10/1/2026
In gambling addiction recovery, it’s completely normal to have urges.
These aren’t exclusive to early recovery. An urge can pop up at any time and be triggered by something you didn’t expect.
When an urge appears, your brain creates a strong impulse which can feel impossible to control. These sorts of reactions are beyond reasoning and can feel really convincing in the moment.
What is urge surfing?
Urge surfing lets that feeling rise and fall like a wave, allowing it to pass through you.
Having an urge doesn’t mean you have to act on it, and it certainly doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It’s a temporary feeling which can be worked through.
Once you’ve felt urges and allowed them to rise and fall through you, you’ll become more confident in managing these moving forward.
For example, you may see a gambling advert on TV and this triggers you, and your thoughts of gambling rise. At its peak, it may feel overwhelming.
Use our urge surfing tips below to clear your head and help the urge start to fall.
Understand your triggers
If you can identify when and where you are triggered to gamble, you can make sure you’re prepared to manage it. If there are certain people and places that trigger you, it’s worth putting some distance between you and them, particularly in early recovery.
How to ride the urge
Delay the decision
Urges can pass in minutes. Tell yourself that you will check in with yourself in half an hour, and if you still want to gamble then, you can. For most people, once that half-hour timer is up, the urge will have passed.
Change your environment
If you can, give your mind something new to focus on. In recovery, it's good to have someone you can trust and call when you need support. It doesn’t have to be a formal sponsor (though that can be really helpful), just someone dependable. Try to get away from your current environment, go for a walk and talk things over with this person.
Add friction
Add as much friction between you and gambling as possible. Download Gamban and make sure you are self-excluded from physical casinos. Having these barriers stops you from making a rash decision you will regret in an hour's time.
Practise urge surfing
Think of urge surfing like a skill; it gets easier the more you do it.
Box breathing helps to calm your nervous system and makes you feel more grounded. Follow this box breathing video for a minute to help you ride the wave.
If you want to talk to someone, join our Gamban Discord hub, which has over 500 members who have experienced gambling harm. Connecting with other, like-minded people is an important part of recovery and can be a great motivation.
