games of Texas Hold’em or blackjack, then I would empty my bankroll in minutes. Of course these gambles came off every now and then, but overall I watched my net worth steadily decline until I all but eroded it completely. I owned luxury cars, a thriving software enterprise and a 2 story home in South Beach. Just before I lost it all, a kind man came to me, took me aside and gave me a sound talking to.

This is how it went south for me, before I took charge and made amends

I was a regular at online casinos and bricks and mortar casinos with my name as familiar to pit bosses and dealers as the cards they were dealing. But that didn’t help me when I was out of luck and running dangerously low on cash. One night I was at the baccarat tables dropping thousands of dollars on banker bets. It wasn’t going my way – and if I’m honest it hadn’t been for 3 weeks at that time. An elderly gentleman who was watching me lose wads of cash took me by shoulder and offered to buy me a drink. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but I obliged. It turned out that Walt Green was a retired army general and had seen his fair share of action in his day. He looked me square in the eyes and told me, ‘Son, take charge before you lose it all.’ We spoke for hours. At the conclusion of our meeting Walt handed me a business card. He worked for GA (Gamblers Anonymous) and his words that day saved my family from certain ruin.

Some of the warning signs that my family noticed about my odd habits (I was oblivious to my own wrongdoing) were the following:

• Substantial time spent on gambling activity and less on family, work, social and sporting activities
• My personal disposable income was increasingly being used to fund gambling habits and I actually liquidated fixed assets in order to perpetrate my gambling habits.
• My stress levels were reaching into the stratosphere and my tolerance levels were at an all-time low
• I found myself thinking about gambling day and night.

If you’ve experienced these symptoms or even combinations of them, then you may want to take charge of the situation before you slide closer towards the edge. It’s certainly possible to reel yourself back in, just give it a tryJ.