Lisa Walker opens up about her struggle with harmful gambling and with hopes to save other women, Lisa shares her life story as a lesson. According to the woman, winning $172,000 in a single night was the beginning of a dreadful journey for her where her gambling addiction led her to lose all her savings and her home too.
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Lisa Walker, 45, from Rainham, East London made headlines after she won thousands of dollars at a casino. However, the woman reveals that winning such big money was the ‘worst night of her life’ as it sparked a gambling addiction that would leave her homeless.
Lisa shares that she spent almost a decade living with the gambling habit that has led her to lose thousand of dollars too and now she is working on helping others combat this situation.
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Talking to the BBC, Lisa shared that winning such a huge amount in a single night led her to develop her addiction.
She said: "I won over £127,000 in one night. That was the worst night of my life because that's when my addiction really started to spiral out of control.
"The casino wanted me back and they offered me anything I wanted - free drinks, free meals to entice me."
Apart from visiting the casino regularly, Lisa was also going to a bingo hall and betting shop as her gambling habit grew.
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The situation got to the point where Lisa was gambling ‘most days’ and had completely lost her sense of value of money.
In the end, she had gambled all her money and her home too which she took out after getting a second mortgage.
The mom-of-two ended up living in a hostel with her 10 and 11-year-old kids.
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But her addiction didn't stop and it continued even when Lisa got married to her partner in Las Vegas instead of enjoying her wedding night, she spent it gambling.
It was after returning home from Las Vegas that she realised just how far her addiction had gone and she decided to go to Gambling Anonymous to get help.
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Lisa is now in recovery attends meetings every week. She is also working with Betknowmore as a Peer Aid worker and is setting up her own group for women with gambling problems.
She has opened up to the world about her story as charity Gamble Aware is set to launch a new campaign to raise awareness of women who have problems with harmful gambling.
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According to the charity, around 1 million women in the UK are at risk and warns that some women may not spot the signs or feel too much shame to reach out for help.
Gambling Minister Chris Philp said: "I welcome this campaign to increase awareness of problem gambling among women. It's vital that we continue to do all we can to protect those at risk from gambling-related harm.
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"The gambling landscape has evolved immeasurably in the past 15 years and our comprehensive gambling act review will ensure our gambling laws offer the right balance of protections in the digital age."
Learn more about this campaign here.
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