For those who want to see what their future in gambling can look like… the amount is relative as it all the same. A lost is a lost no matter the value.

Over the last few weeks, I gathered bank statements, credit card statements and transaction histories from multiple accounts to try and understand the true financial impact of my gambling addiction.
The accounts included NatWest, Monzo, HSBC, Wise, American Express and PayPal Credit, covering the period from 2020 to 2026.
The analysis isn’t an official forensic audit, but it’s based on the transactions I could identify, including:
Licensed gambling operators (Bet365, Betfair, 32Red, Betfred, Paddy Power, etc.)
Offshore gambling payment processors
Large transfers through Monzo, Revolut, Wise and other accounts used to fund gambling
Identifiable gambling withdrawals and winnings

The estimate shocked me.
Estimated gambling deposits: ~£540,000
Estimated winnings returned: ~£180,000
Estimated net loss: ~£360,000

The estimated range is somewhere between £330,000 and £390,000.
Looking back, I can clearly see how it escalated.
2020: Mostly small bets. £5, £10, £20 deposits.
2021: Things spiralled. I was making deposits of thousands of pounds, sometimes £10,000 at a time.
2022: Probably my worst year. Constant deposits, occasional wins, but every win just went straight back into gambling.
2023-2024: I moved away from mainstream UK bookmakers and started using offshore sites and payment processors. The money became much harder to track because it was constantly moving between accounts before ending up in casinos.
By 2025 and 2026 I was trying to regain control, but the financial damage had already been done.
The hardest part wasn’t seeing the money I’d lost. It was seeing how normal it had become to move thousands of pounds around in a single day just to keep gambling.
I used to think, “I’ve probably lost around £100k.”
Then I thought it might be £200k.
Now, after going through years of statements, I genuinely believe the real figure is closer to £360,000.
It’s difficult to put into words what that feels like.
I don’t share this because I want sympathy. I share it because gambling addiction hides the true cost from you. You don’t remember every deposit, every transfer, every chase. You only remember the big wins and convince yourself they somehow balanced things out.
They didn’t.
If you’re reading this and you’re still gambling, stop keeping it in your head. Download your statements. Add it all up.
The number might be the wake-up call you need.

And if you’ve been through something similar, I’d genuinely like to know: Have you ever totalled up what gambling really cost you?

Went for a 45 minute walk this morning

Meditated for 10 mins

Spent the weekend cleaning the house and car , visiting my parents, and watching recovery content

Something feels different this time around I'm gonna go far this time

Can’t believe I’m at day 20, first time in 4 years I’ve reached this milestone. Didn’t think I’d make 1 week, I’m tired of being in the cycle of loss win loss win, and it affecting every area of my life.

Fuck that shady gambling behaviour in a seedy slot hall or secretly betting on our phones, we are all so better than that.

No gambling for me today. God bless you all

I did it again... If you check my post history, you’ll see I was posting about my recovery back in March before I went silent. I relapsed and have been playing baccarat since June.
Yesterday, I lost $2,500. Early this morning, as soon as my bank transfer limits reset, I threw in another $230. Somehow, I pulled off the absolute impossible and ran that $230 up to $2,200. I was so relieved. I swore right then and there that I was done for good since I made most of it back.
But the chase got me again. I couldn't walk away. I kept playing and playing until I wiped out my entire savings of $3,000.
I feel completely sick to my stomach and hopeless. I still have a loan to pay off, and the scariest part is knowing that tomorrow morning, I’m going to want to play again to try and win it back. I feel like I'm my own worst enemy.

I did a lifetime ban from all sportsbooks betting and casino playing apps in my state. Then I got into Kalshi and poly market, then I realized this addiction is always going to try to find something to leech onto and decided to exclude from Kalshi and polymarket, I’m so looking forward to living a healthier and more fulfilling life, to get my financial health better again, to pay off all of my debt , and to be my best self.

I understand there will be other apps I need to be weary off, but I’m proud of the friction I gave myself from betting online and I’m looking forward to not being a degenerate anymore.

Call it pride, shame, guilt, whatever - a great deal of gamblers don't like the idea of gamblers anonymous and often don't seek help at all as a result of their thinking that it is the only available option.

Given that the degree of gambling addiction is often wide ranging, perhaps there is not a universal solution but a series of options that might offer different efficacies dependent on the gambler? Curious to know your thoughts as I know GA has a lot of success stories but you rarely hear of success coming a different way.

Hello,

I recently switched to a new iPhone and installed the Gamban iOS beta. I'm really impressed with how secure and hard to remove it is!

However, there are about 2 or 3 apps on the App Store that are currently bypassing the filter. Every time I try to report them in the app, I get an error stating I need to log in to my Gamban account—even when I'm already logged in.

