'My son almost lost nursery place due to my gambling'

Emma McLeod found herself in debt after developing a betting habit

A mum whose "horrific" gambling addiction almost lost her son his nursery place is is helping others to spot the signs and overcome dependence.

Emma McLeod, mum-of-one from Blackpool, found herself in spiralling debt after an online betting habit - which started at 20p a spin - also almost cost her her home.

The 41-year-old's first foray into gambling began 12 years ago, when - suffering with post-natal depression - she began to visit online bingo sites, often putting in the lowest stake possible for a spin.

"It advanced very quickly from there," said Emma, who has been in recovery for the past six years.

"It started with a 20p bingo book, then £10 every other day and within four to six weeks it was hundreds of pounds every day.

"I got into £65,000 of debt in 14 months. It was horrific. It wasn't even just the financial part; it put a big burden on my parents, my house was being repossessed, there were bailiffs knocking on the door.

"My boy is the first grandchild on both sides of the family so I would ring and say 'have you got this much money I need to get something for him?'

"I used to do the banking at the pharmacy where I worked and would occasionally not do it properly and borrow money from the banking and then put it back a few weeks later."

Events spiralled further for Emma when she ended up thousands of pounds in debt with her son's nursery, putting his childcare in jeopardy.

"I rang HMRC to get my son's nursery payments redirected to me, instead of the nursery," said the charity worker.

"They threatened to kick him out. They had been amazing with him and he had only really come out of his shell while he was there, I didn't want him to leave. I rang my dad and he was able to help out.

"The nursery was understanding too - but no one knew what to say to me. There was no one to help with the gambling."

Despite trying to keep her habit away from her son, Emma said she found that she was still "missing out" on vital time with him in order to prioritise the online sites.

"I was putting him to bed at around 18:00 or 18:30 every night. I couldn't wait to get back down and start gambling.

"I thought I was protecting him but I was losing out on a whole load of time with him."

A turning point

After the nursery incident, Emma said she took steps to stop gambling but initially had nowhere to turn.

"I went to the GP who put me on anti-depressants. I didn't need them, I needed help," she said.

"I closed all of my gambling sites down but I didn't actually ban myself, so I ended up back on them.

"One night I won £19,000. At that point I was still £30,000 in debt. Back then, when you withdrew money it would keep it in holding for 24 hours and you could change your mind within that window.

"My £19,000 lasted me 11 hours. The whole lot was just gone. I like to think that if I had gone into a bookmaker and won that I would have left, I would have just walked out when I won."

Following this incident, Emma realised she needed to get help. Struggling to find any readily available help in her local area, she resorted to talking to an online chat assistant on a gambling site, who discussed her addiction with her.

"I ended up speaking to her for 2.5 hours," said Emma. "She sat there and typed back to me the whole time. She talked to me about the industry. I felt like someone had finally helped me. It wasn't even her job to do that."

Emma signed up to website Gamstop, an online tool which blocks the user from accessing all UK-registered gambling sites for a designated period.

Despite this, she continued to purchase scratch cards for the next two to three years before finally using her own self-determination to quit for good.

"The urges to gamble did get worse. I had to think of my child," she added.

Filing for an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA), Emma was able to squash some of the debt which had mounted up in the six years she had been gambling. She was able to keep her house and is continuing to pay off the remaining debt.

A new beginning

Now, six years on from her last scratch card and last bet of any kind, Emma works in the Lived Experience Team at Blackpool's Empowerment charity.

Drawing upon her own experience with gambling addiction, she helps to link people struggling with gambling addiction to counselling services as well as giving harm prevention advice and also providing family members with the tools they need to spot when someone may be gambling.

"I'm really passionate about what I do," she said.

"It's amazing. Our experience gives us more resilience to help a client, but it makes us not want to go back to gambling even more too.

"The biggest challenge is awareness. Within the NHS, you are often asked if you smoke, drink or use drugs - but gambling isn't included.

"It's such a hidden illness. The key is harm reduction. Some people like to gamble, the addiction takes over when you gamble, gamble, gamble. If anything, it's best to get deposit limits in place.

"The thing with gambling addiction is it always starts with a win."