H
Hannman
Guest
My husband gambled. Looking at the list of gambling reforms recently set out by the government's white paper, I’m underwhelmed.
I don’t live very far from my old house, the first home I ever bought, my marital home. It’s where I became a stepmum to a son, then mum to a daughter. When my husband and I moved in, I was pregnant – and gambling was still a leisure activity for him; something we did at Christmas with scratchcards, or the occasional point-to-point horse races.
But over time, what started as fun took a greater hold on him. How and why that happened is his story to tell, not mine. But what I can say is how gambling affected me.
Over the five years when my husband was hiding his online gambling, I was mystified as to why we always seemed to be struggling with money. I didn’t understand the arguments that flared up like touchpaper. He was short-tempered and angry. I became impatient and cold.
When he started hiding his phone whenever I entered the room, I suspected an affair – even though much of our time together was happy. The losses mounted, unbeknownst to me, until I eventually stumbled across a credit card bill he hadn’t intercepted that showed multiple large cash advances paid to a popular gambling website.
I don’t live very far from my old house, the first home I ever bought, my marital home. It’s where I became a stepmum to a son, then mum to a daughter. When my husband and I moved in, I was pregnant – and gambling was still a leisure activity for him; something we did at Christmas with scratchcards, or the occasional point-to-point horse races.
But over time, what started as fun took a greater hold on him. How and why that happened is his story to tell, not mine. But what I can say is how gambling affected me.
Over the five years when my husband was hiding his online gambling, I was mystified as to why we always seemed to be struggling with money. I didn’t understand the arguments that flared up like touchpaper. He was short-tempered and angry. I became impatient and cold.
When he started hiding his phone whenever I entered the room, I suspected an affair – even though much of our time together was happy. The losses mounted, unbeknownst to me, until I eventually stumbled across a credit card bill he hadn’t intercepted that showed multiple large cash advances paid to a popular gambling website.
