Comforting to see other female gamblers – addict

A Staffordshire woman said she was relieved to know she was not the only woman experiencing gambling addiction.

Bianca Colclough, 43, has lived with addiction for 12 years and says it stems from sexual abuse she suffered as a child.

She waived her legal right to anonymity to tell her story, saying the two had a connection out of a feeling they both had to keep secret.

She said that as a child, she feared the repercussions of speaking out about the abuse she suffered and felt it was ingrained in her.

She said money was also involved in the abuse she suffered because she psychologically associated money with “something bad.”

“I didn’t really understand money, so I didn’t have any respect or values ​​for what it was,” she said.

Mr Colclough said he became attracted to gambling after going to a casino with a friend after a night out and the friend won around £50 on a gambling machine.

“I found myself addicted to this machine, and it was costing me money to do almost nothing,” she said.

She felt a sense of community and escapism at the casino, and said the atmosphere was one of the biggest draws.

“When I was at the casino, it was mostly women who were there for the same purpose as me: lawyers, midwives, corporate professionals.

“But if we met them outside the casino, we wouldn’t even recognize each other, because we all had this special secret.”

She added that the fact that there are no windows and no sunlight means there is no sense of time inside the casino.

She likened the need for her solution to people spending money on treats like expensive handbags.

At the height of his gambling problem, he was spending up to £1,000 a week.

As a result, she turned to payday loans and credit cards to make ends meet financially.

Ironically, she said her gambling problem worsened after receiving financial aid.

She agreed to an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA), an agreement with creditors to repay part of her debts.

This reduced her loan repayments from £1,000 to £250 a month, which she said felt like she had earned an extra £750.

She believes stronger regulation needs to be introduced to allow businesses to investigate the reasons behind IVAs before signing up to one.

Her IVA wiped out around £30,000 of debt, which she said made her feel like she had been given “free money”.

Colcluff said the worst part of his addiction was that it led him to lie to his family.

She remembered the time she walked out of the casino and lied to her father that her car had broken down.

“He sent me £200 and asked no questions, and I went straight back to the casino with the intention of getting it back.

“There was no malice there, but of course I couldn’t tell him what was really going on. I was too embarrassed to do it.”

After the birth of her two children, Kolko finally faced her addiction and realized how her actions affected others who were dependent on her.

She said support from Gamble Aware helped her and now she is an ambassador for the charity.