Hi, sorry for the very long post.
I’m hoping for some advise or support from anyone going through similar. My husband and I have been together nearly 15 years and have a young Daughter. Around 9 years ago I found out he had accrued debt gambling I estimate around £4K. He had never done anything like it and both his parents and I were totally shocked. He convinced us it wasn’t a massive issue just a few bad bets and naively we believed him we repaid all the debt and had him close down any online accounts messaging the companies saying he needed to be banned etc. We weren’t aware at the time of all the support you could get and thought we were doing the right thing. Fast forward a year or so after welcoming our Daughter I started noticing behaviour and personality changes he was be coming very cold and sometimes mean towards me and just not himself I put it down to being the normal new parent strains but eventually after my gut telling me something was wrong found he had started gambling again. I found it relatively early so the loss was no where near as great as before maybe around £1k but that had been build up in a matter of around a week. The money he had used to gamble with was a PayPal account his mum and dad were saving up for things for out Daughter which absolutely killed me. He denied it and lied and lied up until  I provided him with evidence. He begged me not to tell his Dad as he had just had a heart attack and knew it would kill him to know he had done it again and had taken the money he had saved for his granddaughter so again naively I didn’t but spoke to his Mum about it. At this point I knew there was a bigger problem so I contacted a charity and did some counselling sessions to understand more about this illness and what I could do to support him. He himself didn’t do any counselling because he said he didn’t need it and could do it on his own with my support. I took over all the finances so he no longer had access to any money that I couldn’t see…so I thought.Â
fast forward to a few months ago his attitude has changed again being increasingly mean, disrespectful and disengaged when at home. On his phone a lot more not coming to bed too very late after I’ve gone up. I put it down to marital strain again as we are currently building an extension. However I coincidentally found some torn up betting slips in the bin this week and things are now starting to add up. He has been coming home with the odd £20-£60 here and there  and when I have questioned him on it he’s said things like he paid for lunch or drinks on his card and people have been giving him the cash back. That customers of him have been giving him tips, which I’ve not seen before. When I confronted him about the slips he has tried to downplay it saying it was just a one off when he went on a night out with the footie lads but deep down I know that’s not true I’m not in spiral of trying to unearth and find more because I know he never comes clean unless backed into a corner. I have asked him to leave which he has done willingly has shown zero remorse or upset and is now making out that I’m being dramatic and over exaggerating things. I feel like I’m going insane and he makes out it’s because I’m insecure and anxious that I’m imagining things that aren’t there. I’m absolutely terrified that I’m going to be left with debt on top of the huge costs of this extension we’re in the middle off and now having to face reality that my family might finally have broken down past any chance of repair.Â
I’m going back and forth about what I should do. The last time this happened I warned him if it happened one more time no matter how small that would be it so do I follow through on this or do I support him again? I know this time if I do it has to be the final time and he needs to get help and show me he is getting help before we look to repair our marriage but I worry I’m setting myself up for another fall and honestly I’m not sure I’m strong enough to go through much more. Has anyone been through similar and can give any advise or share their stories?Â
Hi MrsD i’m sorry to hear about your story. Only the compulsive gambler can decide if they want to get into recovery. As partners, we can only support them. From what you described, your husband is not ready to leave gambling yet so if you reconcile with him, expect the worst because it will only get worse there is no other direction for it. Reflect on it - do you want to carry on a life with an active compulsive gambler who will choose gambling over his family any time? Now if he is ready to get into recovery it’s a different story but he needs to lead on his recovery. He needs to put in the hard work. He’ll take proactive actions. In my opinion, those are the ones worthy of our support as partners.Â
I feel like I'm in similar scenario right now. Went through husbands phone tonight and seen betting messages and borrowing from loan sharks. I can't do anything right now as my parents are staying over for a few days so need to wait for them to go. I think I can't do it anymore. It's the lying about it that's damaged us. I am not wanting to be tempted to invade privacy and go through a phone. I'm at point where he's been selfish so now it's my turn to put me and daughter first.Â
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I'm giving myself few days to sit on it. Then speak next week. If he's honest when I ask then go from there but if he lies I'll be asking him to leave. Even just temporary. I need space from living with a gambler.
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Hi. This is a very late reply not sure if you’re still active on here I just wanted to see how you had got on and where things were now. Unfortunately I got duped again I can only be mad at myself I suppose he managed to convince me it was a once off cake to one counselling session and engaged minimally and when we left said he didn’t need to go back. Only to be in the same position again now after finding cash in his bag that he had won after taking money out of my bag. Just wanting to see if anyone has left their partner and how it has been I’m so terrified he’s going to make it difficult for me because he’s the main earner and I could lose everything. I’m so sad for my daughter her whole life and lifestyle will change but I’m at the point where he doesn’t make me happy anymore the addiction makes him a unkind and cold and emotionless person.
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@rkmg67v8el i am a compulsive gamblier from my perspective the truth is less the 0.01% actually do manage to change for life the issue with this addiction once u are hooked no matter how much u change their always a risk of a relapse for various reason i am coming close to two years being bet free i have no intention of gambling ever again has i have worked on my recovery and done what i ever i can to remain bet free now the issue is i know for a fact if i really want to gamble i can always find ways has their far to many ways to gamble as an addict urgues can come back as a vengence for various reason and it those times the most support is necessary it gets to a stage after having hundreds of relapses for various reasons i can stop minor urgues through experience the issue is life itself has twist and turns trauma being one of them and depression when the mind cant think straight gambling urgues become strong and u do thinks out the box which is why very few people remain gamble free the issue is you never get any better in terms of self control infact after 3 years of betting i was in even worse situation to begin with as it felt like my body was craving the dopamine which it missed out on the more i learnt about this addiction the more it scares me for the future has i do have family which support me at this present time
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