“Your world just revolves around gambling as it becomes the B all and ends all” says recovering gambling addict Kelly.
In 2012 Kelly Field, 38, started casually gambling which was the start of a journey that nearly destroyed her life. After experiencing a traumatic work related grievance the 38-year-old, who is from West Yorkshire, started to enjoy escaping from reality and forgetting about her worries whilst playing online bingo.
However, her gambling quickly turned to online slots where within six months she had spent £10,500 on one credit card. Kelly said: “I would spend hours and hours a day sitting online where I would just have to gamble.” She added: “I started cancelling coffee dates with friends and not exercising which I normally would do.”
Picture Credit - Clifford Photos.
Initially Kelly was using credit cards to fund her addiction but when they dried up she turned to using her joint marriage savings and putting overdrafts on their accounts. She said: “I once maxed out all the money on our credit cards and went into town to add a £1,600 overdraft on our joint account. I then came home and within less than an hour I spent it all on slots.”
Over the past eight years Kelly has lost a total of £70,000 to feed her addiction. “I ended up in loads of debt and I nearly took my own life,” she said.
Friends and family tried to support her but there is still a massive misunderstanding around gambling addiction. Kelly said: “Unlike drug and alcohol addiction it is very much seen as a leisure activity that you do out of choice and because there is no substance to it I think people struggle to understand how people become addicted.” She added: “Because the Government promote it as a leisure activity people really do struggle to understand that this addiction does grip you.”
In 2014 Kelly took the first steps to recovery when she completed a 12 week talking therapy programme at the Beacon Counselling Trust. After getting help it gave her the confidence to start publicly sharing her story and raise awareness about this addiction. “I wanted to highlight to people that this addiction is real and the devastation it can and does cause,” said Kelly. She added: “In worst case scenarios people take their lives from a direct result of gambling addiction.”
Kelly also wanted to spread awareness about female gambling addiction due to it being seen as a male dominated addiction. She said: “Telling people you are a female gambling addict shocks them because I’m not the stereotypical overweight man or a young lad betting on football.”
Kelly also raises awareness about the harms of glamorised gambling adverts. She thinks the advertisements will worsen people’s gambling habits during the coronavirus economic slump. She said: “The way they bombard people with advertising is dangerous especially in the current climate with people using food banks, losing their jobs and on the bread line. It is being sold to people as a way to make a quick quid which is really not the case.”
Although Kelly has had a negative experience with gambling she’s still not against it. “If people can set themselves a limit and stick to it then that’s fine but it’s a problem when people start spending every penny they’ve got on gambling,” said Kelly. She said: “If people are realising they are spending too much money on gambling then please reach out and speak to somebody before it gets serious.”
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