Gamblers Anonymous
A twelve-step fellowship for people recovering from compulsive gambling.
What the fellowship is
Gamblers Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other so they may solve their common problem and help others recover from a gambling problem. It applies the twelve-step framework to compulsive gambling, where the wreckage is usually financial before it is anything else.
What members describe
Not a checklist and not a diagnosis — just what people in GA commonly say brought them in.
- Gambling with money needed for rent, bills or food
- Hiding, minimising or lying about how much has been gambled
- Chasing losses in the hope of winning back what has gone
- Sleeplessness and dread tied to debt rather than to the betting itself
- Borrowing, selling possessions or worse to keep gambling
Your first meeting
GA meetings are used to newcomers arriving at the worst financial moment of their lives, and nobody in the room will be shocked by a number. Many groups also run a Pressure Relief Group meeting, which helps a member put an honest, structured plan around their debts rather than carrying them alone.
Where 12Gradus fits
12Gradus is software for the sponsor, not a substitute for one and not part of any fellowship. Nothing here is affiliated with or endorsed by Gamblers Anonymous.
A sponsee's profile records that they are in Gamblers Anonymous and dates their clean time from their last bet. The built-in step work — Steps 0 through 12, with coaching notes — is written for GA, so a sponsor can assign it as it stands.
Around that: daily check-ins with a self-reported urge score, high-risk days noted on the profile so they sit next to the chart, a rough-moment button that reaches the sponsor immediately, secure chat, and a text bridge for a sponsee who will not install an app.