Steps you can take yourself

You can also take the first steps toward recovery yourself, without having to contact a counselor right away. Keep in mind that you can always call the Office of Gambling for consultation and help.

Step 1

Unsubscribe or block yourself from the places where you gamble. By deregistering you will no longer be tempted to gamble. This is the most important step toward a gambling-free life. You have several options, you can read more about them here.

Step 2

Confide in someone, such as your partner, your parents or someone else you trust. It can be difficult to talk about your addiction for the first time.

Shame often acts as fuel for (gambling) addiction. Shame for losing so much money, shame for having an addiction, shame because it feels like you're a loser. All these forms of shame make you prefer to keep the addiction a secret. But precisely because you keep it secret, the addiction persists. By sharing your secret, you break the pattern of shame and are no longer alone.

Step 3

Give your finances to someone else temporarily. Without money, you can't gamble. So get someone to temporarily take over the disposition your finances.

You do this in the following way:

• Give all your debit cards and access to your accounts to someone you trust and who wants to help you.

• Have this person transfer an amount of money weekly to an account where no other money comes in. Sometimes this may require you to open a new account with a new debit card.

• Also give the login information for this account to the person you have entrusted your finances to, so they can make sure you are spending your money appropriately and not gambling.

It probably feels like a big step to hand over your money like this, but this can be a very effective way to get a grip on gambling.

Step 4

Find distractions. Review how much time you spent gambling and think of an activity or several activities to do. Do you like sports? Get some exercise! Exercise makes you feel good, provides distractions and creates fine chemicals for your brain. Read more about urges when gambling here.

Step 5

Devise a contingency plan. Make a plan for when you feel a strong urge to gamble and also think of a plan B and C. For example: if I feel the urge to gamble I call my best friend. If he doesn't answer I read a chapter from a book. Then I go for a walk. As soon as you feel the urge to gamble, follow this plan until the urge goes away. The worst urge to gamble is usually over after 30 min.

Step 6

Seek help! You don't have to do it all alone, there is help out there for you! To recover from your problems, it helps to get help. You can call loket kansspel, we offer a listening ear and we can help you find the appropriate help for you!

You can also look for help yourself by going to the help finder.