Finally told my parents

Context: 21 year old male in UK. 2k pm salary, 1k pm rent in London. Around £11k debt from my habitual compulsive gambling.

I never thought I’d be in the position I’m in now (how original). I always thought and knew gambling was the devil and looked at others that did as foolish. This guilt, and consequently hiding my gambling from family is probably what has caused it to spiral so far out of control.

What first started as occasional betting on football with mates turned into online casinos and they quickly grabbed me by the balls after winning a bit, and then losing it.. and more. Over the past 3 years it just got worse and worse, and chasing losses turned to taking on debt to chase more, and repeat. Interest free overdrafts.. ah I don’t have to pay now I’ll just win it back then stop… no.

I self excluded myself about 2 years, and about 9 grand of debt, ago this is not a solution to the poison that is gambling. There’s been times I’ve won, massively, over 10k multiple times that would have cleared my debt and more and then lost it all, and more. Iv literally withdrawn enough money to ‘solve’ everything multiple times and then cancelled it before processed and lost it all. It’s just insane and I now know there’s no point even thinking about That, the winnings were never mine, I was falling right into their trap and I’m a fool for it.

Over the past few months it’s got to the point where I’ve been ridiculously reckless and have cost myself years of time, wrecked relationships and my closest family friends a huge burden and I’m done. Most recently I gambled my whole paycheck in 1 night, rent money included and left nothing for the month to live. I completely broke down and told my parents which I’m both relieved and so thankful/lucky to have them because I known I can sort this out now, but also so ashamed to burden them with this horrible habit that is completely my fault and I feel like I don’t deserve the help.

I’m making a plan to get rid of all the debt with my dad, I have deleted all accounts, deleted email addresses that were getting spammed with devil promo and have fully accepted my situation and can say I won’t ever do this again it has made me a shell of the man I can be and I’m just so so done with it. But…

Please anyone that has been through this, known someone who has or just has knowledge on the matter please tell me anything that I should do to ensure this doesn’t happen again because I have been here before and then been right back in the same situation a few days/weeks/months later. I have downloaded apps that block me from using phone at certain times, am listening to audiobooks that are about building structure, discipline, emphasise importance of routine and have started implementing small changes to improve my habits. I already go to the gym regularly and am minimising drinking as this has cause me to slip in the past. But I’m just scared because I know what i have been capable of and if this happens again, well it just CANT happen again.

Any guidance would be much appreciated 🙏🏼