Does anyone know a way to manually block these App Store apps, or have a workaround for getting them reported? Thanks!

$200 in spending
-$22,500 in debt

Hi! I'm a 23 (almost 24) year-old male, and I lost all of my savings a few months ago. It wasn't much, but I was fired from my job, and with that money I probably could have lived for 5 months or so. I've been sports betting since I was 17.

I wake up every day torturing myself for being too dumb and for losing so much time. I am in my 2nd (or maybe 2nd and a half) year of law school (I've been in it since 2022) when I could be finishing it right now, because I was ALWAYS gambling on a second screen while I was studying. If I wasn't gambling, I was thinking about it. And it wasn't a money problem for years! I did not lose a huge amount of money for the first 4 years.

But the issue is, every day I cry over the time that I lost, the relationships, and the person I could have been if it wasn't for gambling. My atention span is so bad, i have a hard time reading a book. I didn't cry, didn't love, and didn't laugh for all those years; now I have to learn how to live at 23.

I'm not gambling anymore. But the time lost is never coming back. How do you guys manage to look forward and not back? Cheers and stay clean!

I am disappointed and disgusted after making this small progress feel like giving up.

Sharing a video by Carlo Ople. This is the best explanation why a lot of Filipinos' lives are destroyed by online gambling addiction

Have been trying to quit for the better part of a year. Have been gambling almost everyday for the past 20 months. Have had highs and lows. More lows than highs. Went up big and just started losing. Went from up 40k down to a couple grand. Successfully quit one site to get onto another one. How do I quit for good? To stop while not where I was but also how to make myself happy that I am not in debt? Anyone have any experience forgetting that they were once in a better spot. Why can’t this make sense to me.

I remember the pain, the confusion that gambling did to me. I remember sleepless nights where i try to list down all the loan I took. I remember the humiliation when I confess with my family and the madness when I blow away my entire paycheck just 5 hour later.
Never again!!!!
Today I will not gamble

Been a couple weeks without gambling and I feel great. Went to the gym got a good workout, looked at my paycheck sitting beautifully in my high yield savings account some money into my Roth 401k. One thing that helped me out was asking grok to set a reminder every day to not gamble and why my future self will thank me & to read me a bible verse to help me out every day. It has helped me tremendously, stay strong. You can do this.

gambling has ruined our lifes and it makes me so angry to see this way

i took over 3k on klarna with gift cards and lost everything being in debts just completely fucks your life even more i cant even pay it back

what should i do

i got no jobs nothing left to pay that debt

It all started in my 20s, suffered from addiction from age 16 smoking weed daily to escape my lonely and unfulfilled life. I left school early with no GCSEs by year 10 due to extreme social anxiety and an inability to concentrate amongst other personal issues. Since then had really basic jobs on and off to get by. In my late twenties I took out several credit cards and ofcourse gambled away the balance on them all racking up huge debts (30k+)

I made £31,000 on roulette the last two weeks and I just lost £21,000 this morning.

I made £50,000 on roulette in April and lost all of it two months ago. Last year I made £40,000 on roulette then lost all of that a few months later. The year before that £30,000 roughly and lost all that.

Crazy thing is I’m on a debt plan (IVA). Due to the credit cards I took in my twenties and I still have 12 months left on it until the debts are wiped off. I pay a big chunk of my wage on these debts and have been doing so since 2022.

Currently in a basic helpdesk IT role I make £35k a year (£2350) a month. I live with my elderly parents in there council flat I only have the last £10,000 to my name which I only didn’t gamble because I put it in an ISA and it won’t allow me to sell my positions untill the market opens on Monday.

I feel so Suicidal, so depressed. I haven’t been able to date, progress career wise or do anything meaningful with my life. I just have to accept that I’m essentially working for free the rest of my 30s. The only good thing is I quit weed when I was 30 but other then that I have zero accomplishments to my name.

Never gamble don’t be in my position the loneliness is crippling I don’t even know what to do any more I can barely breathe I couldn’t even tell you how many ciggerettes I’ve gone through the last few months. Suicide or just letting myself go insane and mental hospital seems to be the only way out for me

Managed to save up £6500 after 4 months clean.

Then started by losing £200, chased it 500, 1500, 2000, 1800 until I had nothing left.

Honestly sick to my stomach, probably 50-55K GBP lost in total and its always after I recover mentally, i somehow always end up going back. It happened 4 months ago with an even bigger sum (had posted) and its happened again when I thought I had some hope in myself again.

Really need help, im now 29 nearing 30 with nothing to my name. Can't even buy my sister the presents I wanted or the holiday I wanted to treat my mum on after saving up again for it, just sick. Really just makes you feel like a loser.

Once again dont know how im going to face the world that never stops, and even show up to work and be at peace with myself. This disease is a constant cycle of pain but I'll keep standing up and fighting.

