Imagine being so engrossed in playing bingo, you rack up huge gambling debts worth €2.2m. One bingo-mad mum from Ireland spent approximately £1.9m on dabbing bingo tickets and spinning the reels of slots, and it all started with an innocent game of bingo when she was 12.
Sinead, 38, reached out to the media to highlight the dangers of gambling, and to show just how easy it is to go from enjoying the game to being engrossed by it. Calling it a “harmless pastime,” she revealed how she fell victim to the dangerous world of gambling. “It’s over 20 years ago I played my first game, but I can still remember the high I got from it. If I was waiting on one number to be called, I found it hard to breathe and I would hyperventilate. I would get all anxious and sweaty.”
She continued: “If my number wasn’t called, I would get very angry, I was only a child. When I won, I was ecstatic to play more. If it went on for 10 hours, it wouldn’t have been enough for me.” Back then, it wasn’t unusual for her to be playing the game, as laws surrounding gambling were very different some twenty-six years ago. That being said, children nowadays still have access to bingo games…
…whether that be via innocent board-games, mobile apps or Christmas bingo at community halls.
She told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “I stepped into my first casino when I was 20. I was hooked right away and started going every single day. I didn’t have any interest in the bookies as the horses were too slow, I couldn’t wait for the three minutes for them to go around the track, whereas with the machines, it was instant, it’s what I needed.”
Warning Signals:
You’d think someone who regularly played many different types of bingo games, went to the bookies to place bets and hit online casinos, would have a strained relationship with family and friends, however, Sinead was very clever at hiding her gambling problem. And she held down a steady job.
Things come to a peak when she stole €10K from her now ex-partner (she drained his account over a 6-week period), lied to money lenders and even lied about her son’s health for donations to fund her habit.
Looking back, she said: “I would tell the banks I needed a personal loan. I even lied that my son was sick telling them he needed to get an operation just so I could get more cash – that is something I am not proud of. I lied about my own health also. I even told them I was losing my house so they would give me more. I maxed out credit cards, used loan sharks, you name it I did it.”
After hitting the lowest of low, Sinead contacted Cuan Mhuire treatment centre in Bruree, Co Limerick in 2017, and attended a treatment programme for 12-weeks. We’re pleased to report that she hasn’t placed a bet since! However, consequences of her previous actions will now result in her home being repossessed.
She said: “I’m OK with it. I can’t change it. My home is just bricks and mortar. Things got so bad I went to take my own life while in recovery but thankfully I didn’t follow through because I couldn’t do that to my son. I do live in a little bit of fear, I have gotten beatings with money lenders, but these are the consequences I have to deal with.
“Gambler Anonymousmeetings keep me sane. The habit destroyed me and brought me to my knees but there is a way out.”
If you have a problem or are worried about someone who is showing signs of having a gambling problem, there is help out there.
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