Gambling "affair" for Blackburn North mum
11 Sep 12 @ 12:01am by Tim Michell
AT the height of her gambling addiction, Gabi Byrne put an IOU note in her daughter's piggy bank.
The Blackburn North mother, 56, then had to explain why she needed six-year-old Jennifer's pocket money.
"I sat at my daughter's bedside and she found the note," Ms Byrne recalls.
"When she saw it she said 'can we just buy you a pokie machine so you and the money stay at home?'
"I always remember thinking here's this little girl, trying to solve my problems. It was very bad."
That experience was one of the lowest points for the now-reformed gambling addict, who became hooked on the pokies after being introduced to them by work colleagues at Heidelberg's Old England Hotel in 1992.
"We used to frequent the hotel on a Friday night, just sit around and discuss how stupid our boss was," she said.
"That was one of the first hotels turned into a gambling venue, so instead of talking we ended up sharing a cup and took turns pushing the button on a poker machine.
"I remember thinking at the time that it was so boring."
That was until an argument with her boss fuelled the need to escape, which she did, to the pokies.
"Within five weeks I was there every day, sometimes three times a day," she said.
"I was an educated, happily married woman with two healthy children and a well-paid job.
"Money wasn't an issue, so (my) husband trusted me completely."
Over the next four years, Ms Byrne dropped her family's savings of about $40,000 on the machines.
The stress pushed her marriage to the brink of divorce as she battled an addiction she described as "an affair".
In 1996, after 15 months without gambling, she considered taking her life following a relapse.
Since that moment, Ms Byrne has recovered to the point she now educates problem gamblers.
The author of the Free Yourself program, Ms Byrne now uses her personal battle to try and help others.
She said it was important people realised that even at their lowest ebb there is hope they can turn things around.
In the 2011-12 financial year, gamblers lost more than $120 million at Monash gaming venues.
Ms Byrne will share her story at a problem gambling seminar in Clayton this Thursday, September 13, from 10am-noon at the Clayton Community Centre, Cooke St.
http://whitehorse-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/gambling-affair-for-blackburn-north-mum/
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