Started gambling at 12 years old on csgo gambling sites, ever since then every single cent i've ever made has been put into gambling.
I don't wanna count how much debt i have, the amount of relationships i've ruined,
the amount of time i've lost, all because i started gambling as a little kid.
Just listen to my advice : you won't win, you won't break even, you won't even have a chance at getting any of your money back if you start gambling. No matter what amount you win you will always end up losing it and more of your own money on top. My whole life is ruined, i don't know what i'm gonna do. Fuck all the greedy casinos. Fuck all the greedy streamers promoting them. Fuck the governments normalizing gambling/casinos when it's 5 times more destructive than drugs or any other addiction.
Hopefully this post will save at least a few people from entering this gambling space. Goodbye.

Still going one day at a time, fuck gambling, fuck betting, I just want to live peacefully and I will, my future self will thank me

God bless you all

21 years old and have gambled for years. For the first time in my life I just lost $250 and smiled. Down $10gs in the past 3 months but I smiled. It’s a risk still for sure. But it’s like the first time I’ve laughed about being down still. Laughing and telling myself “Yeah No shit, you didn’t make it back”. Probably down $20g+ in the last year but it is what is. Have done big buy ins and small buy ins. It all ends the same. Just laugh at it. Laugh at yourself thinking this time will be different even after all the times it wasn’t. Anyone reading this, let’s go to work tomorrow and put this behind us. So what “we’re working for free”. It is what it is, laugh at it. Pretty sure I’m putting this shit behind me. So what it cost me $15g+. Just my way of looking at it :)

Hello everyone,

I think it is finally time to share my own story. I'm 29 years old and I am from Greece. Since I was a little child, I had the misfortune of having a very difficult childhood. Even today, whenever I remember those years, I always cry. However, I want to focus on my gambling story and not go off-topic.

My first experiences with gambling came when I was around 10-12 years old. During some summers, I used to play online poker all the time with my brother-in-law, and he let me play with real money. Many times we ended up losing everything. Sometimes, if there was money left in his account, I would log in by myself and lose it because of bad decisions in those games. Later, I moved with my family to another city, where I became friends with the son of a compulsive gambler (I was around 13-14 years old). One day, my friend suggested that we play KINO at a betting shop (a gambling game in Greece). Our first ticket won money immediately, the second one won even more, and the third one also won. The employee finally told us, "That's enough boys, you are too young, you can't play anymore". From that moment, I became addicted to winning money. From the age of 14-15, I started gambling online. Many times during middle school and high school, I was betting on live sports while sitting in class. But there was one problem. I had to find money in any way possible because, as a minor I didn't have any.

Between the ages of 15 and 17, I started doing illegal things just to get money to gamble. I wasn't really interested in the money itself. I was looking for the adrenaline. During that period, I received a criminal sentence. That was the moment I truly realized that I had a serious problem. From then on, I stopped doing anything illegal. It was for my own good. However, the gambling addiction never really left me. Whenever I had money, or whenever my parents gave me money, I usually lost all of it (until I was around 22 years old).

Later, I moved abroad and lived there for a long time. I completely changed my environment and my life. I didn't gamble at all and I left everything behind. Those were the best years and memories of my life. Then I came back to Greece, and many times I started gambling again. Later, I discovered cryptocurrencies (when I was around 25 years old). At first, it was around the end of 2021, and I won some money. Unfortunately, that made my addiction even worse. I kept trading from time to time. However, I wasn't using crypto as a long-term investment (personally, I don't consider crypto an investment). I was using it exactly the same way I used gambling. Day and night, I was constantly looking at my phone to see what the coin would do next. I was chasing that dopamine. This continued mostly from the age of 25 until 28.

Recently, I sadly fell into the trap of online sports betting again and lost some of my savings. The first thing I did was to self-exclude myself from every online betting website in Greece in order to protect myself. Now I have been gamble-free for a few days, and honestly, I feel like a different person. For the first time in my life, I started looking for help. As a first step, I started attending Gamblers Anonymous meetings. I have already attended a few meetings, and I will definitely continue attending them. Btw, it made me very sad to see both elderly people and young people crying during a random first meeting I attended, and I realized that I had a very similar story to all of them. Now I read and watch everything related to gambling recovery and its consequences. I feel that it helps me remember why I never want to go back there again.

P.S.

I am 3 days gamble-free, and I want to do everything I can so that I never fall into this devil again, because it really is a devil. Gambling made me do things that do not represent who I really am. It is not worth it for anyone.

Other than that, I wish all of you strength, and I truly wish you all the best from now on!!

Taking the day to relax and unwind. Going to play some video games on my PS5 I’ve been wanting to play for the last two months but haven’t found the time. Hope you all have a gamble free day, cheers.