Many describe a turning point in their recovery journey. This is where they decide they have to stop gambling. Stigma and discrimination mean that people become addicted. It means they often reach breaking point before they stop. This is once they experience a great deal of harm.
Self-insight
Some people have a moment of insight. This could be the realisation that they are experiencing addiction. Many people have described how much of an impact gambling has on their mental and physical health. The decide they have to stop before the harm gets worse.


Well, it was the 5th of June. Went to the bookie, finished work at three o’clock in the afternoon, Sunday afternoon, had £30 on me in cash went to the bookies and I lost it. I just thought, “Why do I keep doing this to myself? It’s like a vicious circle.”. I was like a boxer on the ropes. I want to stop, and I just couldn’t see a way out, said, “I’ve got to stop this or I’m going to do myself some permanent damage.” I’d had enough that day. I’d never gone a week without betting in my life because it had always been in my life. I thought “I need some help here” because I was still struggling.
Relationships
Another important motivator is the people close to them.
Some recognise the harm that is being done to their relationships and to those around them. This is often parents, partners, or children. Some feel worried about losing loved ones. Others worry about the impact gambling may have on their children.

I got to a point my youngest daughter said, we’re not doing anything today, or something like that and it hit me. I was like, why am I trying to win-back, claw-back, £50, £100 now? Because my credit has gone now and it’s affecting my child’s life. Not what she knew affecting her, the fact that she wasn’t having fun with her dad. Then I wanted to stop there.
And it’s so much more sophisticated now, which is so scary and I think having two young kids. That’s something that really motivates me to stay, to stay abstinent now is for them to have never known me as a gambler. That’s what I want more than anything is for them to, they’re still young enough that they would never know that I’ve done what I’ve done and I don’t want them to know.
Others have described how people around them encouraged them to access treatment or support groups. This helped them to stop gambling.
My stepdad had come around, and he was like, “Well, something’s up. It’s obviously not drinking, it’s not drugs, because I know that, I can tell by the way you are, there’s something else. Have you been gambling?” I just went, “Yes, a little bit.” I didn’t say how much, how long, how often or anything and he’s like, “Well, you should go to GA.” That’s when I joined GA, and it was the best thing ever. Literally, it’s been the best thing ever.
Many people describe receiving an ultimatum from partners or family members that has led them to stop gambling. For example, they are told they have to stop gambling otherwise the relationship will end or they need to leave the family home.
I swore there and then that– first of all, admit I’ve got a big problem here, I’ve been living with that. I told her the truth, she asked for more, kept digging like, “Tell me everything.” I had a real heart to heart about it. She basically said, “It has to stop here. It has to stop now or I’m not sticking around.” I swore to her, “Yes, absolutely”. The very next day went about excluding myself from sites and closing accounts and producing the proof to her that I had done that. I think I even at that stage try to keep one account open just in case that I might go back to, but then again there was a further chat, “What about this one?”.
Some people describe the relief they felt when they had been caught gambling.
She just it had out with me like, “What was going on here?”. By that stage, I was so sickened with myself and the gambling and living with this addiction, that it was a relief, that’s all I can say. It was like, “Thank God it’s out in the open now,” because I felt deep shame that I was keeping it from her and I knew deep down this is only going in one direction. This isn’t going to end well for me and I’m jeopardizing this new relationship I’ve got and if I don’t get help where is this going to end?

For some, losing an important relationship because of gambling made them realise they had to stop.

Crisis
Most people describe how they reach crisis before they stop. What they consider their ‘rock bottom’. When they look back, they often wish they had been able to stop sooner.
One kind of crisis could be losing a catastrophic amount during a gambling session. Or it could be not having any more money to gamble with. They may have exhausted all avenues to get money.
I knew with the FOBTs I couldn’t win it back so there was a bit of common sense built in with a sort of relief that it was over, to be honest, because it was purgatory feeling, you know, the brutal days of losing five and ten thousand I thought were bad enough, but forty-one thousand in one day was a bit of, a bit of a heavy hit.
Being driven to crime to fund their gambling or pay off debts could be the end point. People described stopping after confessing or being arrested. Or receiving a custodial sentence or probation.

In some cases, people feel like they ‘cannot go any lower’. They feel suicidal. They may try to end their life. They decide they must stop gambling to survive.