Coping With Gambling Urges: My Recovery Plan
Urge surfing, delay, money barriers, triggers, chasing and a plan for a slip, written in your own words
Coping With Gambling Urges: My Recovery Plan
Urge surfing, delay, money barriers, triggers, chasing and a plan for a slip, written in your own words
Coping With Gambling Urges: My Recovery Plan
Urge surfing, delay, money barriers, triggers, chasing and a plan for a slip, written in your own words
An urge to gamble can feel like it will keep building until you place the bet. Usually it peaks and fades, and the skills on this sheet are ways to get through that stretch and make the next bet harder to place. Urge surfing comes from mindfulness work in addiction treatment and has been studied with cravings to smoke (Bowen & Marlatt, 2009). Self-exclusion, where you ban yourself from casinos or betting sites, helps many people who sign up gamble less, though slips past the ban are common, which is why it works best alongside the other skills here (Gainsbury, 2014). For the bigger picture of what gambling disorder is and how it's treated, see Gambling Disorder: When the Odds Are Stacked Against You.
Read each skill on the left. On the right, write how you'll use it in your own life: what you'll do, when, and who can help. Specific beats general, so "Hand my debit card to Dana every Friday" works better than "Be careful with money." Bring the sheet to your next session and change it as you learn what works.
What I want from cutting back or stopping, in one sentence
The urge I most want to handle better right now
| Skill | My plan: what I'll do, when, and who can help |
|---|---|
| Urge surfing. Notice where the urge sits in your body and watch it rise, peak and fade without acting on it. You can practice with the urge surfing tool. | |
| Delay and distract. Wait 30 minutes before any bet. Fill that time with something that keeps your hands and attention busy, like a walk, a call or a chore. | |
| Money barriers. Sign up for self-exclusion at casinos and on betting apps, install gambling-blocking software on your phone and computer, and ask someone you trust to hold your cards or help set spending limits. | |
| Triggers. Common ones are payday, games on TV, betting ads and app notifications, boredom, stress, being alone, and drinking. Name yours and plan for the riskiest one first. | |
| Chasing losses. The thought "I can win it back" is a signal to stop for the day. Money already lost stays lost, and another bet usually adds to the total. | |
| A slip. One bet or one bad night is a reason to use the plan right away. Tell someone, put the barriers back in place, and look at what led up to it. |
If I slip: what I'll do in the first hour, and who I'll tell
People I can reach when an urge hits (the National Problem Gambling Helpline is 1-800-MY-RESET, by call, text or chat, any time)
References
- Bowen, S., & Marlatt, A. (2009). Surfing the urge: Brief mindfulness-based intervention for college student smokers. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 23(4), 666-671. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017127
- Gainsbury, S. M. (2014). Review of self-exclusion from gambling venues as an intervention for problem gambling. Journal of Gambling Studies, 30(2), 229-251. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-013-9362-0
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Common Questions
What is the Coping With Gambling Urges: My Recovery Plan worksheet?
An urge to gamble can feel like it will keep building until you place the bet. Usually it peaks and fades, and the skills on this sheet are ways to get through that stretch and make the next bet harder to place.
How do I use the Coping With Gambling Urges: My Recovery Plan worksheet?
Fill out this worksheet digitally or print it for use in session. You can save your progress with a Pro account. Take your time with each column — there are no right or wrong answers.
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