A GAMBLING addict has revealed how she blew £70,000 in just four hours – losing almost two years salary in a single afternoon.
Christine Tolaini, 39 years old, stated that her addition led to her becoming bankrupt after she maxed all her credit card accounts.
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The first time the hairdresser was allowed to gamble was when she was allowed on the 10p and 2p arcade machines. She later admitted that she loved betting and has been a fan ever since.
She visited Las Vegas when she was 21 years old and got a room in a time-shared hotel that she could visit once a calendar year.
But as she entered her 30s she stumbled across more means to bet, Christine’s habit escalated.
In 2016, she became hooked on mobile phone game Rainbow Riches and over the new five years she blew more than £100,000 of savings, credit and winnings.
During one week, she recounted winning £70,000, only to gamble the lot to in just four hours.
“I won the £50k jackpot that week but because I was a compulsive gambler, I continued gambling,”She told the Mirror.
“The worst thing that can happen to a compulsive gambler is winning, and I lost £70,000 in four hours. It was an indescribable, horrible feeling.
“I phoned my banks and told them I had a problem. I went to the doctors, but back then they didn’t know what to do and sent me away, so I phoned gambling charities.
“Counselling helped and for a while I was clean.”
Despite reaching out for help, Christine started to relapse when she was bombarded with free bet offers during the pandemic.
She was back at square one in a matter of months.
“I hit rock bottom. I was hopeless and completely lost. I didn’t know how I was going to get out of it,”She said.
“I went to the doctors and they didn’t know what to do with me. I wasn’t eating, and I wasn’t sleeping, I wasn’t concerned about looking after myself.”
“I don’t even know how much debt I was in – it was thousands,”She replied. “Someone should’ve been monitoring that I had eight credit cards and was losing that amount of money.
“My mental health was very bad so being locked in during the pandemic made it worse. “I was very sick.”
ROCK BOTTOM
Christine’s problem escalated to the point in bankruptcy when she maxed out all her credit cards in April 2021, having blown £10,000 in one day.
“I broke down and told everyone, including my family, that I was a compulsive gambler” she recalled.
“They were very supportive and very concerned to know it had been going on for years.”
“For me it was a distraction from emotional problems – a compulsion that made my brain calm down. It put stress on all my relationships.
“I was losing such extreme amounts of money and I can’t believe the banks were allowing me to have this amount of credit cards. I didn’t always think I would win but there was some excitement in the risk factor. I gambled when I was in a good mood too.”
Christine reached out to Gamblers Anonymous following the incident. Christine now regularly attends meetings with other addicts, as well as a counsellor.
Despite still being in £60,000 worth of debt across 20 credit cards, she says she is on a road to recovery and insists she had not gambled since April last year.
“I’ve not overcome it and will always be a gambling addict, but I won’t live in fear again,”She said.
GO TO THE RISE
Gamcare says that women are reporting more gambling problems than men. But only 1% report gambling related harm to the National Gambling Helpline.
GambleAware identifies three key indicators of an unhealthy gambling addiction: losing track, excessive spending, and keeping gambling secrets.
Zoe Osmond, chief executive of GambleAware, stated that she believes women might not realize they are beginning to feel the effects of gambling harm or may be afraid to seek help due to shame or stigma.
“That’s why our campaign highlights the warning signs to look out for, so we can support women who gamble and prevent them from developing gambling harms.”
Liz Karter is a Gambling Addiction Counsellor and Expert.
“We know that online gambling makes it easy for women to play games that seem innocent and socially acceptable.
“While gambling doesn’t always lead to harm, it’s vital women are aware of early warning signs including losing track of time, incurring increasing debt, or a tendency to hide gambling from others or gambling to forget their problems.”
ContactBeGambleAware.orgfor free confidential support or call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133
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